Loading Block Design

[DaleNabq]

I've seen a number of styles of loading blocks. Some use a piece the width of the barrel to help align the ball, some use a thinner piece so the ball sticks out the back a little, some recommend cutting a circle so the barrel fits in and centers up the ball, and some do none of the above.

Some hold 2 balls; some 10. Fewer (2-6) seems better to me.

What do you think/recommend?

Thanks,

Dale

 

[Rebel]

I just let the ball stick out the bottom a litte so it lines up with the bore on mine. Works good for me. :m2c:

 

[Stumpkiller]

What Rebel says. Just before loading I press one ball down with my thumb so it lines up in the bore.

I have a three shot on my powderhorn strap and a five to seven in the hunting pouch. I have a pouch that has a sheath on the back for a knife, but that was banging my powderhorn. I swapped the knife back to a belt sheath and now have a five-shot purpleheart ball block I keep in the sheath on the back and I added a patch knife to the horn strap.

So that's eight shots without opening the bag (A bone powder measure hangs off the horn strap, too).

I also have a five shot canoe-shaped ball-block I wear around my neck if I'm planning a bunch of shooting. That's 13 shots without dipping in the bag.

 

[bob1961]

mine are just some maple planks bout 3/8" thick with 8 holes....and i just let the ball hang out...............bob

 

[three]

I have seen some that have tack on one side so when you are loding , if you put the tack side down, the ball extends just enough and uniformly, and it saves you a couple of seconds whille your loading the block.

Joey KT

 

[Stumpkiller]

I've seen those. But when you do that the patch rubs on everything and gets your clothes messy, picks up dirt and the lube wears off. I like my blocks just thick enough that a ball can't be seen from looking edge-on. I countersink the edges of the top to make it easier to load and to allow the cut edges of the patch to settle in flush.

Another trick is to thread the lace (if used) in from a hole drilled from the side. I have sliced off any number of ties that were in the same direction as the ball holes. :redface:

A clothes hanger wire heated with a propane torch to red and then twisted, and finally bent to form a staple makes a good looking strap attachment point (as long as you've left enough wood on one end to set the staple in).

 

[DaleNabq]

That was one of my concerns....the patch lube getting all over and wearing off.

Do you then push the ball down before loading to get it centered in the barrel?

 

[Stumpkiller]

Yep. A push with the pad of my thumb on top stops it just at the right offset on the bottom.

I've been toying with dry patching (soaked in my own moose milk recipe and allowed to dry) and shot 0.010" patches that were in a block for four weeks and 0.017" patches that were in a block exposed to the air for two months and they worked fine. One of the 0.010" patches was charred but not where the bearing surface was and not enough to show light through when held up to the sky. :thumbsup: I've pretty much switched over to dry patching for all uses.

 

[montanadan]

Stumpkiller- could you elaborate a little more on the dry patch. Are you using this just for hunting? I use your liquid lube, quite a few guys in our club are now using as well(great stuff). I generally use your liquid lube,but I prelube the patches a couple of times(let dry ,between lubing). The night before I am going to shoot, I lube them again(but very little)..Respectfully Montanadan..

 

[Stumpkiller]

That's it. My m/l buck this year was killed using a dry patch RB from a block.

I tear 1-1/2" x 3 ft strips of patching, dip them in a pie-tin full of the castor oil moose milk. Lay them out on wax paper overnight, repeat one more time the next day. Then, I fold them into bundles and store them in Zip-loc baggies. In my hunting pouch, I carry two rolled up strips in small deerskin pouches that I have turned inside-out and worked molten beeswax into with a heat gun and an acid brush (this changes the leather dramatically). I unroll the strips from the center of the roll and pull the end up through the lacing of the little bag.

To load a block, I palm the bag in my left hand and hold the patch knife in my right with my ball bag closure tie in my teeth, pull out enough of the strip to unfold flat, fish a ball out of the bag and push it in, slice the patch, pull out a little more, repeat. I can refill a five shot block in about as long as it takes to talk about it without getting lube everywhere, using my leg as a table as I hunker on my heels (a handy thing in the snow with no tables around - even with a dog sniffing the patch knife and ball bag ~ that's what I get for cutting him of pieces of jerky and praising him when we get down to check the targets). I still carry a 1 oz. bottle of the liquid and a 1 oz. tin of the greese/wax lubes, but only use them for cleaning.

The farther I get in this pursuit, the less I carry in or on my hunting pouch.

 

[Tahquamenon]

I use 5 hole and 12 hole loading blocks for PRB & Conical for 45, 50 and 54 caliber.

1" thick x 2" wide oak stock and don't push the PRB or conical through to leave a bore centering "dimple" as I also find this helps to prevent dirt collection and getting lube everywhere.

The loading side of the block is slightly counter-sunk.

For hunting, I use small 5 hole blocks. I load four PRB's or conical and use the fifth hole for wads.

For the range, I'll use up to four 12 hole blocks and load PRB's or conical in ten of the holes and wads in the other two.

 

[DaleNabq]

Thanks for all your valuable insight. I think I've decided on a design.
Dale