Musket shooting questions

[pepperbelly]

OK, I bought this musket, now I need to shoot it.
I can figure that I need some .69 caliber roundballs. It does need patches, right?
Will FFFg powder be OK to use in it for the main charge as well as the prime charge?
The rod is one piece steel and has threads on one end. Do I need the usual jags, worm, etc.? A .69 caliber cleaning jag and brush sounds impressive.
I think I read that it takes 1" flints. Sound right? What else?

Jim

 

[mazo kid]

Well it sounds like you pretty much know what you are doing. Your prime and charge loads should be fine. About all I would add is maybe some over powder cards and over shot cards. Now the fun begins, start working up your loads with both round ball and shot. Emery

 

[Rebel]

You might have problems getting a patched .690 ball in it if it is a .69 cal. That would be bore size. It might work with no patch and just wads. You will need some .14 ga wads. You can use 3f but 2f may be better.

 

[pepperbelly]

Rebel, I have 5 pounds of FFFg. I am not ordering more for a while- until I am down to at least 2 pounds. Then I'll order some FFg.

Jim

 

[Rebel]

Ok, but you will still need .14 ga wads, a wad puller, .662 rd balls, band-aides, peroxide, anti-bacterial salve, maybe a needle and thread.

 

[paulvallandigham]

In that 14 gauge gun, you want to shoot, either .678,or .675, or .672" lead balls, with a .010-.020" patch. You have to measure the actual bore diameter of your barrel, and not rely on the factory marking that its " .69 Caliber". You want to know the land to land diameter to the thousandth of an inch. Then measure the Groove to Groove diameter to get an idea of how thick a patch you are going to need. Cloth patches compress to about half their thickness, so if you use a .678 diameter ball in a .690 diameter bore, you can use a .020" patch.

I Just looked up on Track of the Wolf's Catalog to see what they have in the way of balls for your gun, and those 3 diameters are listed. Then order 14 gauge OP wads.The OP wad will allow you to use a thinner patch and still get good accuracy, while being able to load the PRB down the barrel easier, and faster.

Start with 70 grains of powder, and work up from there. Don't go much over 85 grains, for anything other than a rock-em-sock-em hunting load. That is a 7/8 ounce ball you are shooting, and it does not need to be fired above the speed of sound( 1100 fps) to kill deer-sized animals. For short range loads, reduce your charge to about 45 grains, and see how accurate that is. You don't need much to push that huge ball through a sheet of paper at 25 yards.

 

[Rebel]

There are no lands and grooves in it Paul, it is a smoothbore musket. :grin: Why i said a .662 ball.

 

[J.D.]

There are no lands and grooves in it Paul, it is a smoothbore musket. :grin: Why i said a .662 ball.

The rule of thumb for the diameter of RB for a smoothbore is about .030 smaller than bore diameter. So, for a bore that does mic .690, a .662 ball would be about right.

So, if your bore does mic .69,
.69 - .662 = .028/2 = .014 patch thickness, as a place to start. A .018 or .020 patch might provide better accuracy, but might not.

I would suggest a load of about 50-70 gr FFFG in that gun. That gun is gonna be a punkin roller.

Have fun,
J.D.

 

A .69 caliber musket is fun. I shoot .678 Rb's in mine with a .017 pillowtickin' patch on top of 90 grs. of 2f Goex. It knocks the waddin' out a stuff. I use 2f in the pan as well.

 

[Steve Blancard]

I checked around for roundballs for my Brown Bess. Dixie Gun Works had the best price by far. My Bess's bore measures .748"-.750" at the muzzle so I ordered the .730" balls.
Steve

 

[Steve Blancard]

One more thing. Rich Pierce is a great source of excellent flints. Email him at [email protected] and tell him what you have. He can recommend the correct flints and send them right out to you.
Steve

 

[J.D.]

I checked around for roundballs for my Brown Bess. Dixie Gun Works had the best price by far. My Bess's bore measures .748"-.750" at the muzzle so I ordered the .730" balls.
Steve

In my experience, .730 balls in a .748 bore will work pretty well shooting bare balls, but load with great difficulty, even with a .010 patch.

I can't begin to load such a tight patch/ball combination in my .748 bore.

I would suggest using .715 balls and an .018-.020 patch..715 balls with an .018 patch performs very well and loads with only thumb pressure.
J.D.

 

[Steve Blancard]

Good point JD. I'm making up paper cartridges without patches with these. Your patched combo sounds good.