New to muzzleloading

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Here is what I would get.

www.trackofthewolf.com has about everything you'd need.....but MidwayUSA, etc. will have other things also.

1). Buy yourself some balls and patches, you'll mostly practice with balls and they'll kill most everything you'll hunt anyway.
2). Hornady Great Plains Bullets are quite effective in .50 and are still made. You can cast your own later if you want, plenty to choose from bullet-wise, but I like Hornady GPB.
3). Get a ball stater. This is what you'll use to get the projectile, be it patched round ball or bullet into the barrel the first few inches.
4). You may want to replace your wooden ramrod (if it came with wood) with a carbon fiber one.....less likely to break it.
5). Get another carbon fiber rod for cleaning.
6). Cleaning jag.....you should get a "worm" which removes patches although I never had one and never needed one. However, when I do need one I won't have it.
7). Capper....since you have percussion, a "capper" is nice to cap that nipple. Mine is from Thompson Center.
8). Others have suggested powder measures and flasks, yes get those.
9). I never used a bore brush.
10). For cleaning.....remove the barrel from the stock and get a bucket. Put in the hottest water you can stand. Use a cleaning patch and your CARBON FIBER ROD (not your wooden rod, it will warp) and put the breach end into the water. Put a patch onto the rod with cleaning jag affixed and turn that thing into the "heaviest water gun" ever. This is how I clean my rifle.
I'd start with some soap in the water, do that with nipple affixed, then remove nipple and do without. Later, dump out the water, replace with clean (no soap) water and do it again.
Finally, rinse it out, and dry the bore with dry patches.
Then set it down on a towel and heat it up with a blow dryer....do same with the nipple and drum screw (if you have one). This vaporizes and gets out any remaining water.

For years I kept my barrel soaking in oil in a plastic bag separate from the stock but later I used Thompson Center Bore Butter and wiped it down inside and out (all blued metal) with that. Seemed to work fine keeping rust at bay.

Before you shoot, repeat process with hot (no soap) water and dry again.

For shooting I swabbed my barrel between shots....one or two wet patches then a couple of dry patches. I would shoot for hours at the range doing this.

You are about to embark on a great hobby.....one that will teach you a great many things, like "patience."
 
That a .50 cal. ammo box sittin' by the gun butt???? Good job , never mix calibers..............just kidding...............You have gone down the rabbit hole now , much luck to ya ...good shooting.
 
All wonderful advice except ! NO one mentions finding a group or club to go shoot with, not always impossible !
Go , observe, ask questions and take notes ! if there are a dozen shooters there you will get 13 arguments ! Really all will be right and opinionated ! BUT they will all want to help and show . Dont be offended if they give some good ole "greenhorn" ribbing, remember we all started off as GHers ! and made bunches of mistakes. Just have then give a show of hands on who has dry-balled!
 
That a .50 cal. ammo box sittin' by the gun butt???? Good job , never mix calibers..............just kidding...............You have gone down the rabbit hole now , much luck to ya ...good shooting.

That box has all the tid bits. Pyrodex, round balls, patches, caps and some conical bullets. The butter a starter rod and all sorts of other stuff I need to learn about. I am deep down the hole, was looking at molds in .490 last night, I figure with the endless supply of wheel weights.... I can start making my own.
Is Pyrodex really that corrosive? Should I try and find real deal black powder?
 
Pyrodex fouling is really that corrosive. Pretty much the same for Triple Seven.

As to trying to find real black powder? Depends on how much you want to shoot.

If you are shooting seldom, be aware that the substitutes are prone to losing their potency after the can is open. Real black powder seems to last forever.
 
Really best to use black powder if at all possible. It's much more forgiving , Not near as corrosive , as quickly.....
 
Real Black Gunpowder will in fact last forever if it is kept dry. I am shooting up some Du Pont in metal cans that has a lot number from 1970 and works perfectly. Dirty as sin, but never fails.
Black Gunpowder will last longer than a Collins Street Bakery fruit cake.
Pyrodex is simply a rusting agent that will burn.
Load 'em heavy boys
They air a'comin'
That's fur shore
Bunk
 
Don’t want to hijack this thread, I too bought my first Muzzle Loader today. Super excited!! Thanks for all the information guys. It came with a bunch of supplies to “get me started”View attachment 60729
Just a comment. NEVER lean you gun against a wall, car door or fender or anything else where it can easily fall to the side and possibly go off or move your sight when it hits the ground. Stand it in a corner, be careful if the floor is slippery. If you are outside, lean it against a tree branch close to the trunk where it would be safe. Is that a T/C? Looks like a nice gun. Good luck.
 
Just a comment. NEVER lean you gun against a wall, car door or fender or anything else where it can easily fall to the side and possibly go off or move your sight when it hits the ground. Stand it in a corner, be careful if the floor is slippery. If you are outside, lean it against a tree branch close to the trunk where it would be safe. Is that a T/C? Looks like a nice gun. Good luck.

yes a Thompson Center
 
Back
Top