"Pulling a load"?

[16gauge]

Was watching "Then Northwest Passage" the other day with Spencer Tracy and Robert Young (old movie about Roger's Rangers).
At one point in the movie, Tracy tells his men to "pull their loads and load with buckshot".
So my question is: how do you "pull a load" from a smoothbore? We've all been told that the easiest way is to fire the gun off, but with bismuth & other nontoxic loads costing what they are, I would kind of like to save as much of that shot as possible instead of firing it off into the woods!
I would assume that the first step would be to dump the priming charge/remove the cap and lower the hammmer....where (and how) would one procede from there?
Thanks in advance......

 

[Black Hand]

After removing the prime and lowering the hammer, I pull the overshot card with my ball screw and then run it down to loosen the shot. I pour out the shot (repeat with screw if necessary) and pull the overpowder card with the screw. The powder gets loosened with a worm and dumped out (and if still good, goes back in the horn). A patched ball is removed with the screw and the powder removed with the aid of the worm.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If the " load " being pulled is a PRB, then use your ball pulling jag, screw it into the ball, and pull it out. The wood screw actually makes the ball expand, making it grab the walls of the bore even tighter, with the patch in between. The reason for using a lubed patch is so that you can move the ball down and out the barrel again.

 

[16gauge]

Thanks guys...I was talking primarily about shot loads, not so much PRB; those I'll probably continue to just fire off. I'm more concerned with saving my supply of bismuth & nickel plated lead shot. :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Okay, then follow the prior advice and use your ball pulling jag to remove the OS card. Then, upend the gun so that the shot pours out. YOu might have to rap the side of the barrel to get it loose, and, in extreme cases, you might have to run that ball jag down into the shot to get it to separate and begin moving out of the barrel. But, most of the shot can be saved this way. :thumbsup:

 

[Britsmoothy]

My rods all have a threaded hole to alow me to screw the srews required as spoken of by the other fellers. It would be very easy for an engineer to allow this function to be made in your rod. Get a ball screw or a good sharp wood screw and tell the engineer you want the two to be able to screw together.
If you only shoot cards for wads and want to shoot the powder off after salvaging your shot be sure to add a cushion wad or a good ball of newsprint as without the cards can flip and as I have known ruin a days shooting :redface:

 

[29caliber]

During this turkey season, I left my 11 gauge smoothbore flintlock loaded with 90 grains of 3F and 120 grains of #5 shot for over a week, finally firing it to unload it. I never hunted in the rain during this time. The resulting shot was very weak with little "umph", certainly not enough to kill a turkey at even 20 yards. From that experience, I feel that I need to pull my load probably at least every other day just so that I have the peace of mind that my load is still potent. Tom (A few days later, this same smoothbore took a 20# gobbler at 25 yards on the same day it was loaded.)

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you put plastic wrap under the percussion caps, on the top of the nipples, it will prevent moisture from getting down to the charge in the barrel(s). If you use wax paper, or that same plastic wrap, under your OS card, it will seal the barrel to prevent moisture from reaching the powder from the muzzle end of the barrel. I recommend using 2 OS cards to make sure that either the plastic wrap, or the wax paper, does not bend or curl an edge of the first OS card down the barrel on top of it.