Ten year old loaded Hawken?

[Juice Jaws]

And it takes a lot of fresh grease( that will become contaminated) to fill up a .50 cal barrel.

Yes, I can image the amount of grease it would take. To me it always sounded like a lot of work for a easy job.

 

[SDSmlf]

And it takes a lot of fresh grease( that will become contaminated) to fill up a .50 cal barrel.

Yes it does take a lot of fresh grease. Still easier than potentially needing a fresh barrel, stock and possibly some body parts.

 

[mjpchief]

Used grease method on my .36. Takes a lot of grease. Ball was stuck about 10" down barrel and when it released it did so with a lot of force. Never found the ball in my garage. Took a while to clean the bore but I had already tried to pull the ball and it wouldn't budge. Air compressor trick wouldn't do it either.

 

[ugly old guy]

View attachment 21963

Good looking rifle.

 

[josie wales]

I would not fire a gun that I did not load. CO2 discharger or pull the ball.

Dave

I agree with the CO2 discharger. It is not only the best way but safest also.

 

[Melnic]

Yes, I can image the amount of grease it would take. To me it always sounded like a lot of work for a easy job.

I did the grease gun once for a patched ball that I for got to muzzle cut before shoving in 4inches. what a mess. Someone suggested getting hand lotion next time.

 

[Walkingeagle]

I’ve done grease gun a few times (ya, slow learner) and would do again in a heartbeat. Clean up was a snap, just took a bit of time (maybe 20 min).
Walk

 

[Tanglefoot]

You do what works for you, but if you do anything other than unloading that piece as a first step, please do it on the other side of the hill from me. I once came up to a gentleman in the woods who was popping caps on his CVA thunderstick. Asked him if he had a problem and he said this was his first muzzleloader, given to him as a present, and he was checking to see if it was hitting where the sights were set, but he couldn't get it to fire. I took it from him, dropped the ramrod down the bore, and it stopped about 6 inches from the breechplug. Pulled the ball and patch, dumped the charge out and found it was loaded with about 300 grains of 4Fg !! Turns out the gentleman was doing what a sales clerk told him was okay and just using the 60 grain spout on the Remington-style powder flask as a measure and dumping "4 or 5 of those" down the .50 caliber barrel because, the clerk said, "You can't overload a muzzleloader. If you put too much powder in, it just blows out the muzzle when you shoot."
The rifle would not fire because the breech area was clogged with heavy grease and the gentleman who received it as a gift didn't know he should clean it first. I am eternally grateful for that. We got it cleaned using my nipple wrench, solvent from a little bottle in my pouch, one of my cleaning jags, and water from a seep nearby. Then we dried it out, whittled a field-expedient measure from a dry reed and had the gent load and fire using just one of those (about 50 grains by my adjustable measure) behind a patched roundball. He fired at a mark on a tree and actually hit it. So I showed him how to swab the bore, gave him a ball puller and a cleaning jag that would fit his ramrod and a handful of patches from my pouch,
and then I went home, having had enough fun for one day.

 

[Blogman]

Pulled the ball and patch, dumped the charge out and found it was loaded with about 300 grains of 4Fg !! Turns out the gentleman was doing what a sales clerk told him was okay and just using the 60 grain spout on the Remington-style powder flask as a measure and dumping "4 or 5 of those" down the .50 caliber barrel because, the clerk said, "You can't overload a muzzleloader. If you put too much powder in, it just blows out the muzzle when you shoot."

Sorry for being blunt and rude but that clerk needed his *** kicked an a fashion of the most appropriate measure.

 

[hawkeye2]

Tanglefoot I hope he appreciated you sharing your knowledge with him and your generosity. I also hope you started him down the road to becoming a blackpowder hunter and shooter. My thanks to you for pointing him in a safe direction and promoting our sport.

 

[PastorB]

Had a similar experience with a sales clerk in a gun store many years ago. My first gun was a Charles Daly/Investarms Hawken, in .54 caliber. The store was getting out of the muzzleloading business, and I bought in on clearance cheap. The "gun expert" told me black powder was safe, and didn't need to be measured. Also told me black powder was much weaker than smokeless. I had a Lee 2.5cc scoop that I used to load a modern rifle. I was young and stupid, and wanted max power. I dumped 6 scoops of Pyrodex P down the barrel, followed by a 435 grain conical! It had lots of power alright! About ripped my shoulder off, had a black eye where the cheek piece whacked me, but the gun remained intact. The hammer was re-cocked into the full **** position, can't imagine the pressure. I still have and enjoy this rifle 45 or so years later. Find a safe way to unload it, another ***** like me may have loaded it!

 

[Stantheman86]

You basically Double Proofed it at the shoulder

 

[Col. Batguano]

I saw a IV 8888 video where they were trying to blow up a (factory built) ML'er with overloads of BP. Remote firing with a lanyard from a protected position. They were unsuccessful until they loaded it with smokeless. Some of the loads rendered the gun unserviceable, but the barrel didn't fail. They surely would have caused one helluva bruise though!

The closest I ever came to a "stupidity load" was when I was new in the ML'er game, and loaded 180 gr. FFg under a 58 cal PRB in an Armi Sport `61 Springfield replica. I was advised that a normal "hunting load" was 3x caliber, and I wanted to use it for deer hunting. I totally missed the paper for the target at 50 yards, and maybe the stump too. I never did find a load that was accurate with that gun, and very seldom shoot it any more, having moved on to shooting my own builds now instead. The only way I could kill a deer with that gun would be to bayonet him.

 

[SDSmlf]

Realistically, if I do not personally load in a sober and lucid state of mind I am NOT shooting any load out. Period. As far as the ’shouldn't be a problem’ crowd with the unknown load, good luck.

 

[bud in pa]

I have a vise that is 8 inches across the jaws, I bought it over 30 years ago. It was the biggest vise that I could find at the time. I took the barrel off of a WW1 unmentionable with a 1917 date on it. I also have a fairly large monkey wrench which I use on the flats of the breech plug. I use a 2 x 4 cut length wise and reasonably carved out to fit the barrel contour. I would never try to fire a firearm that I had no knowledge of what was used to load it. Removing the breech plug would be my last resort, but then you would be 100% sure that there was nothing dangerous in the barrel.

 

[pajeepman]

Got my Plainsman unloaded last weekend. Sprayed some lube in the bore amd touchhole, used a garage sale multi piece ramrod with t handle and the ball puller it came with. Clamped a small vice to my Jeep bumper, wrapped the barrel in foam and it came out in the second pull. Cleaned it good and the bore looks good. Gonna fire it first weekend in Febuary.

 

[Kansas Jake]

Nice job pajeepman.

 

[Capnball]

There's a rifle on display at the civil war museum in Harrisburg PA. It supposedly was the last gun loaded during the civil war to take a life. The story went that a farmer picked up the loaded musket after the battle if Gettysburg and hid it in his barn. Fast forward a hundred years, two kids playing in the barn at the family farm found the gun behind a pile of scrap lumber. A young boy playing army, pointed the gun at his younger sister, pulled the trigger and killed her instantly. A terrible accident committed more then 100 years after the gun was loaded by a soldier who probably didn't survive the battle where he dropped it. I treat every gun as if it was loaded. My son and I attended a gun safety class together because he wanted to go hunting. The very first thing the instructor asked was "Does anyone know what type of gun is responsible for more accidental shootings and deaths then any others?" Eager raised hands offered types of old guns with poor or no safety devices and general descriptions like "pistols" or "military guns" and to each the instructor shook his head no. When he was sure he had everyone's interest peaked he said " the number one firearm responsible for more accidental shootings and deaths is an empty gun!" He waited for it to sink it then said ........"I don't understand what happened, I thought the gun wasn't loaded!"

 

[jdw276]

Got my Plainsman unloaded last weekend. Sprayed some lube in the bore amd touchhole, used a garage sale multi piece ramrod with t handle and the ball puller it came with. Clamped a small vice to my Jeep bumper, wrapped the barrel in foam and it came out in the second pull. Cleaned it good and the bore looks good. Gonna fire it first weekend in Febuary.
View attachment 22362

You used a jeep to get the ball out? whoa...and on the second try even.....

 

[Barrie Dale]

I never leave any gun of mine loaded even in the safes. They are all trigger locked and in proper gun safes when not being used except my target handguns which are in their travel case at all times locked up.