What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[smo]

I took the .54 out for a morning hunt…

 

[ord sgt]

I have been browning the barrel and furniture of my newest halfstock rifle. Maybe one day, it will be finished and assembled. Then it will require a trip to the range.

 

[holzwurm]

Hung a LED light fixture over my mill/drill so I could see. Then trammed the table and figured out how to undercut a tapered 60 degree s on the sliding patch box lid. My mentor tells me the lid was tapered on high end originals

 

[Tn poor boy]

Iv colored lock today and fix

 

[COTNTOP]

Found the TV series Hawkeye from the 90's, watched several episodes while rubbing oil on a TC Hawken stock. Enjoyed the rifles and clothing they wore, energized me to actually do a better job on the stock.

 

[B P Maniac Shooter]

Scored again today......
These will keep me busy for a while...

 

[Nuthatch]

Helped do some jug tests on lead vs bismuth round ball. Pretty comparable, I’d say.
Tested my rifle & smoothbore for accuracy before my upcoming deer hunt. Rifle is definitely more accurate (left target) but the smoothie is no slouch (right). Targets at 50 yards benchrested.
Tested the smoothbore with my homemade black powder and percussion caps. Upped the powder charge from 70 to 90 grains and put that shot just left of the bullseye. Need to drift that front sight over a tad but I’d say it’s perfectly shootable stuff.

 

[Are. M.]

Saturday I became a full member of Lafayette Longrifles. It was a year long process of participating in shoots and attending work parties, but they held a vote and I made the cut.

RM

 

[Sprglde]

Some friends brought a couple intersting bp guns out the club the other day and I got to check them out and shoot them. One was a Ferguson breech loading rifle, I've never seen anything like it and that was way cool. I also got to shoot a Winchester 94 in 38-55 firing black powder cartridges, another beautiful and interesting gun. Fun day Sunday, thanks guys!

 

[Eric Krewson]

Now for another problem to work out; my new gun is excessively hard to start a ball in, a .535 won't go in the bore with any patch thickness, a .530 will go in begrudgingly with an .018 patch and a little easier with a .014 patch but is still very tight. I really have to smack the ball with starter to get it in and getting it down the next 4" is a chore. I think my rebore didn't go as planned, loose at the breech (the last inch), tight at the bore, I don't think Mr. Hoyt choke bores his guns but I don't know.. The barrel is one of my best shooters though, it really stacks them in.

I worked the barrel over pretty well inside with a scotch bright pad before I shot it but I didn't work it much right at the muzzle. Todays project is to slick up the last few inches of the rifling near the muzzle to hopefully make loading a bit easier.

I took a picture to check things out; The lands are slick but the grooves at the muzzle are still rough, further down the barrel where I used the scotch bright pad more the milling marks still show some roughness in the grooves but are not as obvious.

 

[Forester]

I had my first casting run with a new lyman 454 round ball mould. The balls measure @
454. I will be shooting these in my ASM 1860.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Now for another problem to work out; my new gun is excessively hard to start a ball in, a .535 won't go in the bore with any patch thickness, a .530 will go in begrudgingly with an .018 patch and a little easier with a .014 patch but is still very tight. I really have to smack the ball with starter to get it in and getting it down the next 4" is a chore. I think my rebore didn't go as planned, loose at the breech (the last inch), tight at the bore, I don't think Mr. Hoyt choke bores his guns but I don't know.. The barrel is one of my best shooters though, it really stacks them in.

I worked the barrel over pretty well inside with a scotch bright pad before I shot it but I didn't work it much right at the muzzle. Todays project is to slick up the last few inches of the rifling near the muzzle to hopefully make loading a bit easier.

I took a picture to check things out; The lands are slick but the grooves at the muzzle are still rough, further down the barrel where I used the scotch bright pad more the milling marks still show some roughness in the grooves but are not as obvious.
View attachment 104849

I've heard Chrome polish helps. I picked some up but haven't had the need to try it yet.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Perhaps a bit of brasso on the scotch bright, was going too say valve grinding compound but think that may be too harsh. Also did you crown the bore, just thinking.

 

[smo]

Still just hanging out with my .54…
Waiting on one too stroll bye…

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

More work on re-stocking my 1850's double barrel 10-bore. Working on inletting the RH lock today. And cussing the guy that broke the old stock! This English Walnut I'm using is beautiful, but Oh My Lord is it hard! Really tough wood, need to constantly re-sharpen the various cutters. Actually, re-hone the cutters. It will be a while before any of the chisels need to visit the diamond plates.
One of the external RR pipes had been missing, so I used some 1095 and made a new one. Trying to decide if I should rust-brown it before or after soldering it on.
Nice shotgun, but those 10-bore barrels are sure heavy! I need to weigh them sometime, bet they go over 7 lb easily.

 

[Eric Krewson]

Update; I didn't realize when I was polishing the bore that I had a 2" extension on my ramrod that the muzzle protector wouldn't pass through so in spite of all my polishing the last 3" of the bore ( muzzle protector and extension combined) stayed untouched and as rough as a corn cob.

I rectified this oversight today with a maroon scotch bright patch drawn all the way to the muzzle followed by JB bore paste.

Here is the before;

And after, quite a difference. I think I will use some Flitz in the bore for a final polish today.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Update; I didn't realize when I was polishing the bore that I had a 2" extension on my ramrod that the muzzle protector wouldn't pass through so in spite of all my polishing the last 3" of the bore ( muzzle protector and extension combined) stayed untouched and as rough as a corn cob.

I rectified this oversight today with a maroon scotch bright patch drawn all the way to the muzzle followed by JB bore paste.

Here is the before;

View attachment 104990

And after, quite a difference. I think I will use some Flitz in the bore for a final polish today.

View attachment 104991

I like to smooth out my new barrels with lead balls and black powder.... It's a lot more fun that way.
I do love to hear those steel plates ring!

 

[Crow-Feather]

I read your post.

 

[Zapadach]

Well, I had a little problem with my Kibler southern mountain rifle kit that I built. So I called the Kibler company and left a voice-mail about this problem yesterday. This morning I just went online to check my emails when my phone rang, it was Jim Kibler responding to my concerns. He was very accommodating and just a nice guy to talk to. He showed a willingness to help a customer that seems so rare these days. If anyone is thinking of purchasing a rifle kit to build, I would whole heartedly recommend a Kibler kit. Not only is it a very good kit, the customer service is outstanding !

 

[2 shots]

i read about what you guys did now i going to get my butt up and do something, even if its just hugging my favorite flinter. bye now.