What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

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Got my invoice for 5 lbs of 3F Goex from Powder, Inc. $21.28 per pound, $106.40, shipping and hazmat, $82.00. Per pound cost $37.68. Would recommend you find some friends to split a case with. A case shipped comes out to just over 23.00 shipped. I really don’t mind the cost, I’m glad Goex is shipping to dealers once again and wanted let Powder, Inc. know they still have customers out here.
 
Filed and sized my other new taller Track rear sight and installed it on the .50 Cherry WR. I filed the V to .264 above the barrel flat. That measurement has worked good on the .54 WR and .45 SMR. That measurement just happened to be where I stopped filing on the .54 so it’s arbitrary, but it’s working for me. It’s a little over twice the height of the factory sights. Now I’m just waiting on the next cold front to cool things down and go shooting again.
 

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Bob did you glue a new piece of wood in and then re inlet? curious...
Ahhh, ancient Chinese secret, my friend🥸. ( I actually trimmed pieces of maple to the thickness I wanted, and then glued/set it in. I used the lock plate to compress it into the space.)
 
After a 56 day hiatus (Lake time, vacations, and car shows) I got back to work on the Kibler SMR. I hit the bench about 11am got the butt plate finally fitted and screwed to the stock. Cut the excess toe off the plate and shaped the stock profile and butt plate. Moving on I removed the barrel from the stock and draw filed, and sanded to 320 grit. between doing laundry and lunch I got in a solid 3 hours of bench time. I'm going to hit the barrel with 400 grit I may go up to 600 haven't decided yet. After the barrel is final sanded I'm going to move on to polishing the lock and final polish and finish of furniture and barrel before sanding and the stock.
 
Went out with some friends this morning and shot my .54 half stock cap gun and Ruger Old Army - good time was had by all. I felt a slight tight spot in my .54 and noticed the patches had a very slight tear in one spot.

Came home and cleaned everything up then took some green scotch brite to the .54 bore and smoothed it up. Now to go back out and see if I can tell the difference.
 
Well this morning I shot the new to me Zoli Zouave .58. She's an oldy and not prestine, Ram rod missing and some dents but all in all not used a lot. Was in a small collection for 15 years so I was a little concerned about the internal barrel condition. No problem there.
I'd bought a Lyman 515 grn mold in anticipation, and borrowed a Rapine 520 grn, and a locally made 610 grn. by HT Bugg.
Started with 65.0 Grn of Swiss 1 1/2. First shot at 25 yds just clipped the Target high to the left. Next I aimed off and struck the the target at 11.30.
Straight out to 50 yds. Still aiming off to the right andxat the bottom Target.
Lyman....... 6 shot group.
Rapine...... 6 x all around the black.
Bugg......... 6 shot group.
Pretty happy chappy. 👍🇦🇺
 

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I've been going through mink oil lately, prelubing precut and patch strips. So I decided I'd finally mix up a large batch of lube. Nothing fancy figured I'd give Mike Beliveau's recipe of 2/3 Lambs tallow 1/3 beeswax a try.

2lbs of tallow and a 1lb block of beeswax conveniently filled up 6 8 oz jars. Will be heading to the range shortly to try it out and see if my loads need tweaking. If nothing else it'll see use in cap/ball guns aswell as BP cartridges. Also happens to smell much nicer than mink oil.

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Making more wood dust. narrowed the cheek pieces with a total reduction of 5/8 inch width across the lock area. now with the profile close to what is acceptable i can start the finish profile. still waiting for the pipes and trigger from TOTW. got super lazy and decided to buy them rather than make them. the great conundrum, all the time in the world to make stuff, and no energy to do it.
this "keep me busy" build is turning out to be a sweet lite weight full stock Hawken "ish". still need to figure out what dye/stain will work best. wife cooked a pan full of beets and the water looks like it should work on something to give a RED tint.
 


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