What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[SOLANCO]

Visited a local gun show. It was thrown by a muzzle loading association but was mostly unmentionables. If they had restricted to muzzle loading would have been a very small show indeed. Bought a small sheath knife out of Pakistan. The vendor had a wide variety of knives from Pakistan and each one was very nicely made. Much better than I ever would have expected from there.
Virtually every muzzle loader there was very nice. Some were very tempting but I think I need to sell some now. I couldn't list all mine without walking around looking in corners and in closets.

 

[mushka]

Went out to the desert place where we shoot. My shooting bud showed up and we got our stuff out and we started shooting. He shot some of the other kinds of guns first, two of them, then switched to a bp rifle he put together. I started with a cva Mackinaw in ,50 cal at 50 yards. Shot it five times and didn't have a very good group at all. 28" barrel with a 1 in 28 inch twist isn't a real good barrel for prb's I don't think, maybe better with some kind of different bullet. Next I shot my Lyman gpr in .54 cal at 50 yds too. It did great with some of the .530 balls I casted yesterday. It shot them close together but a tad on the right side. Would be a dead deer or elk at 50 yds. I then started shooting an Enfield 3 band smoothbore made in India. It shot every time ok with two different loads but it took me awhile to find where it was shooting. 50 yds no hits at all. Found out it was shooting over two feet high at 50 yds. After the Enfield I quit shooting, tired and hungry. Now I have three guns to clean but I'm going to take it easy for a couple of hours before I start that chore. I think I mentioned in another thread a while back, I hate cleaning guns. You all have a good day.

 

[Bunk]

For the week
Ran a clean patch down the Sharps rifle bore checking cleanliness and lightly oiled it.
Threw my back out painting the steel targets on my range.
finished 20 good (I hope) paper cartridges for the 1851 Navy when the barrel comes back getting a real front.
sight.
Discarded at least half that many tubes because those little buggers are hard to make correctly.
Cast 146 Moose Moulds (shameless plug) ring tail 480 grain bullets for the Sharps.
Cast 255 Colt Cartridge Works (Eras Gone mould (another shameless plug) 124 grain heel bullet for the .36 caliber 1851 Navy.
Took a nap I am pooped.
Hold center
Bunk

 

[BillKilgore]

I took the Maple Lancaster out to the range today. First time in about a month. It was a glorious day in this corner of NC. Sunny, mild breeze and 70 degrees.

This was from about 75 yards. Not too bad once I got the elevation dialed in.

 

[50calBoone]

A very chilly, wet day here. A good day to sit in the shop and finish up odds and ins on the SMR. Installed the rear sight, went in nice and snug. Polished the front sight and installed it, but wasn’t tight enough. Took a long 5/8” socket and gave it 2 good moderate raps with a hammer. Front sight is nice and snug now too. Using the socket works perfectly for tightening up a dove tail. If you try it, make sure the socket is large enough to not bottom out on the barrel face. Also recommend making your own lipped sight drift, very stable, and won’t mar the metal. I make mine from 3/8” brass rod and use a mill file to shape.

Thanks , i’m learning

 

[ETipp]

Researched a few things I need to order for my ML.

Cleaned out my ML toy box.

Emptied out one of my powder horns back into the can.

Cut and lubed some shooting patches.

Nuttin special.

 

[Erwan]

"What are some of the things I did today in terms of muzzleloading?"
Nothing in fact: after the week's work on a Palmetto Wesson rifle: I have been to the range and shoot the Blue Ridge .45 cal. at 50 yards...

23°F. is too cold for me now, so I shot only 15 balls and I came back home...

 

[SwanShot]

Ran shoot at the club yesterday. we had seven shooters and it was as hot as hell, around 105 f and humid. Shot both rifle and pistol. I was staggering by the end of it. I was shooting an 58 3 band Enfield, couldn't see the sights for the sweat in my eyes and I'll swear that bloody thing got heavier as the day wore on. It certainly started thumping harder.
A young bloke, 21yrs old is showing up as the man to beat if you can. He beat the snot out of us all yesterday.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Worked on inletting the trigger plate on the Moravian.

 

[Jim K]

Went to the range this afternoon for an hour or so and made some smoke!

 

[sheriff john]

"Decluttering" ain't what's happening here, regardless of TV shows. "Shuffling" is a more apt term. Goal-in-mind is to get all M/L stuff from attics, gunsafes, barn and sheds into one location (garage shop). What I thought I was out of, I'm not. Projects I thought finished , aren't. Getting sidetracked is easy.

Stopped counting loose round balls and sorting with a micrometer after a coupla hours. Gotta 3-pound coffee can, toss 'em in, almost full and still finding more rolling around in boxes, jars, and drawers. Minies and conical types are easy sorting. Keeping other diameters separate ...uh..well.

Sold a P.O.S. bubba'ed up T/C Seneca at the antique mall yesterday, money back to gun stash. Note to self - don't buy anything with ceracoat again. Just don't.

 

[aussie pete]

Wonderful weather today in Townsville. I went to the range with my Parker Hale 1858 Two Bander, to see if I could match the success I enjoyed with the Three Bander and Lee's minie 470gn trashcan pushed by 50gn FFFG Wano. Not to be! The trashcan load proved horrible, no matter what powder range I attempted. So, back to the good old Lyman 510gn minie and a light charge of 40gn FFFG Wano; success! Certainly goes to prove that different barrels with different twist rates prefer different projectiles. So, its the 470gn trashcan for the 1853, and the 510gn Lyman for the 1858! The Lyman minie doesn't cut the same neat circles that the trashcan does.

Pete

 

[Alan O]

inlet the ramrod thimbles on my Ketland kit. Is anything more fun that this? Is there anyone else out there who is sometimes more in love with the building that the shooting?

 

[64Springer]

inlet the ramrod thimbles on my Ketland kit. Is anything more fun that this? Is there anyone else out there who is sometimes more in love with the building that the shooting?

Guilty!
Guilty!
Guilty!

This will sound like it's straight out of a philosophy 101 class. When I'm working on a piece, time disappears. The world disappears. I go into a zone. The same zone every hunter goes into when a deer is in their sights.

When I'm building, it gets to a point where it's no longer me that's building the gun. The gun is just being built. All I am is the vessel by which it gets built. That's how smooth and flowing things get. And when I'm done building for the day, my mind is thinking about the next day. I see the gun in my head. I turn the gun 360 degrees in my head and look through the gun to see if I missed something or if there's a better way to accomplish the next task. Each new day starts with pondering. Fewer mistakes are made after a good pondering session.

Ain't nuth'in better than working on guns.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Uh huh

 

[TDM]

I enjoy both, but it’s fun to get absorbed in a build. Then go shooting.

 

[Alan O]

Does anyone else work on their projects as they're falling off to sleep? In my head I'm sometimes working through the sequence of some part of the build. Not unpleasant at all, actually. I sometimes do this for songs/solos I'm rehearsing on my guitar too, although that's usually when I'm waking up.

 

[Alan O]

Guilty!
Guilty!
Guilty!

This will sound like it's straight out of a philosophy 101 class. When I'm working on a piece, time disappears. The world disappears. I go into a zone. The same zone every hunter goes into when a deer is in their sights.

When I'm building, it gets to a point where it's no longer me that's building the gun. The gun is just being built. All I am is the vessel by which it gets built. That's how smooth and flowing things get. And when I'm done building for the day, my mind is thinking about the next day. I see the gun in my head. I turn the gun 360 degrees in my head and look through the gun to see if I missed something or if there's a better way to accomplish the next task. Eacch new day starts with pondering. Fewer mistakes are made after a good pondering session.

Ain't nuth'in better than working on guns.

it's sometimes like meditation isn't it, like when you're shaping the stock, or inletting a part?

 

[TDM]

Does anyone else work on their projects as they're falling off to sleep? In my head I'm sometimes working through the sequence of some part of the build. Not unpleasant at all, actually. I sometimes do this for songs/solos I'm rehearsing on my guitar too, although that's usually when I'm waking up.

Sure, I plan the next stage as I’m drifting off. And sometimes come up with a fix for a problem.

 

[Alan O]

Sure, I plan the next stage as I’m drifting off. And sometimes come up with a fix for a problem.

yup