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What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

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Well, I packed up my King's Musket and my red uniform to attend the Fall Rendezvous and Woods Walk at Fort de Chartres. Great weekend for the event. @andy52 had put together a challenging Woods Walk on the far side of the levee. For whatever reason he wanted the First Royal Regiment of Foote to be the first shooters on the course. For some reason, we agreed to do it. So, at 8:00AM we were trudging across the levee to see if we could meet the hunting challenges and avoid the hostiles known to be in the woods. I got promoted to sergeant to lead the team. Early morning jitters got to us as we had multiple flashes in the pan and the usual smooth bore accuracy issues. Our goal was to outshoot the French team. They were two places in front of us, so I got busted back down to private again.

Taking aim at the bear target.

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Got 'im!

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From another thread here, "Waxing Rifle Stocks" in the Flintlocks forum, a thought bubble formed. While collecting the upstairs garbage for tomorrow's pickup, I put a light coat of wax on my Woodsrunner. A very light coat. I will probably try it on my other guns as well, and add coats and see how that goes to help with rust, etc...

The Doc is out now 😎 (And his car is back home and the Doc is extremely happy now 😃 )
 
Well, I packed up my King's Musket and my red uniform to attend the Fall Rendezvous and Woods Walk at Fort de Chartres. Great weekend for the event. @andy52 had put together a challenging Woods Walk on the far side of the levee. For whatever reason he wanted the First Royal Regiment of Foote to be the first shooters on the course. For some reason, we agreed to do it. So, at 8:00AM we were trudging across the levee to see if we could meet the hunting challenges and avoid the hostiles known to be in the woods. I got promoted to sergeant to lead the team. Early morning jitters got to us as we had multiple flashes in the pan and the usual smooth bore accuracy issues. Our goal was to outshoot the French team. They were two places in front of us, so I got busted back down to private again.

Taking aim at the bear target.

View attachment 266788

Got 'im!

View attachment 266789
Notwithstanding the gun issues and smooth bore inaccuracies, your team was one of the few that did not lose a team member to the hostiles and got the top amount of points for teamwork on the trail, your judge was very impressed with that.
 
Took my new 40 caliber out to the range to see how it would shoot at 50 yards. After a little filing on the front sight and a little windage adjustment I got it to shoot a nice group in the 9 & 10 ring. I used 50 grains of 3f Swiss, .395 ball, & .015 lubed patch.
 

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Watching "The Last of the Mohicans" paying close attention to the firearms carried by the actors. Does that count as muzzleloading stuff done today?

Looks like the Indians and the Colonials were mostly carrrying Fusil de Chasses.

I did do some shooting today but it involved an "unmentionable"
I think Hawkeyes gun was made for the movie by Wayne Watson and named Killdeer. A long gun, the barrel was somewhere around 48-50" long. I keep that movie on my DVR for playback when there is nothing on but unbelievable unmentionable shootouts.
 
I need to think hard about retirement. my J-O-B is getting in the way of hunting, shooting, and hanging out with my faithful dog.
All I did today was look longingly at my Jaeger. I promised her we’d go hunting soon.
Retirement is like hitting the lottery. Your own time and good health are two of the most valuable things in life.
 
Took the 1861 back out today to troubleshoot inconsistent POI by eliminating one variable from last trip: my homemade paper cartridges - so measure from flash and pour instead - but that didn't make any difference. The sights on this rifle are awful - very hard to see the front sight - so I marked up the front sight backside with black sharpie and thought at first that helped, but on the next shot very nearly severed the top horizontal support beam of the target backstop. If I keep doing that, they won't like me to come back again, hah. More troubleshooting needed.
 
Got the trigger guard pinned, the touch hole drilled, and modified the lock so that it will function well. This involved grinding the pan deeper and dishing it more forward so the touch hole sets within the pan. Also ground off the protruding boss they make on the inside of the frizzen pan cover, which just crushes the priming powder. Tomorrow will be its first fire (just unwadded powder charge to check ignition- after I make a cleaning rod for this 51” barrel).
 

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What muzzleloading stuff did I do today you ask? Well, for the first time in 30 or more years, I got my ramrod, jag and patch stuck in the barrel!:mad: 🤣 Guess it was bound to happen sooner or later!

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Bushman, you need to save those patches and make o framed picture of them some how!
what are you using for lube to make them that color? intriguing. what powder?
 
finished (98%) Darwin, the flintlock i have been building from a plank and parts from the everything drawer that reached a not one more part condition.
i call this a 12 foot rifle. from 12 feet it looks great!
customer wanted a patina that looked like it had lived over a smokey fireplace for 100 years. don't know if i got it but the buyer loves it. go figure.
fire blued the screws, trigger guard, trigger and chemical blued the lock parts. poured nose cap. Single set trigger.
Doc Haddaway lock i stole from a pistol i built and don't shoot. 54 green mountain barrel with slant breach. Never do another with the slant breach.
Stock was a birch plank cut off my property 10 years ago.
giving it another coat of true oil tonight and some touch up on chip repair that didn't stain.
anyway another one is born.
 

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Bushman, you need to save those patches and make o framed picture of them some how!
what are you using for lube to make them that color? intriguing. what powder?
Actually, that rifle just came to me today and I ran a patch down the bore and that is how they came out! Managed to get 4 and the 5th one got stuck at the bottom with the jag. 🤣 I bought it with knowledge it was going to be dirty. Seller made that clear so, all is good.👍
 
Actually, that rifle just came to me today and I ran a patch down the bore and that is how they came out! Managed to get 4 and the 5th one got stuck at the bottom with the jag. 🤣 I bought it with knowledge it was going to be dirty. Seller made that clear so, all is good.👍
Looks like rust to me, too. A soaking with a good dose of motor oil might get your jag back.
 
Got the trigger guard pinned, the touch hole drilled, and modified the lock so that it will function well. This involved grinding the pan deeper and dishing it more forward so the touch hole sets within the pan. Also ground off the protruding boss they make on the inside of the frizzen pan cover, which just crushes the priming powder. Tomorrow will be its first fire (just unwadded powder charge to check ignition- after I make a cleaning rod for this 51” barrel).
Beautiful job!
 

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