What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[EcoRover]

Burned most of the daylight with spot and stalk for elk, then tracking (they had moved from first), then another spot and stalk. Turns out the antlers I could see with binos at half-mile or so didn't belong to a legal (brow-tined) bull, just a big spike. The freezer is full with cow elk and mulie buck, but thought I should take my bull tag for a walk today. Got within shooting range of elk in wide open country, didn't sit on any cactus, and wallked 4 or 5 miles: a good day.

 

[Cayman like]

I fiddled around trying a leather capper to fit the DIY caps. This one is workable but I want the leather to be just a little thicker. The layer that holds the caps is .140. The backer is thinner and could be thinner still. I also think the holes need to be a little closer to the edge. Might be OK as is when it is oiled and softened. I can always trim the edges back a bit. This is the initial design and will be the guide to the final design.

The two halves are held together with contact cement but in the final will be done with a circle of saddle stitching. The "caps" in the picture are uncharged copper for fit testing.

My friend made me one like yours about 40 years ago
He introduced me to muzzleloaders 49 years ago

..Mine holds about 20 caps

 

[Loja man]

Well, I came home empty-handed from our family deer hunt. This is the second time throught the years we have gone to this spot late muzzleloader season. And we have decided the deer just aren’t moving as much. My nephew didn’t get his first muzzleloader deer though! He was hunkered down behind a log overlooking an old logging. The road cut crossed his ridge parallel to him. Right on the other side of the road another ridge tied into the one he was on. The doe came up the ridge towards him on the move. When it was in his best shooting lane he whistled and then dropped the hammer when it paused to look around. Still a great trip! Pic of early morning in one of my favorite huntings spots!

 

[Gordoncourtney]

Worked on putting a rear sight on my trade gun. Cut and filed down an old rear sight, and used some double stick tape to move it around for the best sight picture. Had planned to solder it on, but my solder skills are mediocre. And with discretion being the better part of valor decided to use J&B instead. If it works as I hope I’ll do a more permanent mount down the road. Might just dove tail it. I’ll try it out tomorrow.

I just epoxy sights on old rifles. They hold on well but a tap with a hammer they just knock off, rifle non the worst.

 

[deerstalkert]

A friend that goes by the moniker "Road Kill" sent a London made 20g sxs home with the wife the other day. wants to get it fixed.
i started by taking the barrels apart to see what was what. can only shake my head.
looks like PL2000 construction adhesive was the previous owners friend.
bores actually look great with just surface rust. outside is a nightmare. may futz with it when i have nothing else to do.

 

[Dale Lilly]

today i discovered after 5 shots that i was loading my .54 with .490 balls. sucks being old.

Calls for a very thick patch, I guess.

 

[deerstalkert]

Calls for a very thick patch, I guess.

triple patch @ .013 still slid down the gullet like a raw oyster! need to start paying better attention to which gun i am shooting, or get shut of all but one caliber. but what fun is that?
thinking of making a muzzle stopper of some kind with bore and twist marked on it.
the things one does to keep busy waiting for the reaper.

 

[TDM]

Did some smoothbore shooting with the trade gun. The new rear sight worked well.

 

[TDM]

I just epoxy sights on old rifles. They hold on well but a tap with a hammer they just knock off, rifle non the worst.

That’s what I did too. Used some JB Weld. They were old tubes, but it set up fine. I’ll do a dovetail down the road.

 

[Mina]

I re-checked my calculations regarding the combined dimensions and distances between barrel breach, sans plug, and the dimple I must make in the barrel for drilling the powder barrel hole. Then I posted a help request concerning the Pecatonica kit dilemmas . Please locate in new postings and respond.

 

[Dale Lilly]

triple patch @ .013 still slid down the gullet like a raw oyster! need to start paying better attention to which gun i am shooting, or get shut of all but one caliber. but what fun is that?
thinking of making a muzzle stopper of some kind with bore and twist marked on it.
the things one does to keep busy waiting for the reaper.

Oh wow! Great idea, the bore stopper. May I use that idea or do you intend to manufacture them?

 

[deerstalkert]

me idea es su idea polecat! i am thinking of using a oversized ball with a thong through it. hammered into the muzzle for a tight fit. i do that now to measure the bores. no reason i couldn't put a thong through the plug with a hang tag on it.
If'n i was 40 years younger i could just look at the bore and see what size it was. now i have to find the muzzle by braille.
the only things i manufacture are messes and excuses for why i didn't do the dishes!

 

[deerstalkert]

decided to make that muzzle stopper before i forgot about it. changed my mind about using the .610 ball driven into the bore when i saw my brother in laws hound trotting by with a chunk of antler in his mouth.
after 4-5 rounds in the ring with him attempting to steal his prize he gave up out of pity i am sure. and i went ahead cleaned off the dog slobber and turned a stopper.
engraved the info i wanted and bobs yer uncle!
only 8 or 10 more to go. wonder if that dog knows where there are more supplies?

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

I made a simple one that works great.
View attachment 276192

wow. nice and some nice pistols too. congrats

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

Burned most of the daylight with spot and stalk for elk, then tracking (they had moved from first), then another spot and stalk. Turns out the antlers I could see with binos at half-mile or so didn't belong to a legal (brow-tined) bull, just a big spike. The freezer is full with cow elk and mulie buck, but thought I should take my bull tag for a walk today. Got within shooting range of elk in wide open country, didn't sit on any cactus, and wallked 4 or 5 miles: a good day. View attachment 276193

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Starting to plan a winter Christmas camp/shoot for next week.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

That’s what I did too. Used some JB Weld. They were old tubes, but it set up fine. I’ll do a dovetail down the road.

I also used epoxy to glue the loose top rib of my .6 1853 Reilly cape rifle down. I thought I might get into all sorts of trouble trying to solder it. I actually manage to get the rib off cleaned it up and then applied epoxy . Looks fine to me job well done

As a note Reilly Birmingham uk guns are very well documented with all the guns and serial nos made each year. Goes back almost to 1800

Cold wet and miserable west of London. Booked a week of sun in Canaries January, of course all on my card

Love from Joan and me, that’s the wife of course

 

[Mad Yeti]

Took the Deerstalker on another long walk in the woods, that always makes for a great day.

 

[Urban Coyote]

Once the cold morning fog lifted and the forecast showed another atmospheric river on its way, I figured to make hay while the sun shines. I packed up a .32 caplock and navigated more than half my 25 mile trip to the range on surface streets. The traffic map looked good but after committing to the freeway with over 5 miles to the next exit traffic slowed to between stop and 15 MPH. I got off at the first exit. Anyhow, I made it about an hour later than usual.

The gun I took was one I'd dug out of storage, the tag I put on it suggested it hadn't been fired since 2011. Then I remembered the builder had told me he'd had trouble getting it to group. Since he essentially built it as a favor so I accepted it as is. I remember having shot it but not being overwhelmed by it's accuracy. I put it away and moved on. Turns out that might have been a mistake.

I figured it would shoot low since I'd never filed the sights in. I needed to find a load that grouped before taking a file to the front sight. Windage was pretty much spot on. I fired five 5 shot groups using three ball sizes and three patch thicknesses. I've rattled on long enough so I'll spare you all the detail and let you know I found a .319 cast ball wrapped in a spit lube patch of about .020 over 25 grains of Schuetzen FFFG resulted in 4 shots cutting each other with the fifth out, I pulled it. I fired a close grouping after upping to 30 grains. It looks like I'll be spending more time with this gem. Oh, the range was 25 yards.

 

[sheriff john]

Mailed off a money order to a forum member for a new-to-me project rifle. Merry Christmas to me.