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What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

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Didn't get much time yesterday to work on the Kebler Colonial, just sanded on the ramrod pipes. Today I finished draw filing the barrel . Went over the flats with 240 and then used JAX to blue/black the steel parts. Applied the iron nitrate stain to the stock and ramrod. After it dried used the heat gun to bring out the color and applied a first coat of Tried & True. Good progress today.
 
Worked on the Southern bag after dinner. I decided to turn the bag. I got everything set up welt, front, and back all lined up basted together after holes pre punched. Took about an hour. Threaded up a couple of needles started my first stitch. Going back to the original hole to reinforce the top stitch pulled the threads tight and the thread snapped. Dropped the needles on the bench turned off the Bose speaker and shut the lights out on the way upstairs. Guy has to know his limitations...
I'll hit it again in a day or two.
 
Shot a bench match today. My first ever. Was a fun experience. I shot a TC Hawken with TC 45 barrel. Ten shots on a six bull at 50 and ten shots at 100 on the 100 yard single bull. I was able to get 7 shots off on each target during the 30 minute relays. I'm a slow meticulous loader but next match I'll be using a loading block.

I ended up around middle of the pack with a 112. Top three were in the high 150s to low 160s. Lots to learn today and planning on putting it to good use for the July match.

Probably shoot a 54 next time.
 
Spent considerable time getting 'acquainted' with this new to me replica Purdey .50 cal. Neat rifle that needed some tweaking to get it popping.

See Nipple Problem thread in Percussion guns.

IMG_4344.JPG
 
Shot 18 rounds out of my new Uberti Dragoon 2nd model until rain chased me inside. I got to figure out a way to stop the loading lever from falling. Tying a piece of leather around the barrel doesn’t suit me well.
Never owned one, but it seems like every time I see one fired, that happens. Stiffer spring up front maybe?
 
Spent considerable time getting 'acquainted' with this new to me replica Purdey .50 cal. Neat rifle that needed some tweaking to get it popping.
I had one of those. It was a great shooter. The problem I always had was getting the first charge to go off. I finally had to pull the nipple a wash with alcohol before I went shooting. Finally traded it for a Lyman Great Plains flintlock.
 
took the son's stepson out and had him shoot the "mares leg" 50 cal first time shooting a muzzleloader on a 8" pie plate he managed to hit 4 out of 5 in the plate and the 5th would have spined the deer so I guess you could say he made meat all 5 shots first time shooting muzzleloader, first time ever shooting off hand with anything. now he's boiling the water to clean the gun great day !!!!!
 
Even money that Fox will never get shot, been around just too long now. Wish I had one that hung around like that.
Even money that Fox will never get shot, been around just too long now. Wish I had one that hung around like that.
I give her drops and stuff with her food , but still looks like a big tatty rat. I had a previous one with a beautiful coat and bushy tail, they get killed a lot on our roads no sense other to run across at full speed
 
Pretty much finished the major work on the Kebler Colonial. Used JAX brown on all the brass parts. Installed the sights. Installed the trigger then the ram rod pipes. Used a straightened paper clip to measure for the length of pins. Put the clip in the hole and marked it with a pen. Used it as a cutting guide and filed down the pins to the correct length before installing. Next was the nose cap. Made a small stake out of a bolt turned down it screwed into the base of a small jewelers anvil. Epoxied the nose cap on then used the stake to support the brass nail head inside instead of the barrel. Peened the cut off nails into countersinks and filed/sanded to blend in. ( used model makers sanding sticks in different grits to blend in the pins) Touched up brass with JAX. Pinned in the trigger guard and then the barrel. Put on the buttplate, sideplate and then lock. The rear barrel pin interferes slightly with the ramrod so I need to take a few more thousands off the rod diameter. More rubbing in of Tried & True . Haven't finished the lock yet but that can happen anytime. Very pleased with the quality of the parts and the finished product.
 
Shot the Charleville to try out paper cartridges mentioned in previous posts.
Conclusions:
1) Loading paper cartridge with tow wad is a no-go because the tow is too difficult to release from the cartridge casing.
2) Loading paper cartridge with separate lubed paper wad works but is overkill when the cartridge casing itself can serve as the over-ball wad.
3) Priming the pan with 2F from the cartridge (as per period-correct manual of arms) can result in up to one-third misfires.

Will be giving some more thought to better paper cartridge fabrication for the .69 cal smoothbore Charleville.
 
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Checked my FDC and rifle as I gave them a field cleaning at rendezvous and it was hot and humid. the rifle was ok but the smoothbore needed attention.
Nothing serious but needed wiping with my preservative as it has been a week since I got home.
I am still putting stuff away so I will be ready for the next outing
LBL
 
Went to JoAnn fabric yesterday and bought 4 yds of #40 Cotton Drill for $6.72 including tax with my 60% discount coupon. I only bought 4 yds because the price was marked as $7.99/yd, but the rang up at $4.00/yd, so going to go back tomorrow to get more as they seem to not have it in stock lately.

Stripped a Centennial Arms Colt .36 Sheriff's revolver and polished innards and lubed everthing up - action is slick as can be now! I might just keep this to shoot instead of selling it!
 
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