What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[Loja man]

Got up early this morning, got ready to hunt with my Kibler, but decided the perfect wind for the chair I had set up down the ridge was too perfect to pass up to hunt with my longbow.

Actually got my first shot with a longbow at a small buck this morning. “At” being the operative word for a miss. Got that outta the way, so next time I won’t be as nervous.

Rain due for the rest of the day.

Way to get the nerves out of the way on a small buck! Next one will be a big one with an arrow through its heart!

 

[Norman Brooks]

Done a little more horn work over the last few days. Drilled and made a stopper out of the cut off piece for another horn. Fitted big end plug, just have to make my silver nails and do the final install.

 

[RobertIN]

Well I think I found out how badly accuracy suffers from a very fouled barrel at 50 yards. Lesson learned: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CLEANING PATCHES AT HOME WHEN SIGHTING IN A NEW RIFLE!

First three shots form the triangle to the right. Adjusted the sight to center the grouping and hit just low but centered. Fine with that for deer I don't want to file the tiny SMR sight down any further.

New target started hitting the edge of the paper, then started missing paper altogether. Forced myself to make three spit patches out of pre-lubed patches (do not recommend, yuck) and they came out crusty filthy with fouling. After that started hitting in the black again. Losing daylight and ten shots without so much as a wipe had me off the paper.

 

[Mowgli Terry]

I finally made it to the Elk River Long Rifles match in Tullahoma, TN this Saturday. it was great to shoot with that bunch again. My gear worked wonderfully only disgraced by my shooting. More practice at the Chattanooga range is in the works. Works better that way!

 

[Stykbow]

Sat in the woods this morning for the ML opener. Only saw turkeys and squirrels.

 

[Loja man]

Sat in the woods this morning for the ML opener. Only saw turkeys and squirrels.

I only saw owls and squirrels!!

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

build a fire underneath an the lead will separate from the steel and run down thru the middle into a waiting recepticalView attachment 360503View attachment 360504View attachment 360505

Dang. Ive never seen done before. Thats a good way of doing it.You a smart man. Ive never melted lead for balls before. Im real clumsy and accident prone. Thanks for showing this.

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

Be sure to separate the zinc weights from the lead weights. The zinc will ruin the lead.

Hope i dont get hammered for asking because i honestly dont know.I know that it has to be pure lead to make the balls. But how can you tell difference between the two?

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

Sat in the woods this morning for the ML opener. Only saw turkeys and squirrels.

Hoping you see a deer the next time you go.Dang got a feeling i aint going be able to climb a tree this year due to my back.But now my back aint hurting as bad but my right leg is hurting bad. Dang recon im getting wore out. Be safe

 

[RobertIN]

Made a short video about the funnel cap I 3D printed and may sell in the classifieds. I'd be happy to make some for other brands if they're different threads from Scheutzen but that's all I have on hand.

 

[Grenadier1758]

There's lots of topics on the adverse effects of zinc when melted with lead.

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/wheel-weight-lead-question.174865/page-3#post-2679927

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/wheel-weight-lead-question.174865/page-4#post-2687731

https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/wheel-weight-lead-question.174865/page-2#post-2531415

Keep your melting pot just at the melting temperature for lead. Zinc has a higher melting temperature and will float to the top of the pot to be skimmed away.

 

[Gordoncourtney]

I understand Sir..

I live in rural area in Tennessee and have been very fortunate to have shot many deer.

Our landscape is mostly rolling hills & hollows , some areas have heavy cover.
Which the deer seek during our Fall hunting season.

View attachment 360902

This pic is one of my hides/ stands I hunt from during bad weather..

Most road kill around my parts don’t lay long enough to become bloated….

It’s raining in Tennessee today ….
We needed it…

Very nice double gun Sir…

Thank you smo for your kind words, I got the unused .36 double at Holts London auction , then 2 years later , some old unused 28g cartridge barrels came up, managed to convert them to muzzle loading and they actually fitted. Not shot them yet. It’s obviously a very well made reproduction rifle. Holts put it at 1885 but I think it’s 1924 by midland gun company definitely pre war as their factory was bombed to pieces

So some better photos

 

[Gordoncourtney]

Thank you smo for your kind words, I got the unused .36 double at Holts London auction , then 2 years later , some old unused 28g cartridge barrels came up, managed to convert them to muzzle loading and they actually fitted. Not shot them yet. It’s obviously a very well made reproduction rifle. Holts put it at 1885 but I think it’s 1924 by midland gun company definitely pre war as their factory was bombed to pieces

So some better photos

Well not quite muzzle loading , I made a pig sticker bayonet for my 1851 Feldstutzer. Swiss and it was happy on the wall , yesterday I hanging another gun on the wall and got speared just like a pig . Actually it did not hurt. Ha ha. Some of the guns are rebuilt relics only a few are of any value and shootable

 

[garypl]

One of my ROA revolvers was shooting 5-6” high with the rear sight as low as it would go. A friend of mine said he would make a front sight that fits right over the existing sight. Picked it up yesterday and it fits over the front sight vey nicely and adds @1/8” to the height. The square top piece is solid so I can file it down a bit.

Used blue loctite to keep it on and when I confirm it works I will use red loctite to fix it more permanently. He also told me if I file it down he would make another sight that I the same height as my final test sight.

He makes these for SASS shooters and says they don’t come off when using red loctite.

 

[John Stark]

For that past 2 months I've been working an outage at the mill so I haven't had much time to do anything. Friday I cast 7 pounds of 320 gr. .50 cal. R.E.A.L bullets and about 1 pounds of .490 round ball.

 

[Garbear34]

I went and shot with mountian men of the Wasatch for first time. They had competition i came in dead last. It was informal affair I had great time. I dry balled one. Miss placed my ball puller so got to order a new one. My first time shooting with a group. Weather was perfect. Hope to go shooting with them again to learn even more.

 

[Big Tom 52]

Well I think I found out how badly accuracy suffers from a very fouled barrel at 50 yards. Lesson learned: DO NOT LEAVE YOUR CLEANING PATCHES AT HOME WHEN SIGHTING IN A NEW RIFLE!

First three shots form the triangle to the right. Adjusted the sight to center the grouping and hit just low but centered. Fine with that for deer I don't want to file the tiny SMR sight down any further.View attachment 360964

New target started hitting the edge of the paper, then started missing paper altogether. Forced myself to make three spit patches out of pre-lubed patches (do not recommend, yuck) and they came out crusty filthy with fouling. After that started hitting in the black again. Losing daylight and ten shots without so much as a wipe had me off the paper.
View attachment 360963

You probably already do this, but I carry a little plastic bottle with a screw lid filled with cut T-shirt wet patches of dawn liquid dish soap and water.

 

[RobertIN]

You probably already do this, but I carry a little plastic bottle with a screw lid filled with cut T-shirt wet patches of dawn liquid dish soap and water.

For sure, I was in a rush to get over to the property when I realized that gun season starts next weekend and left my cleaning stuff on the shelf

 

[longcruise]

Hope i dont get hammered for asking because i honestly dont know.I know that it has to be pure lead to make the balls. But how can you tell difference between the two?

Well, I'm not inclined to hammer anybody cause I usually hit myself on the thumb.

Do note however that when you do successfully separate the two the WW is not pure lead and is harder than lead. Another peculiarity of WW castings in that they will be around 8 BHN out of the mold but will harden to around 12 BHN over the next two weeks at room temperature.

So, today, I sharpened my chisels and moved my barrel inletting project into the basement onto my leather working table. Too dang cold in the garage.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Shot my Frontier .50 caplock this morning. Mostly ringing steel at 50-130 yds but also put a few on paper at 75 yds. All shots off hand. 50 grains T7, .490 ball, .010 patch. Temps in the low 20's, but a great day for making smoke