What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[wayne1967]

Found out apparently I suck at soldering. Done years ago and when I pulled it off the wall to dust it off noticed the barrel loose at the end.

 

[RobertIN]

Working on rehabilitating my Colonial. Got the second seal coat of Permalyn on last night, Tried and True to follow. Standard maple for reference.

I did forget to drill a hole for the rearmost pin in the barrel, since the hardware is from an old kit when they came with Rice barrels and the lug has moved forward a small amount. Shouldn't need that pin but if I have accuracy issues I'll know where to start.

Also need to clean the sear hole in the lock inlet a little more I'm getting a tiny bit of interference with the Chambers lock going into a Kibler inlet but I don't have a gouge small enough to get in there... Goes to full cock with a bit of encouragement but I'd still like it to be free of any rubbing.

 

[rmark]

Cast and sized some .45 minie bullets to try out in the Pedersoli Tryon Creedmore rifle.

 

[Encore50Cal]

Got ready for a deer hunt but mother nature decided to sprinkle some liquid sunshine on the day. Guess my hunt will wait for another day. I am trying for my first PRB deer. Maybe Santa will leave one of his behind for me.

 

[WALT53]

Shot my Frontier caplock again today. Same load, T7 2fg, 50 grains, .010 patch, .490 ball. Great results again today at 50 to 100 yds off hand.

Any patch readers on here? I'm hitting 8" gongs at 100 yds so seems to be working for me.

View attachment 370655

Anyhow, had a good time. Sure could use some snow though.

View attachment 370656

Patch’s look great what are you using for lub.

 

[Terrier]

Got ready for a deer hunt but mother nature decided to sprinkle some liquid sunshine on the day. Guess my hunt will wait for another day. I am trying for my first PRB deer. Maybe Santa will leave one of his behind for me.

If you’re looking for one from Santa’s herd, you would be better off going ahead and hunting today. They are “Raindeer”, ya know.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Patch’s look great what are you using for lub.

Very little Wonderlube.

 

[sethwyo]

Found a place to carry my maintenance tool, it can go in the flap of a ball pouch, easy in , stays secure, easy out.

 

[WALT53]

Very little Wonderlube.

What ever works is what matters .

 

[RobertIN]

Third coat of Permalyn finish cut with turp is drying, first coat where it's building up. It feels like I'm not using enough, but from what I gather that's how it's supposed to be ?

Edit: Still a little tacky after a night with the dehumidifier, running the heater in there for another hour to warm it back up.

Also this heater is peak lighting for this kind of thing, my goodness. Double use for lighting and heating small spaces

 

[bajabuc]

View attachment 370560View attachment 370561

Brass wedge plate...without holes...it looked sio cool...but...i know it would fall out no matter how well i glued it...so steel wedgeplate installed for the holes. I'll drill it

 

[Loja man]

Third coat of Permalyn finish cut with turp is drying, first coat where it's building up. It feels like I'm not using enough, but from what I gather that's how it's supposed to be ?

Edit: Still a little tacky after a night with the dehumidifier, running the heater in there for another hour to warm it back up.

Also this heater is peak lighting for this kind of thing, my goodness. Double use for lighting and heating small spaces
View attachment 370856View attachment 370857

That is looking amazing!! Can’t wait to see your finished pics!!
I have had two hawks in my furnace room by my wood burning furnace to help dry some tung oil!

 

[RobertIN]

That is looking amazing!! Can’t wait to see your finished pics!!
I have had two hawks in my furnace room by my wood burning furnace to help dry some tung oil!

Sure will! It's not even lunch time and I'm daydreaming about a comfy chair next to a wood burning stove

 

[wiscoaster]

Loading .44 cal paper cartridges:

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

Took pictures of the finished Fowler. It's heading down to Loja Man tomorrow.

More here:
Thread 'Finished Fowler' https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/threads/finished-fowler.189223/

 

[wiscoaster]

Final result of paper cartridge loading activity today posted earlier, with all cartridges loaded with 25 gr 3F and about 7 gr. cerial filler. Some filler tried is Cream of Wheat, some corn meal. I prefer the corn meal because it's finer and easier to measure, load and tamp. Conicals are the 225 gr. 0.457 Kerr lead conicals from Paper Cartridges LLC:
https://papercartridges.com/shop/ols/products/box-of-50-kerr-44-cal-conicals-for-cap-and-ball
I've shot them before with just loose powder loads and they worked great.

Row 1: conicals glued into open casing then dip-lubed.
Row 2: balls glued into open casing then dip-lubed.
Row 3: conicals glued on top of glued-closed casing then dip-lubed.
Row 4: balls glued on top of glued-closed casing then dip-lubed.
Row 5: conicals dip-lubed then glued into open casing.

Dip-lubing after gluing projectile into casing presents the problem of too much lube. The conicals were wiped off later as much as feasible. But loading pistol may still be a bit messy. And I don't know about the size of those conicals, length-wise. Remains to be seen if they can be rammed deep enough to clear the chamber. I may have to adjust the amount of cerial filler I'm using with them.

Hopefully, weather will be mild enough tomorrow to head to the range and try them out. Will report here if I do.

 

[aussie pete]

Final result of paper cartridge loading activity today posted earlier, with all cartridges loaded with 25 gr 3F and about 7 gr. cerial filler. Some filler tried is Cream of Wheat, some corn meal. I prefer the corn meal because it's finer and easier to measure, load and tamp. Conicals are the 225 gr. 0.457 Kerr lead conicals from Paper Cartridges LLC:
https://papercartridges.com/shop/ols/products/box-of-50-kerr-44-cal-conicals-for-cap-and-ball
I've shot them before with just loose powder loads and they worked great.

View attachment 370975
Row 1: conicals glued into open casing then dip-lubed.
Row 2: balls glued into open casing then dip-lubed.
Row 3: conicals glued on top of glued-closed casing then dip-lubed.
Row 4: balls glued on top of glued-closed casing then dip-lubed.
Row 5: conicals dip-lubed then glued into open casing.

Dip-lubing after gluing projectile into casing presents the problem of too much lube. The conicals were wiped off later as much as feasible. But loading pistol may still be a bit messy. And I don't know about the size of those conicals, length-wise. Remains to be seen if they can be rammed deep enough to clear the chamber. I may have to adjust the amount of cerial filler I'm using with them.

Hopefully, weather will be mild enough tomorrow to head to the range and try them out. Will report here if I do.

Well done @wiscoaster. They look great. I'm not a pistol shooter, and always knock back the kind offer of my mates when they tempt me to have a go with their beauties. I know that I would then want one and that could be a slippery slope . I already have enough to keep me busy!

I look forward to the report. I hope range day breaks fine for you.

Pete

 

[LME]

Final result of paper cartridge loading activity today posted earlier, with all cartridges loaded with 25 gr 3F and about 7 gr. cerial filler. Some filler tried is Cream of Wheat, some corn meal. I prefer the corn meal because it's finer and easier to measure, load and tamp. Conicals are the 225 gr. 0.457 Kerr lead conicals from Paper Cartridges LLC:
https://papercartridges.com/shop/ols/products/box-of-50-kerr-44-cal-conicals-for-cap-and-ball
I've shot them before with just loose powder loads and they worked great.

View attachment 370975
Row 1: conicals glued into open casing then dip-lubed.
Row 2: balls glued into open casing then dip-lubed.
Row 3: conicals glued on top of glued-closed casing then dip-lubed.
Row 4: balls glued on top of glued-closed casing then dip-lubed.
Row 5: conicals dip-lubed then glued into open casing.

Dip-lubing after gluing projectile into casing presents the problem of too much lube. The conicals were wiped off later as much as feasible. But loading pistol may still be a bit messy. And I don't know about the size of those conicals, length-wise. Remains to be seen if they can be rammed deep enough to clear the chamber. I may have to adjust the amount of cerial filler I'm using with them.

Hopefully, weather will be mild enough tomorrow to head to the range and try them out. Will report here if I do.

If your conicals are just a little long just take a bit off the points? I am sure you have thought of this but just in case you haven't? I would like to try this some time? I may be calling on you for advice!

 

[wiscoaster]

If your conicals are just a little long just take a bit off the points? I am sure you have thought of this but just in case you haven't? I would like to try this some time? I may be calling on you for advice!

The depth of the filling is slightly less than the felt wads that didn't work too well with these conicals (ref: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/...did-you-do-today.134755/page-855#post-2757874) so I'm hoping with the lesser depth and natural compression from ramming BP it might work. If not, there's always the starter and the mallet, and that will flatten the point, too.

 

[LME]

Took my Pietta Remmie 1858 New Army to the range to try shooting the 0.457 Kerr conical bullets I got from Paper Cartridges LLC. Bullets were pre-lubed by dipping in my melted beeswax mixture. One interesting new thing learned: dip-lubing works much better if the bullets are pre-heated before dipping. Excess lube is easily wiped off the base, so the base is clean and bare. I prepared 18 bullets that way for shooting.

Loads were 25 gr. 3F Swiss. First cylinder was loaded with felt wad on top of powder. The bullets were easily seated, but I found this load order to be problematic. Although powder plus wad plus bullet should have brought the bullet to just below the rim of the chamber, I found it difficult to ram this deep with the gun's loading lever, and had to take the cylinder out and complete ramming with a mallet and starter on a couple of the bullets to get them deep enough into their chambers to clear the forcing cone. My guess is (and maybe someone who knows more about this than I do can corroborate) that because of the wad the powder wasn't getting compacted by mere ramming action of the loading lever, maybe because of the wad's "cushioning" effect?

Anyway, I found that these conicals shaved a nice complete circumference ring, and so for subsequent cylinder loads, I just left out the wad and loaded bullet on top of powder. Another interesting new thing learned: ramming a conical is a little different than ramming a ball: it seems there's a one last push needed to get the bullet fully seated that "feels" different - kind of like a "smooth squish" feel is how I'd describe it, and here again, I'm just guessing (and hoping someone can corroborate), but I think that last "smooth squish" push is from of the base of the bullet compacting the powder.

First two cylinders were shot at a paper target at seven paces with satisfactory results. Three shots of the third cylinder were shot at a paper target at 25 yds, all hitting paper, and the remaining three shots were at the dinner plate gong at that range, but I only hit the gong one out of the three shots.

Seven paces target:

View attachment 367276

I'm very happy with these conicals from Paper Cartridges LLC and intend to try loading them into paper cartridges, and alsodo more shooting with them for more practice to get better at hitting 25 yds. Weather allowing, of course, which this time of year in Wisconsin is pretty iffy.

Side note: the 9mm semi-auto cartridge gun shooters at the next bench were pretty impressed with all the black powder smoke.

I also think the shooters next to you were impressed with your shooting as well? I sighted in a 9 mm pistol several years ago and didn't have a group as tight as yours.