And I thought I was sick!:greentongue: Pretty neat though! Lots of smoke and noise. Looks like fun too. Regards, Rick.

I do it pretty much the same way Alboy. I don't use cold water at all though, just start right with boiling water. I also agree on the revolvers. I don't shoot them unless I am shooting a lot to make them "worth" cleaning
 
Paul, on my rifle I always run a "spit" patch between loads to take care of fowling. Nice thing about real BP is it will soften with water.

LvrLover,
 
I was told not to start with hot water under threat of pain of death because hot water "sets" the salts in BP and causes it to adhere to the barrel wall. I certainly don't know, but the fellow that told me is about as "authentic" a muzzle loader as you could find.
 
Mind you, I'm not contradicting you. I'm just repeating what I've been told.
 
Rick,
 
The "noise" they make is much less ear-shattering than that produced by "smokeless" powder. That's almost solely due to the reduced velocity of the BP gasses and bullet. Regardless of why, they're really fun to shoot. However, you wouldn't want to get in a gunfight with one unless your opponent was using a flintlock muzzleloader as well.
 
This one seems to be "made right", as it has fired every time for me, and more importantly, the "lock time" is very fast. There really isn't hardly any detectable lag between the hammer falling and the bullet leaving. You can see that in the video. I've seen some flintlocks at the range that you could get a sip of coffee between when the pan ignites and the bullet leaves. Just blind luck on my part. The only thing I did was drill the touch-hole, and I did that with the diameter of drill "they" told me to use and where "they" told me to drill it. It's just a well-made piece (in the sense of the lock and how well it works).
 
My next loads will be shot. This is actually a hunting use I could realistically see for this pistol. It's a bit heavy to be lugging around too far, but on afternoon "jaunts", it would be easy to take spruce hens with this if it was loaded with an ounce (maybe even half-an-ounce) of #7. Actually, if I lived in real squirrel country, loaded with shot, it could be a good squirrel gun.
 
Paul

By the way, Al, I'm sure you have some good info on loading shot. I'm thinking I would not use a shotcup; just charge - overpowder wad - shot - overshot wad.
 
What would be a "proper" load of powder and shot for the likes of this thing? And how significant is the overshot wad to the pattern? Seems I recall you mentioning that it was critical, but I may not be remembering that correctly.
 
Paul

I would start with the simplest shot column possible. Pretty much what you described.
 
LOAD MEASURE
Since you have a powder volume you are comfortable with lets start there.
 
I do not know what you are measuring powder in so will go with the whole shebang.
 
I like to use spent 12 gauge shells. Pour in a powder load, Mark the level and cut. Now you have both a powder measure and shot measure. Size of shot does not matter for #9-#1. Buck shot go with as close to the same weight as your round ball as you can.
 
OVER SHOT CARDS
These are very thin. Manila folders make very good ones. You can also buy them by the thousand count bag from any shot shell reloading house, very cheap. Get one size larger than your bore. You may have to figure out guage for the 635 bore and get one guage larger. For example in a 12 gauge bore you use 11 gauge cards.
 
Wads/Over powder card/Cushin wads are 1/8" thick for starters and up to about 3/4". Not necessary here I think.
 
LOAD COLUMN
Powder
3 over shot cards
Shot
1 over shot card
 
There is bunches more voodoo but if this column patterns why go there.
 
If you want to shoot heavier or lighter just stay with the equal volumes deal. Example for a 2 ounce load of shot. Make a 12 gauge hull measure for that volume of shot and you have your powder measure also.
 
I don't remeber you stating what grade of powder you are using but I would recommend 2F and not hotter than 3F or what the pistol manufacturer recommends.

Quote from: gitano;105919LvrLover,
 
I was told not to start with hot water under threat of pain of death because hot water "sets" the salts in BP and causes it to adhere to the barrel wall. I certainly don't know, but the fellow that told me is about as "authentic" a muzzle loader as you could find.
 
Mind you, I'm not contradicting you. I'm just repeating what I've been told.

 
I will have to look this up and study it now. I started doing it that way because that is what the literature I read at the time I bought it(don't ask me where or what it was anymore) told me to do. I have been hunting with the same rifle for 12 years now and it seems to be fine. That being said, it usually only gets cleaned after a range session to sight it in before deer season and if I don't shoot anything it stays loaded until my next session. If I have a "good" deer season and also get out to shoot it for "fun" more than usual, it might get cleaned 6 or more times a year, but normally only 2 or 3. I have not noticed any corrosion on the weapon other than what I consider "normal" for a hunting rifle. My accuracy is as good as ever, but I have not dropped a light down the bore to check it. Perhaps I should. Thanks for the "heads up". I'll check it out. Oh, by the way nice "flinch-lock".

Concealed carry!!!!         Watch where you flick those ashes!!!  8-)))

Hey Al, I'm using Cartridge Grade FFg, for the charge, and I am "mashing" (mortar and pestle) that same stuff into a powder to use to prime the pan. 'cause I can't get FFFFg up here.
 
Thank you very much for the loads for shot!:bowdown:
 
More to post when I get a chance to shoot it again.
 
Paul

Quote from: gitano;106764I am "mashing" (mortar and pestle) that same stuff into a powder to use to prime the pan. 'cause I can't get FFFFg up here.
 
Paul

I hope you are "mashing" carefully with wood or other non static producing materials. Some wet it to make a paste and sift it through specific sized screens.

Quote from: gitano;106764Hey Al, I'm using Cartridge Grade FFg, for the charge, and I am "mashing" (mortar and pestle) that same stuff into a powder to use to prime the pan. 'cause I can't get FFFFg up here.
Done the same in the field when it was necessary, used the lid of a cap can and the tip of my ram rod.
 
Thank you very much for the loads for shot!:bowdown:
No special thanks needed, just have fun.
 
More to post when I get a chance to shoot it again.
 
Paul

 
Looking for ward to smoke blowing up my skirt.

Quote from: LvrLover;106769I hope you are "mashing" carefully with wood or other non static producing materials. Some wet it to make a paste and sift it through specific sized screens.

Nah... I just use a hammer and pound it on my garage floor...



Paul

Quote from: gitano;106849Nah... I just use a hammer and pound it on my garage floor...
 

 
Paul

 
Do a half pound at at a time it saves labor:grin:

I use the rounded butt of an old screwdriver on the formica countertop in my shop. I do about 10 grains at a time. It's tedious, but fortunately, one doesn't need too much of the 'fine stuff' for each shot. Using this method I've filled my little pan-charging powder horn with "ffffg". The priming horn is made from a female springbok's horn with a 16 ga shotgun shell base as a cap. It holds enough powder for at least 20 shots - maybe 40. I haven't tried to empty it yet.

I think I mentioned that I lost the ramrod that came with the piece the first time I shot it. It fit way too loose. I'm not too upset about it because if it wasn't ugly, it was certainly not 'pretty'. I just made another one, and it fits correctly. I have to stain it to match the stock but it works well.

I just completed the first cleaning operation, which is why I had to make a new ramrod, and it was informative and not particularly tedious. The bore cleaned easily with a patch and a properly-sized jag. I was surprised at the powder residue that the scraper got off the rear of the chamber. I wiped the bore with a WD-40-wetted patch after cleaning.

I don't recall if I mentioned that I made up about a quart of bear-fat-and-beeswax lube. I think in a smoothbore, lube is not so much an issue as it is in a rifled piece. However, maybe it is when it comes to getting accuracy, precision and consistency. The next shooting session will be to see how well I can hit what I'm aiming at from 10, 25, and 50 yards. I'll also try a couple of loads with shot to see how those do at 10 and 25 yds.

I haven't cast any balls with the new mould I got from 'Jolly Old England', but I plan to do that today. You may recall that the bore turned out to be considerably larger (0.638" vs 0.620") than "advertised". The 0.600" mould I bought based on the recommendations of Track of the Wolf was clearly too small for a 0.635" bore and a 0.010" patch, so I ordered a 0.620" mould from a fellow in England that makes custom RB moulds for $45 including shipping and handling. A 0.010" patch and a 0.620" ball should work fine in a 0.638" bore. We'll see.  I'll drop the charge back to 35 grains for the first shots with the new balls.

I also made up a little charge measure for a 40 grain (by volume) charge. To tell the truth, I don't think it's really necessary to use a measure for this pistol and a charge of only 40 grains, but time will tell.

Paul

Yesterday I cast some 19 RBs from the brass mould I got from England. It was spec'd to cast a ball 0.620" in diameter. Of those 19, I chose 12 that were the most consistently filled out. The average weight was 343 grains with a spread of 3.4 grains, almost exactly 1%. In my limited experience, that's pretty good for cast bullets from wheel weights.

They looked pretty good, but when I put a mic on 'em, I was a bit disappointed. The were consistently out of round by about 0.0055". Across the seam they mic'd at about 0.614". 90 degrees from that they were fairly consistently 0.619". The max spread was 0.0035" for the large dimension and 0.0026" for the small dimension (5.6% and 5.7% respectively).

I am not yet too concerned about this for a couple of reasons. First, I don't yet know how they  may shoot. For all I know, they may be the perfect match for this bore. Second, this is a smoothbore pistol. I don't intend to push it past 50 yards, and my expectations are relatively low with respect to  precision. Nonetheless, I will be contacting the machinist that made them and letting him know. Not to poke a finger in his eye, but to give him feedback on his manufacturing procedures.

Since these are spheres, and I had precise weights and dimensions, I could calculate the density of my wheelweight alloy. That's difficult to do with a cast "bullet". Strangely, the figure came out to be 11.062 grams per cubic centimeter. "Strange" because the density of pure lead is 11.34 g/cc. That means that the wheelweights I am using are very nearly pure lead.

I s'pose I will use both the 0.600" balls from the Lee mould as well as these and see which shoots the smallest groups.

More when I have it.

Paul

Here's a 5-shot group shot from off-hand at 15 yards. Remember that this pistol has no sights. The "point" of aim was the bottom center of the target. The 3 shots in the center are about 13" high and 1 and a half inches right of the point of aim.

I suppose the first shot might be high being from a clean barrel. The third shot low might be operator error, as I wasn't concentrating for a consistent sight picture 'til the fourth and fifth shots.

All in all, I think I can live with this, and with practice, I suspect I might be able to make a 5-shot group like the 3 in the center.

These were all the 0.620" balls with one 0.010" patch lubed with the beeswax/bear grease mixture. The charge was 35 grains by volume of Cartridge grade GOEX BP. No cleaning between shots.

I shot one 0.600" ball with the same charge and two patches. It printed essentially the same point of impact as the 3 center ones below.

Paul