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Thinking safety here I have been watching on line videos on loading black powder rifles. My concern is they have been adding extra pounds on the RB using pressure with short up and down strokes looking kind of hard. Is they a worry of black powder igniting using such pressure to seat the RB

I know guy's that "toss" or "bounce" the rod down after the ball is seated,, never understood it as there is no gainful reason to do so.
I do (as most) apply some firm pressure once the ball is seated.
Otherwise there has been discussion here about BP's "impact ignition" properties and nobody to date has set powder off by striking a blow to a pile of it.

No, but it's a useless practice usually done by folks who don't really know what they are doing or why they are doing it.The only thing it accomplishes is to further deform the ball.

Providing you wipe the bore between shots, you should be able to seat the ball with one or two strokes on the ramrod. You only need to seat the ball on the powder, not crush the powder.

Load your rifle properly then mark your ramrod, with that mark you can tell if your load is proper and the ball seated.

rdstrain49 said:

Load your rifle properly then mark your ramrod, with that mark you can tell if your load is proper and the ball seated.

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:thumbsup:

Black powder does not detonate from pressure, You can pound on it all day with something that doesn't spark or develop heat from friction....It's unaffected by pressure alone...

And repeated hits or bouncing wont hurt the ball either...You can test this with a piece of pipe and a dowel

Be warned about watching Youtube videos....many of the people who make videos are inexperienced newbies themselves....There are some good videos though, but remember it is still not the "end all be all of knowledge"

Be warned about watching Youtube videos....many of the people who make videos are inexperienced newbies themselves....

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You can say that again!!!

Some of the YouTube videos show people who don't know a thing about loading and shooting a muzzleloading rifle.
Their only real claim to fame is they didn't make the gun blow up and it did fire. :shake:

Zonie said:

Be warned about watching Youtube videos....many of the people who make videos are inexperienced newbies themselves....

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You can say that again!!!

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I will.....

"Be warned about watching Youtube videos....many of the people who make videos are inexperienced newbies themselves"....

Colorado Clyde said:

Zonie said:

Be warned about watching Youtube videos....many of the people who make videos are inexperienced newbies themselves....

Click to expand...

You can say that again!!!

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I will.....

"Be warned about watching Youtube videos....many of the people who make videos are inexperienced newbies themselves"....

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Can’t be said too often so.....

Best advise is to find a near by club or group shooting traditional MLs. Spend some time watching and learning. Be aware, some new shooters are older and don’t know as much as they think they know. Then there are those who in 10 years of shooting traditional MLs have one month of experience 120 times. Choose a mentor wisely.

necchi said:

I know guy's that "toss" or "bounce" the rod down after the ball is seated,, never understood it as there is no gainful reason to do so.

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Yes, I've seen that a lot. Some do it with shot as well as ball, and it is an old idea.

A Turkey Hunt, by David Dodge, Outing Magazine, Vol 27, October 1895 to March 1896, pg. 231.

"Matt had his own notions about loading a gun and believed that his way was the only sure one for turkey. The charges had to be measured with extreme nicety, a certain sized shot unmixed with any others, and hornet’s-nest wadding had to be used. The last wad had always to be rammed till the ramrod had bounced out of the barrel seven times."

And we are still doing it. It's a fact that we hold onto bad information just as strongly as we do good, maybe even more so.

Spence

I feel that way about myself sometimes and I've been shooting muzzle loaders for over 50 years, when making a new discovery that I should have figured out long ago after doing things the same way I was taught by experienced shooters. They were experienced alright, in thinking they knew it all and were not willing to experiment and try anything new!
My new personal slogan is" Why there just ain't no end to the things I don't know yet"!
The more we learn the more we realize we don't know.

One of my real doozie beliefs taught by experienced shooters was that black powder readily absorbs moisture and it doesn't, actually!
Took me over 40 years to learn it was the fouling not powder that was soaking up the moisture and making the charge hard to light.

No kidding! As an aside, we ask the kids at the state sponsored shoot to bounce the rod off the load but only from about an inch up...just tells us and them that it's seated, and this only because we make them load their own shots and most have never shot anything before. Hard or repeatedly is a waste of time and effort, I don't think I've ever done it myself.

The only U tube presentations I take seriously are the ones that start off with ----

"Hey Y'all Watch This". :youcrazy:

I got this from Ned Roberts' The Muzzle-Loading Caplock rifle.

"Next place a round ball, with the sprue up, in the center of the patch ”“ be sure the ball is truly centered in the patch ..., Do not ram, or pound, the ball down the bore, and do not ”˜whang’ the ball with the ramrod onto the powder ”“ simply seat the ball firmly on the powder with a light pressure on the ramrod. "

Usually when I see guys "whang" their bullet with the ramrod I ask if the bullet offended them in some way.

LD

Okay, I'll admit that I am a whanger. I whang my ramrod against the seated ball at least once but usually twice. I listen to the sound of the rod against the seated ball. It tells me that the ball is fully seated. I do not use great force when whanging. Not like some who seem to be trying to drive the breach plug out. My whanging is more of a bounce than a full on whang. Hmmm.... :hmm: can I use that as an excuse....uh, I mean, reason for my poorer and poorer scores as I, at 77 years old, approach the closing scenes of my life. :haha: Would that be a better excuse than admitting that my eyesight is not as good as it was when I was 20 years old and I am not as steady as I was back then when my scores were significantly better? :grin: Will my eulogy read "He was a nice guy but he was a whanger."
:hatsoff:

Stlnifr said:

Thinking safety here I have been watching on line videos on loading black powder rifles. My concern is they have been adding extra pounds on the RB using pressure with short up and down strokes looking kind of hard. Is they a worry of black powder igniting using such pressure to seat the RB

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After re reading the original post above I believe we went slightly off subject yes me too. By the way, Bill, I don’t Whang but have no problem with those who do.

The op’s observation sounds like the utube demonstrators are loading a dirty bore with a too dry patch/ball and therefore having to beat the ball down the bore. IMO either wipe between shots or use a tight fitting WET patch.

Again, beware the self proclaimed experts.
TC

I also whang. I believe by tossing the rod down the barrel and watching for bounce back will tell you when the ball is "fully seated" atop the powder. I've found it takes 3 good whangs to make the rod bounce back. Oh, I only toss a wooden rod after the load is pushed down the bore with short quick strokes. It is much easier to tell when the ball is properly seated when using a range rod and no whanging is needed.
This is the loading process I still use after many years of black powder shooting and it works for me.

rdstrain49 said:

No, but it's a useless practice usually done by folks who don't really know what they are doing or why they are doing it.The only thing it accomplishes is to further deform the ball.

Providing you wipe the bore between shots, you should be able to seat the ball with one or two strokes on the ramrod. You only need to seat the ball on the powder, not crush the powder.

Load your rifle properly then mark your ramrod, with that mark you can tell if your load is proper and the ball seated.

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I have a question for you, rdstrain49. So you think the folks that do this don't know what they are doing and putting a mark on your ramrod is the answer. Lets say you are reloading for another shot using your marked ramrod and the mark is a half inch above the muzzle face. Now what do you do? Do you pull your ball and dump the powder or do you try seating the ball to your mark?

Have yer brother in law shoot it :shocked2:

BTW as far as whanging.... I see no way possible a ramrod would be able to further move a loaded PRB in the barrel if it was tight enough to require any force at all in loading. just NOT ENOUGH WEIGHT to the ram rod. Thats MPO and I have never ever whanged. I only whang in things I believe in. :idunno:

Stlnifr said:

Thinking safety here...... Is they a worry of black powder igniting using such pressure to seat the RB?

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In a short and succinct answer...no, you cannot ignite black powder by compressing it nor by percussing it. :shake: In the vernacular, "They is no such worry." :nono:

I don't know that it does or not but I know if you give it a few little bounces it bounces higher on the last one than the first which makes me believe that the ball is more solidly seated after the "whanging" as you call it lol I just give a few fairly gentle bounces to make sure its seated all the way