What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

Bagged a bunch of wads... ugh!

smo said:

Did you use white vinegar to neutralize the stock?

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Actually, I didn't have any white vinegar, but I had some cleaning vinegar which is basically the same with just a tad more acidity. I looked it up and white is at 5% and cleaning vinegar is at 6%.

Sanded down and polished the barrel of a TC Hawken .50 I am redoing. Now to blue it. Worked on two colonial belt pistol kits I am doing. One was a hack kit job someone butchered and I am attempting to bring back to life. The other was a kit gun that was only started and left unfinished. They let it rust. Got the second pistol stock sanded down. Have to do a little reshaping around the lock plate on one as it was sanded almost flat. Have to blue the barrel on the one I just sanded. Will do that and the Hawken barrel the same time.

took the barrel of my brand new Uberti 1851 Navy .36 caliber and lapped it with JB compound to smooth out the rifling burrs and makes cleaning easier.
JB compound is NOT the epoxy it is a product sold by Brownell's. shooters supply.It is a non embedding abrasive that works wonders for cleaning.burrs and leading from a barrel.

Hatchet-Jack said:

That's great! How's the hunting been? Planning to get out myself this weekend.

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Yesterday afternoon was our first hunt. Rolled in mid day and set up camp. Scouted some and then to our hunting spots. No deer sighted yesterday. We did come across tow gut piles. Probably from this week some time. One was from a buck.

Went on a shopping spree yesterday and ended up at the sportsmans warehouse. They had #10 cci caps so I bought two tins and left a bunch on the rack. Looking for other stuff they had a panel of a bunch of different kid's cap guns. Never saw this before. Looked for caps and they had them too. Don't need caps but I bought some anyway. Maybe I'll get one of those beer can cap makers.

I saw new #10 CCI’s on the shelf at a local gun store yesterday. It has been several years since they had any caps, so they must be trickling back into the supply chain. They were $15 a tin so I passed. I’m pretty well stocked at present plus I have the cap maker if things got real tight.

Tinkering away. Waiting for TOTW to get here.

Got the vent liner in. Leaving it removable. Cuzz the centuries old breech area is just plain nasty and will require cleaning after every shooting session.

Original trigger plate tang screw hole required filling in. Now I have a solid piece of metal to work with.

Trying to salvage and reuse as much of the old girl as possible. The original trigger measured .105 inches. But the portion in the wood has rusted away to .057 inches. New trigger on the way.

Almost done.

Trapper Scott said:

Almost done.
View attachment 176381

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Looking good.

Every time I want to put a patch box on a rifle, I choke.

The right side of a gun is like the right side of an HD Sportster.

It's the pretty side and you don't want to screw it up.

64Springer said:

Looking good.

Every time I want to put a patch box on a rifle, I choke.

The right side of a gun is like the right side of an HD Sportster.

It's the pretty side and you don't want to screw it up.

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It takes me awhile to work my courage up and practice helps.

Yeah, I'm going to pass on the patch box on mine, but I will add a toe plate. That's my current limit.

Threw the hawk on my morning constitutional, did some logging and then got permission to shoot on one corner of the property. Got my trapper pistol out for the first time since I moved.
loaded her and headed out into the north west corner. Hung a freshly painted 5inch steel plate and rang it from 25yards consistently. then 35 and finished @40 yards with good consistent hits throughout. . most of my misses were due to Hang fires from using up the paper cartridges that I made back in July. I had quit useing paper cartridges because the humidity messed with them. as in the past i have found that summer cartridges will work once they dry out again in winter but I would not use them for anything important.. they go bang but very inconsistent power and ignition rates... once i used up the old cartridges and went back to loading from the flask that plate rang every time

Last weekend I coned the muzzle of the rifle in my avatar, with one of Joe Wood's tools. I shot it for the first time today and at 50 yards, neither the group size nor point of impact changed, but it's much easier to load.

Dave Markowitz said:

Last weekend I coned the muzzle of the rifle in my avatar, with one of Joe Wood's tools. I shot it for the first time today and at 50 yards, neither the group size nor point of impact changed, but it's much easier to load.

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That's good to know because I've been wanting to try that.

TDM said:

Yeah, I'm going to pass on the patch box on mine, but I will add a toe plate. That's my current limit.

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I put a toe plate on this one too and was thinking about a nose cap, but there just isn't enough wood there for me to feel comfortable with.

Tested out some 128gr maxi balls I cast in the .36 frontier. 40gr 3f, dry felt OP wad. Maxis lubed with tallow/beeswax mix. Need to drift the front sight just a smidgen.


The cab of the ol Ford makes a good steady rest

3 shots at 25yds...

four shots...


I wanted to see how it was going to perform without swabbing in between shots. 5th and final shot was a massive flyer. Shooting these Maxi balls makes for a NASTY cleanup!!

I was super happy with the load and rifle. Sqwerls beware!

Dusty_Traveler said:

Tested out some 128gr maxi balls I cast in the .36 frontier. 40gr 3f, dry felt OP wad. Maxis lubed with tallow/beeswax mix. Need to drift the front sight just a smidgen.

View attachment 176434
The cab of the ol Ford makes a good steady rest
View attachment 176435
3 shots at 25yds...
View attachment 176436
four shots...
View attachment 176437

I wanted to see how it was going to perform without swabbing in between shots. 5th and final shot was a massive flyer. Shooting these Maxi balls makes for a NASTY cleanup!!

I was super happy with the load and rifle. Sqwerls beware!

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Great shooting and a nice Ford. I had a red one like that years ago with the same unibody.

Nice group and nice old pickup too.


Trapper types faster than me.

Trapper Scott said:

Great shooting and a nice Ford. I had a red one like that years ago with the same unibody.

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TDM said:

Nice group and nice old pickup too.

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Thank you gents. Its a '62 and a true survivor. I picked it up from a customer when I was working at the Telco. For $450. It was sitting on 4 flats, sunk in the dirt, and had the windshield shot out of it...A little work and she is about the sweetest running little ol truck I have ever had. The 292 just ticks away. 3 on the tree is good and tight, just snaps into the gears. Cruises comfortably at speed, and the brakes are fantastic. Even has the factory Ford fog lites.