What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

aussie pete said:

That's a sweet image SciAggie. Thanks for sharing.

Kind regards, Pete.

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That is a nice picture. Any idea what kind of tree that is? Very unusual bark.

I went to the range today and shot my .32&.36. Tried out my new bear grease. As I was finishing up, another fella showed up. He had a flintlock!! We spent some time together. Good day it was.

Sighted in a 1760's style Virginia rifle in 50caliber that I bought from a member of Brushy Creek Muzzleloader's.
Getz round bottom groove rifling barrel.
Plugged and redrilled the flash hole last week, glassed the barrel channel to stabilize the barrel last Thursday and worked up the load this morning. Longest shots with a good group size so far are 150 yards.
All and all, pretty happy with the results.
Time to take a break and hunt some squirrels with my flint smooth rifle tomorrow.

Was about 50 /50 on my 30 yard steel. need new glasses... i did hit my 60 yard plate on the first shot and then called it good

Jim K said:

That is a nice picture. Any idea what kind of tree that is? Very unusual bark.

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It’s an old growth mesquite tree.

Spent the afternoon finishing up the cutting out of the N-SSA targets from 'an octagon shaped piece of flat metal' that my sister's old boyfriend dragged in. It's thick enough to hold up to air rifle usage. Drilled a hole in the top to hang the targets. All the metal work done, time to make 3 stands to hang the targets to do some practice.
Had some sections of 2" PVC along the fence from the 'temporary' HAM radio 2m antenna. Given that nothing is as permanent as a temporary fix to a pressing problem, cut that PVC up into 2 & 4' sections to make 3 stands for the N-SSA targets just to get that eye sore out of the yard and save having to buy yet some more PVC pipe from Lowes<and not have to hear anything about it from the wife anymore>. Those 3 stands will cover 25, 50, and 100 yards that N-SSA targets are set. Just now need to get back to the farm to set it all up to be able to practice with an N-SSA match with an air rifle. Yes, haven't forgotten about setting up that bullet trap on the back 40 for .58" live fire practice.

Found my range box that I bought back in 1982 when stationed at Oahu stuffed up under the bench in the garage. Need it to carry all the crudola from the vehicle to the firing line. Took the water hose to it to knock off the cobwebs & accumulated dirt. Managed to wash off the Ballard Rifle Co., Cody, WY decal<feces/> that I wanted to keep since it was kinda cool to have. Started loading the box up with stuff. As I went along, more stuffs was found to be needed. FINE, I'll go by the gun shop Tuesday when they open to get it. Any wagers that I'm going to need yet another box for range stuffs? It just doesn't end.

I cut strips of 10 oz. Patching material. Started working on a new shooting bag for my Hawken.

Not exactly following a normal build sequence on my SMR. Got everything polished over the weekend and blued with Jax Black, then drew it all back to the finish I wanted with real and synthetic 0000 steel wool. Finished tuning and polishing the tumbler & sear have it all back together now. Much smoother now. I wanted the lock finished so I can use it for a baseline for the rest of the metal.

dismounted my smr .45 barrel. was going to just let it patina naturally but the barrel on my fowler turned out so well, and i needed a project other than cleaning up my work space, so i decided to brown the GM barrel too. cleaned up the sight base, sanded the barrel and have first coat on.
i used the Laurel Mountain solution this time and like it a lot.

I've set up my casting room in the basement. Have an old drier fan set next to pot with hose going out window well then up and over . Worked on sealing the window and hose to do a better job of keeping winter out! Pictures coming up. I'm gonna cast this week, sunshine or blizzard. I'm ready!

Over the New Years weekend and holiday I shot the 1851 Navy 50 times using Black MZ (APP) and the 124 grain Colt Cartridge Work bullet.
Accuracy was dubious with those cockamamie sights but it was fun.
I found Uberti original firing cones work a treat using RWS 1075 caps.
By the clock clean took 30 minutes, but i did not remove the firing cones.
Now clean and back in the rack.
fun days
Respectfully
Bunk

I convinced my 84 year old dad to take a crack at a paint can lid at 25 yards with my smoothbore. He missed that, and the two foot by four foot cardboard backer…

But his smile afterwards was priceless.

I think it's going to be a .62 percussion smoothbore pistol barrel.

Sure could use a metal lathe.

Filing gets old.

Shot a flintlock match yesterday, then cast 250 round balls this afternoon. that should get me through till Spring.

ADK Bigfoot

scored 31 lbs of lead on my way home from the lumber yard. shot the trapper just two shots today. one perfect hit on my 5" plate @ 30yards and one perfect hit on my 60 yard 6" plate. Both solid hits that made those plates dance. figured i better quit while I was ahead....

I’m going to check out the scrap metal yards for a piece of 3/8” plate ideally a pipe blind 12” dia for a gong.

gunpa said:

I've set up my casting room in the basement. Have an old drier fan set next to pot with hose going out window well then up and over . Worked on sealing the window and hose to do a better job of keeping winter out! Pictures coming up. I'm gonna cast this week, sunshine or blizzard. I'm ready!

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Closed my basement windows with glass block. Got tired of trying to make the metal sash windows air tight. Left one block out and mortared the drier vent in the hole. Worked well for me. Did that 10 years ago. Have not seen a mouse in the house since then.

Took my son to the range day before last. Had a good time with our Mississippi rifles. Both .54 caliber by Euroarms. Took the 1842 Aston pistol to shoot too. The old gal hit the target at 50 yards. Lot of fun making good memories.

Wanted to make myself a “Liberty or Death” bag for a while, so I did just that. Then I “dressed up” my priming flask, it didn’t make me a better shot but it looks much better with a leather suit on.

Danjou said:

Wanted to make myself a “Liberty or Death” bag for a while, so I did just that. Then I “dressed up” my priming flask, it didn’t make me a better shot but it looks much better with a leather suit on.View attachment 188915View attachment 188916View attachment 188920

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Very nice work.