• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Spent some time in the yard trying different methods of loading the An IX for consistency. Also ordered another round ball mold from Ballmoulds.com. I'm going to try a patched round ball load in the 69 caliber guns.
 
Last edited:
My Indian Trade musket's stock was still a bit tacky, so I just wiped it down with some mineral spirits and rehung it by the register.
I knew I should have changed rags when I was wiping it down after staining. But it didn't look like too much stain at the time.
 
Finally added the action covers to my Uberti pocket police and Pietta 1860. Packed both with Mobil 1 Synthetic grease to keep out fowling and slick up the action. Both running silky smooth.
B8B9D405-10F2-4E61-A274-629D96DBE67C.jpeg


The brass strip covers will keep cap fragments and junk from falling or blowing into the frame.
I made this mod to my Pietta 51 Navy and 58 Remington, both run super smooth and makes cleaning a snap.

48539196-820A-421C-A0F3-6AF5CCD6258A.jpeg
699C3ABB-A723-4F94-9CCA-1DD229D09D7B.jpeg


My next mod will be to the 1860 so it can load conical paper cartridges.
 
Last edited:
Tires work very well too.
weight becomes a problem when trying to move

Interesting. And good idea. You could line it with insulation or some sound absorption material.

cardboard egg holders also work well, less likely to get blown out than insulation & less fiberglass itch
but don't want to make an overly attractive wasp nest building zone, don't ask me how I know……
 
Last edited:
I've been missing my T/C Hawken .45. The stock needs work and the barrel needs to see Dr. Hoyt one of these days for a re-bore. I missed it mostly because it as a tang that was drilled and tapped at the factory for tang peep sights and has a Williams FP-Hawken on it. With my old eyes, this sight is pretty nice to have.

In any case, I also have a newer version of the Hawken in .50 caliber, but without the tapped tang. I don't have the capability to do the drilling and tapping here at home... well... maybe I do, but I'm not that confident in my abilities these days. Hmmmm..... what to do? Wondered if the tangs from different years would interchange. Took them off and found that they almost worked as they were. Ended up having to drill out one of the screw holes as the newer gun used a machine screw instead of the smaller wood screw.

It was a bit disconcerting to find a strip of hot glue plastic under the tang to correct for the channel being cut too deep, but I guess it worked OK, so I trimmed it a bit to allow clearance for the sight mounting screw and installed it.

Having made the swap, I took the gun outside on a fairly warm day to shoot some 25 yard test targets. Bullseyed a milk carton, but found that the impact point was a bit to the left. Took the gun inside to unlock and adjust the sight. Seven clicks to the right enabled me to hit soda cans right at point of aim at 25 yards. 200 grain Hornady XTPs in a wooden shoe hit to the same range as a PRB with the same charge weight of 70 grains Pyrodex P. This was a bit surprising as previously I had not been able to shoot PRB with this gun to save my life! Aperture sights are really pretty groovy.

After hitting the can a couple of times, I decided I needed to move it further away. Not wanting to walk through the mud the melting snow was causing, I just aimed under the base of the can and launched it into the air a few times, eventually moving my target out to 40-ish yards... where I was still able to bullseye it.

Life is good!

I'll probably drill and tap the newer tang and install the FP-Hawken sight on that as well. How hard could it be? I just need the correct drill and tap...

Dale the Shootist (in my own mind anyway)
 
Hah! I wondered why I hadn't heard of Ballmoulds.com.
Location, location, location ;)

I thought everyone here would have heard of him. He makes budget friendly custom round ball molds that fit Lee handles! Shipping to the USA is only about $18.

With his molds you need to give him an exact size, which means you need to account for lead shrinkage (he has the math on the website). I ordered a .678" mold which should produce .675" balls for $65.83 (includes shipping).
 
Last edited:
The weather has finally improved to allow finding the windage zero on the 1851 Navy front sight.

Loaded it with 20 grains FFFg and a Colt Cartridge Works bullet. Much to my disgust it required taking the pistol apart four times because that bullet and charge will not allow a 1/8” felt lube wad.

I had forgot before I had used a 15 grain charge and wad with no loading trouble.

Ready for morning

Holding center

We shall see

Bunk
 
Shot with a young guy that I have been helping get started in ML. We shot the 50yd NMLRA target, I usually average around 45 points and he was hanging in there just under me by just a few points. Then we hit the woods walk and he really loved that part. This was his first time shooting offhand. The rifle he was shooting was one from a member here that I helped him purchase. When he left he was all smiles and ready for another round.
 
Back
Top