What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

A week or two ago I setup an email notification on eBay to let me know if any Lee 575-470M molds came up for sale. This is the discontinued "flying trashcan" Minie. I got a notification this morning and just pulled the trigger on it. I'm hoping the bullets cast in it shoot well in my Euroarms Zouave.

I've been walking around the woods for the past 3 days trying to shoot a turkey with my SxS ML shotgun, and it's been frustratingly unsuccessful.

The private land I hunt is in the shape of a thumb, surrounded by other private farms. I've seen dozens of turkey within range, but they've all been on someone else's property so I can't shoot them. After 2 days, and over 15 hours in the woods, the property owner called me to tell me that they were some huge turkeys in his driveway, naturally, I had just left the house to get some groceries.

I'm currently standing in my window watching his driveway waiting for them to come back.

I also added a sweet Browning leather sling to make the gun easier to carry. I oiled it with tallow and beeswax. I think it looks pretty good.

Did some more work on the trade gun. Not posting any photos here since the whole build is posted in the Smoothbores forum.

Dave Markowitz said:

A week or two ago I setup an email notification on eBay to let me know if any Lee 575-470M molds came up for sale. This is the discontinued "flying trashcan" Minie. I got a notification this morning and just pulled the trigger on it. I'm hoping the bullets cast in it shoot well in my Euroarms Zouave.

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Do you mean this Lee 470 trashcan, Dave? The one on the right. I am having great success with them in my Parker Hale 53. I usually send them down range as cast using 50gns of black, lubed with beeswax and lard, 70/30, but just for fun's sake I paper patched ten of them last night to see how they'll go. The other small minie that also does well with that lube mix is the little Lyman wad cutter to the left. For this experiment, not true musket form I know , I sized the little beauties down using the smallest Pedersoli sizing die, then wrapped them in the traditional paper patch style with .002 onion skin paper. I'll lube them at the muzzle, lightly, just prior to loading - with a bit of luck I will get to the range this Friday to try them out. I'll let you know how they go. Keep us all posted on your results too, please.

Kindest regards, Pete.

Well, not today but Sat I bored the barrel with my bench. It went real good and the drill cut easy. I have to make a reamer next.

aussie pete said:

Do you mean this Lee 470 trashcan, Dave? The one on the right. I am having great success with them in my Parker Hale 53. I usually send them down range as cast using 50gns of black, lubed with beeswax and lard, 70/30, but just for fun's sake I paper patched ten of them last night to see how they'll go. The other small minie that also does well with that lube mix is the little Lyman wad cutter to the left. For this experiment, not true musket form I know , I sized the little beauties down using the smallest Pedersoli sizing die, then wrapped them in the traditional paper patch style with .002 onion skin paper. I'll lube them at the muzzle, lightly, just prior to loading - with a bit of luck I will get to the range this Friday to try them out. I'll let you know how they go. Keep us all posted on your results too, please.

Kindest regards, Pete.

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Yes, the mold number is 575-470M. Here are a couple pictures from the auction.

Dave Markowitz said:

Yes, the mold number is 575-470M. Here are a couple pictures from the auction.
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Yep. That's the one. It casts lovely minies.

Pete

I went ahead and ordered a bunch of Swiss 3F from Graf & Sons. With what I have on hand already I don’t expect to ever need anymore.

Built an all wood powder flask. Walnut and Maple. The spout is still in the works. Aquafortis did its job as usual made the Walnut turn dark dark. Still needs more finish. It's very hollow and hold a nice amount of powder.

Soooo, not sure this applies here. 17 members of the North Texas Color Guard Command, Sons of the American Revolution, posted colors for a USCIS Naturalization Ceremony at UTD. 1 American Flag, 1 Texas state flag and nearly 15 muskets. Best guarded flags in the country!!!

Tried my hand target shooting my trusty percussion TC Hawken... well, not much of TC, to be honest: Green mountain barrel in .40 cal, "Deerslayer" set triggers, vernier sights
...I had been using this setup with some success at open matches and German state championships over the years. Then, however, Corona came along...
Time has moved on, too, obviously - at 50 meters (app. 50 yards), all shots landed on target, but I did not get a group. So I fired six more, resting the rifle on a bag now - and still some shots went high. This hasn't happened to me ever since I started out ML shooting way back in 1972... took the old smokepole home, giving that barrel a nice bath, as usual... scrubbed, rinsed, ran a few wet patches, dried and oiled afterwards, like a good boy. Took out the piston, checked it with a wire gauge, found no fault, but replaced it with a brand new one anyway. Getting the spare piston out of the patchbox, on the piece of warpping paper I found my note: GM barrel new in 06/1995 (that was in the blessed times when US companies used to ship replacement parts to Germany without any hassle!).
So maybe old age has gotten my barrel? What do you guys think, would a GM barrel just give up on a guy after 28 years of service?
By the way, my standard load is 48 grains of grade 2 Swiss blackpowder (which would relate to FF in America), behind a .395 round ball, .015 patch, wet lubed. (I have successfully used TC Maxilub for many years, till TC started selling some new, greasy formula... that's when I switched to WonderLube, and later had to switch to liquids, when - you guessed it - American gun related products became hard to come by in Europe).
Now that's my story, and I'm sticking to it...

Preparation for the Spring Simon Girty Longrifles outing. Added to my making of turnscrews that will be part of the prizes for the shooters. Love working on my little lathe.

simonbeans said:

Preparation for the Spring Simon Girty Longrifles outing. Added to my making of turnscrews that will be part of the prizes for the shooters. Love working on my little lathe.
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Those are real nice! How do you get or make the metal shafts?

started removing the 5 layers of polyurethane from a stock i bought from a member here. little investarms hawken. had all the parts to put together a carbine in .50 cal.
had to stop with the heat gun and scraper and wait for the bride to get back from town with some stripper. she wasn't amused when i called her and requested a stripper. called me an "old Fool".

Century to late said:

Those are real nice! How do you get or make the metal shafts?

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I get the steel, grind to shape, heat treat and install in handle and bolster. They are sized for a possible bag carry. Some are maple, walnut, cherry, hickory or ash. They are really fun to make.

simonbeans said:

I get the steel, grind to shape, heat treat and install in handle and bolster. They are sized for a possible bag carry. Some are maple, walnut, cherry, hickory or ash. They are really fun to make.

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Very nice total hand made tool. Do you have any access to Osage? Do you sell or trade any?

Dave Markowitz said:

This is the discontinued "flying trashcan" Minie. I got a notification this morning and just pulled the trigger on it. I'm hoping the bullets cast in it shoot well in my Euroarms Zouave.

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My wife shot those in her Huntsman with 1:56. It was accurate and deadly ove 60 grs ff.

Here are some knives I finished the last couple of days

longcruise said:

My wife shot those in her Huntsman with 1:56. It was accurate and deadly ove 60 grs ff.

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I'm considering them for deer hunting.

Dave Markowitz said:

I'm considering them for deer hunting.

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Wife made a texas heart shot with hers and it went into the chest cavity.