First post and a bit long winded perhaps. I've read the rules and afterward seeing no discussion on muzzle loaders outside traditional ones, I'm curious if I'll be eaten alive here by those far more serious than I, but here goes...
Lifelong shooter but not long into muzzle loading. Got one modern muzzle loader that I've shot a little bit and got a small percussion pistol of unknown origin that I've tinkered with, but the allure of a .32 muzzle loader always had me so when I saw them on clearance online, I picked one up.
After a few days of fitting the parts, disassembly, bluing, finishing stock, etc.. I put it back together and was rewarded with a stunning looking little gun. The next day, fired off a primer to test and dirty it a bit and then I loaded 20gr of Pyrodex P and just used a cleaning square as a patch and loaded a hand cast .310 ball. Had my target out at 25 yards and POP!... No boom. Waited a bit, fired another cap. Pop. And another... Pop. Having never fired a .32 before, I wondered if perhaps it actually did go off and I just didnt know. So I waited a bit then used a brass brush to see if I could catch a little of the patch in the barrel to tell me. Hurriedly screwed the brush on and rammed it down the barrel and twisted and pulled out the rod with no brush.
Put the rod back in and tried to thread it, only to find that I had used the wrong brush and the threads were too small to properly be secured on the rod. So I now have a powder charge (I think, pretty sure) a ball and a brush stuck in my barrel. I used an old carbon arrow shaft and hoped the threads on the insert was the same as the brush and tried that. No luck. Same threads.
At this point, I poured some penetrating oil in the barrel to try to kill the powder at least if there was any in there.
So after a bit of pondering, I whipped up a little JB weld and put it inside the threads on the arrow shaft and pushed it down in and waited.
It's here that I started perusing for info online and eventually came to this site and registered... had I not been so impatient, I would have had my answer a bit sooner.
So the next morning I go out and pull the shaft out... and yep. You guessed it. I pulled out the insert from the arrow shaft. So now I have a charge, ball, brush, and a jb welded arrow insert all in my barrel. So what to do but whip up another batch of JB Weld and put it on the inside of the arrow shaft and push it back in.
After that cured in the evening, I finally got the brush out!
It was getting dark so I hit Google again in search of answers and saw where some folks had used an air compressor.
Next day, I used a small section of icemaker tubing that fit just about perfect over the nipple on the gun and pushed it on the other end of a blower attachment for the compressor... 90psi and nothing. 110psi and out came the ball and charge!!
So now that's clear, but why didnt it fire?
In trying to clean out the nipple area, I found no route to the barrel. Upon closer inspection I saw where that the hole was not drilled proper and machining bits were pushed over the hole. I carefully picked them away and filed at the edged with a needle file. After a good cleaning, I could blow in the nipple (chuckle) and was clear going out the barrel. But it was dark again.
So today I get home and I double checked everything and loaded a charge... set up my target out at 25 yards and was happy to hear a boom! First shot was a touch low. After having heard of some needing to file down the front sight, I purposefully used a very fine bead. Wiped down the barrel and tried another shot. ...wipe and another. My quick 3 shot group wasnt great. Wasnt even good, in fact, but could near fit in the bottom of a coke can. Hard to tell with a group that large if I'll need to tap over my rear sight at this point. I figure with a little practice and some experimenting with patches (I have some .018 lubed wonder ticking on order to start with) that I should be able to shrink that to an acceptable level.
All in all, after the humorous (looking back) issues I had getting it going, I'm pretty happy with the gun. Not sure what advice I may need at this time, but posting mainly to draw chatter, allow yall to laugh at my expense on my obvious noob mistakes and perhaps help out anyone else who may be searching for info on .32 muzzle loaders.
Lifelong shooter but not long into muzzle loading. Got one modern muzzle loader that I've shot a little bit and got a small percussion pistol of unknown origin that I've tinkered with, but the allure of a .32 muzzle loader always had me so when I saw them on clearance online, I picked one up.
After a few days of fitting the parts, disassembly, bluing, finishing stock, etc.. I put it back together and was rewarded with a stunning looking little gun. The next day, fired off a primer to test and dirty it a bit and then I loaded 20gr of Pyrodex P and just used a cleaning square as a patch and loaded a hand cast .310 ball. Had my target out at 25 yards and POP!... No boom. Waited a bit, fired another cap. Pop. And another... Pop. Having never fired a .32 before, I wondered if perhaps it actually did go off and I just didnt know. So I waited a bit then used a brass brush to see if I could catch a little of the patch in the barrel to tell me. Hurriedly screwed the brush on and rammed it down the barrel and twisted and pulled out the rod with no brush.
Put the rod back in and tried to thread it, only to find that I had used the wrong brush and the threads were too small to properly be secured on the rod. So I now have a powder charge (I think, pretty sure) a ball and a brush stuck in my barrel. I used an old carbon arrow shaft and hoped the threads on the insert was the same as the brush and tried that. No luck. Same threads.
At this point, I poured some penetrating oil in the barrel to try to kill the powder at least if there was any in there.
So after a bit of pondering, I whipped up a little JB weld and put it inside the threads on the arrow shaft and pushed it down in and waited.
It's here that I started perusing for info online and eventually came to this site and registered... had I not been so impatient, I would have had my answer a bit sooner.
So the next morning I go out and pull the shaft out... and yep. You guessed it. I pulled out the insert from the arrow shaft. So now I have a charge, ball, brush, and a jb welded arrow insert all in my barrel. So what to do but whip up another batch of JB Weld and put it on the inside of the arrow shaft and push it back in.
After that cured in the evening, I finally got the brush out!
It was getting dark so I hit Google again in search of answers and saw where some folks had used an air compressor.
Next day, I used a small section of icemaker tubing that fit just about perfect over the nipple on the gun and pushed it on the other end of a blower attachment for the compressor... 90psi and nothing. 110psi and out came the ball and charge!!
So now that's clear, but why didnt it fire?
In trying to clean out the nipple area, I found no route to the barrel. Upon closer inspection I saw where that the hole was not drilled proper and machining bits were pushed over the hole. I carefully picked them away and filed at the edged with a needle file. After a good cleaning, I could blow in the nipple (chuckle) and was clear going out the barrel. But it was dark again.
So today I get home and I double checked everything and loaded a charge... set up my target out at 25 yards and was happy to hear a boom! First shot was a touch low. After having heard of some needing to file down the front sight, I purposefully used a very fine bead. Wiped down the barrel and tried another shot. ...wipe and another. My quick 3 shot group wasnt great. Wasnt even good, in fact, but could near fit in the bottom of a coke can. Hard to tell with a group that large if I'll need to tap over my rear sight at this point. I figure with a little practice and some experimenting with patches (I have some .018 lubed wonder ticking on order to start with) that I should be able to shrink that to an acceptable level.
All in all, after the humorous (looking back) issues I had getting it going, I'm pretty happy with the gun. Not sure what advice I may need at this time, but posting mainly to draw chatter, allow yall to laugh at my expense on my obvious noob mistakes and perhaps help out anyone else who may be searching for info on .32 muzzle loaders.