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Range day questions and such

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Joined
Feb 4, 2007
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north central Tejas
It was nice to bring in the new year making smoke. I did it once 30+ years ago, and it seems like a fine tradition to take up again.

Along the way I was able to speak to another newbie flintlock shooter at the range. He needed some help and I was able to do a little, based on my own mistakes and the answers you all have provided. Thank you from both of us!

I do have some questions from today though. Still shooting Goex out of a 50 cal. 490 ball and a .008" pre-lubed patch. Too small, but it does lead to an issue.

Between each shot I would dry wipe twice; flipping the .010" cleaning patch over. Both times the last 12" or so were very tight. I'm a big fella and it took all of me to get things out. Should I use something to cut the upper crust?

Another issue happened at the first shot. I had set off some powder by itself to get the bore started, and then dry wiped. Loaded up and sure enough, after three or four tries, the charge didn't ignite. Put some powder down the touch hole and she finally went boom. My guess is that when I dry wiped the first time I pushed some crud down and it sat between the powder and the flash hole.

I am very thankful Traditions puts a removable flash hole liner in. The other fellow had dry-balled and his flash hole was angled forward and very tiny.

What should I do about the difficulty cleaning the muzzle end, and am I likely correct about the not firing issue on the first shot?

Thanks!

Leam
 
I would certainly some solvent or alcohol on the first swab. It lubricates things. I tried a dry patch before and lord have mercy it was almost as bad as pulling a ball. I just do one patch with solvent spritzed on (just damp, not soaking), then one dry patch to dry it out.

Your failure to fire - did you have a flash in the pan? If so, you may want to pick your vent after every shot or before priming. Fouling does indeed get pushed down. I pick the vent before loading and after, right before I prime it.

If there was no flash it's another set of issues. But, yeah, that vent gets blocked and will cause ignition failures
 
I would say you need thicker patches, try .015 lubed with a damp patch of spit, I use PURE neatsfoot oil, or any natural grease or oil. Swab between shots with a damp patch that should help cut the crust, you keep swabbing with a dry patch and it's going to get stuck.
have fun
 
when I was about 16 and had built my first kit gun (a CVA Kentucky percussion) I had fouling issues, and ignition issues and some real old timer (in his 90s)came over and and offered to help. I was using pre lubbed patches, which he said was prefouled patches, and way too thin and .440 cast balls which he condemed as useless because of the sprues. he said I should blow down the barrel, as the moisture in my breath softened the fouling (confirmed later in life when I took up BP cartridge shooting and found the blow tube a requirement)and insisted that by swabbing you pushed the fouling into the breach causing misfires. he said by pouring the powder in first and then using a TIGHT patch the pressure created when loading the ball forced powder into the drum and the fouling, softened by your breath, sits on top of the charge. he insisted that before I measured the charge, (got yelled at for using a flask), that I stuck the patch in my mouth first, measured the powder, retrieved a ball, then lay the spit moistened patch over the muzzle and center the ball, ("ungodly sprue" up) and ram her home. then prime and fire. he said any self respecting shooter puts his cast balls in a ball mill (rotery tumbler) and rounded those sprues into the ball. after a short wear-in period, about 50 shots, I never had a misfire, or a fouling issue again. the accuracy was surprisingly better, and loading was much smoother, I soon sold that percussion and bought a CVA kentucky flinter kit, and I had the same good luck. I have since built and purchased dozens of muzzle loaders (yes I have a black powder monkey on my back). I have never used lube or anything but spit to load, never swabbed the bore during a shooting session, never had a main charge fail to ignite if the priner lit up, fouled flint and wet caps have balled things up, but I can and have fired 200 shots on the range in one session, (all day) and never needed to swab the bore. that old timers very sound advice has lasted me a lot of years of trouble free shooting and hunting with front stuffers. the only thing I ever added to his teaching was to include baby wipes in my hunting and range bag, it is amazing how I can get more fouled than my barrel.
 
I burned about a 1/2 pound powder today myself. From the looks of my targets I need to do that for several days in a row.... :shake: :redface:
 
Putting a dry patch down a fouled barrel is asking to end up with a stuck jag. Use a very slightly moistened patch. You can use spit. When at the range I personally prefer a spritz of Windex as it drys very quickly. Alcohol would also dry quickly. I push the spritz'd patch down once, let it sit a few seconds, give it a slight turn, and withdraw it. After my next load is in, I push a thin wire into the touch hole not only to be sure it is clear, but also to create a channel through the powder so the flash from the pan hits more grains of powder than just one sitting against the touch hole.

I'm sure everyone has their own process that works for them...there is clearly any number of ways to prepare the shot. This works for me.

Even though I swab between each shot at the range when working up loads, since hunting is my primary interest, my load must be such that I can field load at least three shots with no swabbing.

I agree with the comment that a thicker patch will also help you. .008 would seem to be way too thin a patch for a .50 with a .490 ball. I would also start with a .015. A tighter patch and ball should also help "wipe" that bore on the way down.
 
I have a little squeeze bottle filled with a mix of 4 parts water to 1 part GoJo Hand Cleaner and a couple of drops of dish detergent. It works great for swabbing the bore between shots, and to remove excess fouling at the range before packing up to go home for final cleaning.
 
Tighter patch and ball = shoot all day. Each new shot cleans out fouling from the last.
 
Between each shot I would dry wipe twice; flipping the .010" cleaning patch over. Both times the last 12" or so were very tight. I'm a big fella and it took all of me to get things out. Should I use something to cut the upper crust?

Another issue happened at the first shot. I had set off some powder by itself to get the bore started, and then dry wiped

Several problems in your post which are self-created and avoidable.
Never, meaning never-ever :nono: use a dry patch, especially in a dirty bore. Between swabbing is a good practice with a damp patch. I use spit. Readily available and cheap.
There is no need to foul a bore before shooting. Clean and dry is what you want.
Pushing crud down only happens with a too wet a patch and/or too large a jag. Cleaning happens on the withdrawl.
 
I think that the problem is your use of a dry patch to wipe your bore between shots. When I am loading at the bench, I keep a bottle of a 1 part Ballistol in 10 parts water on hand to moisten my wiping patches. But, when I am hunting or on a woodswalk, I keep two patches in my mouth. One is a wiping patch and the other is my patch for my ball. Each time I load, I take one patch out of my mouth, wipe the bore with it and then wrap my ball in the other. After loading, I put two more patches in my mouth until I need them. Spit works well for wiping your bore and for a patch lube. One caveat: If you are hunting and not firing very often, you may not want to use spit as your patch lube. It is great when firing shortly after loading but if you leave it in contact with your powder for prolonged times, it can dampen the top of your powder load and change your POI. As an alternative to using spit when hunting, I often use a strip of pre-lubed patching material and cut my patches at the muzzle. I found it handy to simply drape the strip over the end of my ramrod. It is handy when you are loading to be able to simply flip the strip over the muzzle and cut it with your patch knife. In most rifles, the ramrod will fit tightly enough to your stock to hold the strip in place. Anyway, that is a method that works for me. :hatsoff:
 
more like 12 hours, had a sight paralax issue, shot 2" left at 50 yards, 2" right at 100 yards, I just could not center that front sight. it was more like 2 shots a minute, for 5 minutes, insert colorful metafores, beat on front sight with leather hammer and brass punch, repeat. I finally got it, and basically fired for effect on the various steel targets, just to make sure the sights stayed put. I had 200 balls in the range bag and 3 pounds of ffg and ran out of balls with half a pound of powder left. not uncommon to shoot 200 shots when the gophers come out of hibernation, they sit there a dark spot on the white snow, and there are 1000s of them. I have a .32 cal flinter that is the grim reaper on gophers. and loading 3 a minute is easy when there are 3 guys compeating to get the most.
 

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