What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

[Erwan]

For me, nothing special: bullet casting, a bit more than 13 pounds (5.9 kilograms) of rounds balls in different calibers, and reading one more time a part of Paul Matthew's book about paper patching…

 

[Shawrco]

Took another drive out to the forest service road that leads to the gun club range. Still a no go. Well I guess my member fee is a donation to a good cause this year. My guess is could be at least till end of the month yet. So much snow this winter.

Got to visit Yellowstone and Grand Teton NPs couple of summers ago with grands; had a camp site between the two. Magnificent place!

 

[Shawrco]

Went to JoAnn Fabric store to get some pillow ticking… the young girls up front had no idea what I was talking about . The older lady at the cutting table knew, though. They had pillow and mattress ticking but it looked the same to me, ‘course I didn’t have a measuring device so I just got the traditional blue striped material (the mattress ticking had red stripes). It’s in the washing machine now. Figure I’ll cut this in strips and try the muzzle cut technique; will make up some moose for lube. I searched around for posts on cutting patch strips, specifically for width for 56 cal .550 RB but didn’t come up with a number. Is 2” about right? Looking forward to getting to the range for a test drive!

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

Went to JoAnn Fabric store to get some pillow ticking… the young girls up front had no idea what I was talking about . The older lady at the cutting table knew, though. They had pillow and mattress ticking but it looked the same to me, ‘course I didn’t have a measuring device so I just got the traditional blue striped material (the mattress ticking had red stripes). It’s in the washing machine now. Figure I’ll cut this in strips and try the muzzle cut technique; will make up some moose for lube. I searched around for posts on cutting patch strips, specifically for width for 56 cal .550 RB but didn’t come up with a number. Is 2” about right? Looking forward to getting to the range for a test drive!

Did you mic it for thickness? Not all ticking is the same. Semper Fi.

 

[Shawrco]

Did you mic it for thickness? Not all ticking is the same. Semper Fi.

Heck, beginner mistake. Didn’t take my calipers with me. I’ll check it when it dries out. Found a post said strip as wide as circumference of the ball, so for my 56 about 1-3/4” should do it.

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

Heck, beginner mistake. Didn’t take my calipers with me. I’ll check it when it dries out. Found a post said strip as wide as circumference of the ball, so for my 56 about 1-3/4” should do it.

I usually use a 100% cotton white tee shirt, like a Fruit of the Loom or Haynes. Good shirts not cheap stuff. They usually/consistently mic out about .015, Semper Fi.

 

[nick_1]

bought 50lbs of lead at the scrap yard today for $35.00 almost all the way through my last batch.
We have sectionals coming up so been practicing one handed and it works surprisingly well.. I do better on steel than I do on paper though. better get better on paper if I want to well at sectionals.

Shot a woods walk a few weeks ago where you had to answer trivia with your shots. there were multiple targets at each station and the targets were different sizes, shapes and colors. Each target was an answer choice . so the question might be something like do bears build nests in trees? yes shoot the bunny, No shoot the partridge.. if you hit the correct answer you got 10 points. If you missed the correct answer you got 5 points. If you hit the wrong answer you lost 5 points. If you missed the wrong answer you lost 10 points. It was pretty fun and casual. There were 15 stations and I only had 3 misses but I had a few too many wrong answers

 

[longcruise]

Went to JoAnn Fabric store to get some pillow ticking… the young girls up front had no idea what I was talking about . The older lady at the cutting table knew, though. They had pillow and mattress ticking but it looked the same to me, ‘course I didn’t have a measuring device so I just got the traditional blue striped material (the mattress ticking had red stripes). It’s in the washing machine now. Figure I’ll cut this in strips and try the muzzle cut technique; will make up some moose for lube. I searched around for posts on cutting patch strips, specifically for width for 56 cal .550 RB but didn’t come up with a number. Is 2” about right? Looking forward to getting to the range for a test drive!

If you err to the wide side it's simple to stagger it a bit and still get full use.

 

[Shawrco]

Did you mic it for thickness? Not all ticking is the same. Semper Fi.

Guess I was fortunate... after washing/drying this ticking measured out at 0.015; 0.0145 if I squeezed the calipers really hard. Will try all the usual lubes - spit, mink oil, crisco, mosse milk, etc. The .550 balls should arrive on Monday.

 

[Dutch7]

Found some lead at an estate sale, not much else related to ML sadly

 

[Loja man]

Shot my brother in laws New Englander that has been loaded since early muzzleloaders weekend in mid October.

 

[Loja man]

Also worked on forging a couple knives that will have deer antler handles.

 

[Omahkapi'si]

Got stuff organized for a shoot with a forum buddy tomorrow.

 

[Rob M.]

I cut out a NW trade gun pattern out of a plank of walnut , made my center lines and chiseled out the barrel channel in the rough .... Ready to start barrel channel but no barrel for it yet ....also yesterday I cut out a Fusil de Chasse pattern out of a plank of walnut and today chiseled out the barrel channel , rough , too and Also been grinding flats on the barrel for it ... Kept me busy !

 

[wganz]

Cast a bit over a hundred 0.686" Lead Round Balls (LRB) for N-SSA Spring Nationals that is next weekend in Winchester, Virginny. Got the soft End Caps filled with 50 grains of 3Fg and all assembled. Made 4 dowel rod spacers so that the top layer won't ride on the bottom.

 

[leam]

Firmly committed to buying the Kibler kit. On the Kibler website, there's a list of tools, to include a bench vise. That meant I needed a bench, so I bought one at Harbor Freight and just finished putting it together. Will work on figuring out the vise tomorrow, since the holes don't line up.

 

[Tennessee]

Went to Martin’s Station for the first time today met Wallace Gussler, Mike Miller, Peter Kelly, Simeon England and the crew from Townsends. I was completely dumbfounded listening to them talk! I’m not gonna lie I was ready to write off muzzleloading and reenacting all together but I was shown great hospitality and encouragement, which renewed my love for this hobby. I really enjoyed myself today (the wife said my inner nerd came out) and to think Martin’s station is only a 2 hour drive for me!

 

[aussie pete]

Sunday morning at the local Townsville range, made all the more pleasant with a friendly, welcoming Range Officer - Thankyou Mr Rick Allen! I shot the Parker Hale 53 again with paper patched minies, this time with the Lyman 315gn wadcutter. Man, those holes are round! I used a classic central hold for the first batch, all landing a bit high and to the right with the standard 'as issued' sights. For the remaining three, I changed my point of aim to 7 o'clock, allowing all three to land in the ten ring. I'm stoked with this load.

Kind regards, Pete

 

[DCAN]

Recovering today from yesterdays spending binge. Yesterday I ordered a SMR kit from Kibler's with the upgrade to select maple. I had planned to use plain maple or walnut and build the rifle to look as if it really was a 150+ years old. Looking at the select maple stocks paused that idea for a time. After ordering the kit I set out to restock all my supplies for the build. It's only money I guess.

 

[DCAN]

Sunday morning at the local Townsville range, made all the more pleasant with a friendly, welcoming Range Officer - Thankyou Mr Rick Allen! I shot the Parker Hale 53 again with paper patched minies, this time with the Lyman 315gn wadcutter. Man, those holes are round! I used a classic central hold for the first batch, all landing a bit high and to the right with the standard 'as issued' sights. For the remaining three, I changed my point of aim to 7 o'clock, allowing all three to land in the ten ring. I'm stoked with this load.

Kind regards, Pete
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Have you tried that bullet on game? I bet it would leave a heavy blood trail if it cuts a hole that clean.