I took my Pedersoli Mortimer flintlock to the range for some practice time, and while I had a lot of fun I couldn't consistently hit anything past 75 yds. You really don't know how sloppy your follow-through is until you shoot a flintlock!
90 grains of 2F antique muzzle loading propellant and a 0.015 patch with a .535 round ball -priming with the same powder.
It's a Pedersoli Mortimer Target in .54 and the rifle came with somewhat of a surprise - as I didn't realize that it was a beautiful brown finish and not blued. I am really excited to get this gun out in the coming season as it's going to be my deer rifle this fall!
I've also been hunting for local Chert so I can knap my own gunflints and be in good supply, another dimension to add to the hobby.
Bringing my 12 gauge side by side muzzleloading shotgun with me on hikes now, just in case a see an invasive cotton tail rabbit. Of course the times you're prepared, the only thing you find deep in the woods are stuffed animals. Have to unload somehow before heading out, so here is a big fireball picture for better fortunes next time.
I've been really wanting a muzzle loading shotgun and finally saw this guy come up for sale at a bargain price. It's a 12 gauge percussion muzzle loading 1979 Pietta shotgun imported by Navy arms.
Upon inspection and tear down, I noticed a large crack developing behind the tang bolster either from the wood drying out and shrinking away or just poor fit in general. I was able to relieve the crack by drilling through the broken area and reinforcing it with epoxy and a brass pin. I went a step further and glass bed the tang to prevent any more issues. Next was addressing the barrels which had a healthy glow of rust inside and the muzzle crown was badly dented / pushed in at both barrels.
After reshaping a crown and filing it smooth, my initial measurements showed the muzzle had been coned at some point in the past and the left barrel jug choked. From the factory this gun would have been cylinder by cylinder but shooting it today I could really see what effect the difference between barrels created.
For now I've settled on 70 grains of 3F antique muzzle loading propellant, a 0.125 Nitro card, ballistol soaked 0.5 fiber wad, 1 oz. of shot, and an overshot card. These are the pictures of the patterns at 25 yds.
It's such a light and handy gun and I'm really looking forward to taking it out for rabbit and grouse this fall! My dream would be to find a way that I can safely shoot steel shot and bring it duck hunting. Does anyone have experience using BPI steel shot cups or mylar wraps with black powder? I'm having a hard time determining if steel could pass through a jug choke without damaging anything.
Finally settled on a load for my .58 cal Hawken muzzleloader for hunting deer this upcoming season. The idea was to identify a load by working down from the max charge and find something that I could shoot accurately.
I've worked out: 105 grains of my 2F antique muzzle loading propellant, a beeswax and tallow lubed 0.125 nitro card, 15 grains of corn meal, a 0.010 balistol lubed patch and a .575 round ball. The chronograph is clocking this in consistently between 1620 and 1630 fps and it will easily make 2 inch groups at 100 yards!
Between a very clean burning powder and combination of lubes the gun stays incredibly clean shot after shot. Perhaps it's the corn meal scraping the barrel clean, but everything really seems to be working together.
So I purchased this rifle at auction and when it arrived the bore was frosted with light rust. I cleaned it up and put a borescope down it to inspect the breech and look for pitting - everything seemed okay, then I took it to punch some paper and even with a light load of 40 grains it could barely get on a large target at 100 yards.
I inspected it with a flashlight after lapping the barrel and now that it's shining clean I can see a ring that is actually a 0.0060 (0.15mm) bulge 7 inches from the end. I'm considering cutting the barrel down to restore the accuracy - but I have no experience with that type of modification. I do have the tools and the skills - but does this seem reasonable?
Have this old Pedersoli Plainsman Smoothbore in .44 and it's my first muzzleloader without rifling, so I have no context for what to expect for accuracy at 50 and 100 yards. I'm shooting 50 grains of 3F with a 0.15 patch and a 433 round ball.
For some reason I was expecting accuracy out to 100 yards to be okay - am I wrong or do I need to keep working on a straight shooting combination?
Took my 58 caliber Hawken rifle out to the range to work out a load for hunting this fall, I'm shooting 90 grains of 2F antique muzzle loading propellant (76-14-10 1:1:1 Hazelwood, Willow, Arbutus at 1.80g/cm3) with a bees wax and olive oil lubed 0.125 nitro card, a 0.10 cotton patch with spit lube, and a 0.575 round ball @ 1,630FPS.
I'm very happy with the results as during my last range trip I was getting a shotgun pattern at 50yds from my patches blowing out. I know the typical move would be to go down to a 570 ball and move up to a 0.15 patch, but I already had these Nitro cards on hand so I thought I'd give them a try. Needless to say, they completely fixed my problem - and as a bonus between the lubed Nitro card and the spit lubed patches, my bore stayed incredibly clean. I'm very impressed with that swab after 20 shots and groups like this at 100 yds.
A few months ago I didn't own a single black powder firearm. Here's the gang today, two more incoming and probably more on the way!
I have .45, .54, and .58 - convince me why I might need a .50? It just seems like an orphan caliber to me... Not as efficient as .45, lacks the versatility of a .54 and can't hit with the authority of the .58 am I missing something...
Pedersoli Plainsman .45
Zoli 1863 Springfield reproduction .58 (Zouave)
Lyman Great Plains .54
Investarms Hawken .58
Pedersoli Kodiak Express Double rifle .58
Investarms Hawken Carbine .45
On the way:
Armi Sport Kentuckian .45
Pedersoli Mortimer .54 flintlock
Really hoping to pick up an antique status Remington New Model Army .44 when the opportunity presents itself
First time out with the Great Plains .54, so I decided to split some fire wood by shooting it with 80 grains of black powder and a patched ball - it does an excellent job breaking up rounds and is significantly more effort and fun than an axe. I couldn't bring myself to obliterate any rabbits today, even though excessive force is underrated. Pretty happy with the .535 and .012 patch combination as it was really easy to load.
They're both measured by weight, the Hazel+Arbutus is on the right.
Thought I'd throw this out there for anyone needing a burn rate reference for their powder!
Recently acquired this 45 cal muzzleloader and attempted to use the typical 45 cal combination of .440 round ball and .015 patch, but couldn't seat the patched ball. I tried a .010 patch and after hammering it in felt it lose resistance after about 12 inches of barrel. Generously lubed patches recovered all look like this with torn marks from the rifling, so I decided to get a measurement of the bore and found that the groove to groove diameter was .4495 and the land to land was .440! Measuring my 45 Hawken I got .460 and .445 - so this rifle is more accurately a 44 Cal. I am going to try some .433 balls in it but wanted to know if anyone has experience with the LEE .433 ball mold and what diameter it actually drops or if there is a solution I am overlooking here?
A bare .440 ball will not drop down the bore, but will go with a slight push.
Picked up a black powder muzzleloader on impulse a few months back, now I have 5. Still need to pick up a few .54 molds for my most recent acquisition. Any advice on what shoots best from a Lyman Great Plains in .54? I believe it has a 1-60 twist, but it hasn't arrived yet so I haven't verified. Does that rate of twist handle the Lee REAL bullet okay, it sounds like a patched round ball only number.
My first muzzleloader didn't like the REAL bullet, so I bought another in that caliber that does. I do really like patched round ball, and that seems like an easy win but it would sure be a nice hunting rifle with a short conical like the LEE .54 REAL 300
Went out on a walk looking for rabbits with my .45 Hawken. Didn't see anything to harvest, but did fire a few test shots just to continue my testing. Despite struggling to measure the powder in the wind, 100 yard accuracy was great and velocity was consistent.
How do you load on windy days without powder blowing everywhere? Are pre-measured tubes any good?
I've got two more muzzleloaders on the way, a .45 Pedersoli Plainsman and a .54 Lyman Great Plains. When they arrive I'll post a picture of the whole gang!
Found the secret sauce for my .45 Hawken Carbine - shooting 50 grains of antique muzzle loading propellant with .440 round ball was able to achieve 1,783 FPS from its 20 inch barrel while Swiss benchmarked at 1,630 FPS today. Fouling was exceptional, equal to Swiss cleanliness!
Got out to the range to test my homemade black powder again, this time with the granulation of 0.6 mm equating to 3f powder - which I have also glazed. I was hoping this was going to be a big improvement for my velocity and it certainly was, with a 50 grain charge I'm now seeing up to 1, 660fps with an average across seven shots of 1,627fps!
For context, Goex velocity with the same charge today is 1,460 FPS and swiss is 1,650 FPS.
Although fast, the carbon fouling seems quite heavy - probably a little dirtier than Goex. I'm still new to black powder firearms and making antique muzzle loading propellant, so anyone with more experience feel free to lend me some Sage advice. The patches pictured are between shots and without running a patch through you could probably make three shots before stopping to clean.
How can I improve this?
Picked up this old Hawken style rifle by Investarms and I really have been impressed with the accuracy. It has a chrome lined bore and 22 inch barrel, the peep sight is a huge improvement from the original blade style. It's a very capable rifle with PRB out to 100 yards with 80 grains of black powder at nearly 2000 fps!
Finally got time to post the benchmark results for my home made antique muzzle loading propellant. Using 77-13-10 Pacific Willow charcoal and milled for 18 hrs with brass media then compressed to a density of 1.75g/cm3 , screened to 2F then glazed for 2 hrs it was the first powder I've made that actually threw down to the grain in my powder measure!
Shot #5 on the chronograph is Goex 3F, shot #4 is Swiss and #1-3 are home made - all are 50 grains by volume.
If the fouling from Swiss is considered light and hard then the fouling from my powder would be soft and heavy - requiring cleaning every 4th shot, but coming away easily with even a dry patch.
Not sure how to elevate the performance to Swiss levels but I will start with matching their granule size and milling the charcoal independently for a few hours. Any thoughts would be helpful!
Just another angle for anyone who's interested. Old rims beware, this thing is devastating!
Testing out my 77-13-10 2F Willow charcoal black powder in my muzzleloading rifles. Unfortunately only the 25 yard range was open at the time so I couldn't get any idea on groups, but the chronograph on both rifles shows velocities slightly higher than Goex, and short of Swiss by a good margin. I'm curious because looking at the Swiss 2F powder and Goex 3F my 2F powder looks quite chunky - I think I'll grind it to a finer mesh, maybe what I would consider a 3F would equal Swiss 2F and my velocities would improve. Spreads were great though, less than 20fps between shots!