u/drakaina6600

I decided to go to the mountains to a few thousand acres I've got access to and shoot as much as possible since it's amazing therapy, and brought my .45 cal Jukar pistol with me. I ended up going through a quarter pound of powder today with it, and I really dig it. I was experimenting between 18 grains up to 30 grains. 20-22 grains is this pistols sweet spot imo.

It shoots stupid high and makes a Colt Navy look accurate. But once you get in a groove with it, its a literal blast to shoot. I was going to upload the video of it belching fire in slow motion too, but sadly I can only upload one.

The best part of the day though?

When someone else on a nearby mountain range started shooting in response to me shooting. Lol. Fun times.

Ok, so I have this "little" .45 cal Jukar that was handed down to me. When I got it, I ran a brush down the bore and then some patches and got it almost spotless. I assumed everything was fine and it was ready to shoot.

Long story short, fast forward a few months and I finally got some .440 staged balls for it and lubed patches, which were too thick, and used a cotton rag I had that was thin enough. Went through 5 or 6 caps before I gave in and said I had a ball stuck after finally getting a chance to shoot it 30 years after I first saw it l as a small child.

So I found out today, just before getting it loose that my dad who won it from a pushboard originally, traded it to an uncle of mine for a few years, and apparently the hole between the cone threads and the bore was completely fouled up from him shooting it, which is why it wouldn't fire. I should have known better cause 2 of the three muzzleloaders I got from him were like that. I guess in his age before he passed he didn't fully clean them.

The ball puller I used was on the ramrod for a .50 cal Thompson Center rifle since it was just smaller than the bore and I thought it might center better than any of my other options.

So now, I have 2 questions. First, what's the best way to clean that hole between the cone and bore of it? I mostly do cap and ball revolvers and inline muzzleloaders, so this is new to me. And second, since I need a super thin patch using a .440 ball in it, what are my best options for that? So far, everything I find is too thick.

Sorry this is so long for 2 simple questions, but I was excited I got my first stuck ball loose pretty easily. The cone isn't reinstalled yet, if anyone even notices.

This was my first attempt at casting brass. I used petrobond sand and a real bear claw to make the mold. There are definitely defects and issues I can work on, but it's not too bad.

I'm open to any suggestions on how I can improve the quality and are there any resources to learn how to do a better sprue? I have a small cast iron flask and the way I did it ended up with one side a little wonky.