just bought my first blackpowder rifle

Dustin

Dustin

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Wainwright, AB
Yesterday I was at a gun auction and bought a .45 cal caplock rifle. I was told that it has a relatively weak receiver, and so should only shoot light loads through it. being as green as I am with black powder arms, I'd appreciate some advice here as to what else I need to buy and what defines a "light load"
I was planning on shooting round balls... just for the hell of it.
 
Could you post some pics of the gun and mabye give us a make/ model.

Also try to see what the bore looks like.

For my .45 I started with 45 grains of FFFG powder and then worked up from there. You could lower it a bit to if you are concerned

Cheers, McLean
 
make is unknown, it says made in italy and has an intersecting P and R on it. Wouldn't FFg be better to use for it? I have some FFFg Goex, but I bought that for use in .45 Colt...
 
I shoot FFFG in all my guns up to .58 caliber i find it ignites better and faster with less of a hangfire. Overall its just better in my opinion.

McLean
 
You need some .440 balls and some cloth patch material as well as some form of lube..vegetable shortening will work. The FFFG Goex is fine for the rifle... start with 40-45 grains this should be enough. If it is made in Italy it should have proof marks on it somewhere.
 
You need:
Powder horn. Never load the gun from your horn unless you have the brass spout and measure. Most don't have this.
Powder measure( get an adjustable one)
Primers. I recommend you use #10 magnum. They have a great track record with me.
You should get a touch hole pick. It helps clear the nipple if it gets clogged.
Ball starter
Range rod. You don't want to break your rod while practicing.
Ball. As said 440
Patches. Try to get some prelubed patches about .10 thick. I find that works best in my guns.

Then you need range cleaning solution. I use a mix of windex, isporophyl alcohol, dish soap and some water.

You need cleaning rags. I keep a bunch soaking in the mix above. It makes cleaning easier.

You need a patch pick. It attaches to your range rod to allow you to remove patches that come off your cleaning rod. It happens to everyone.

I recommend you look for a spin jag in your caliber. It makes loading and cleaning easier.

Lastly you need a range box to hold only your BP gear. It does pile up.

For hunting I recommend speed loaders. Then you only need your ball starter. No need for a possibles bag.

Just my thoughts.
 
Dustin, you gun is a Tingle pattern. 40-50 gr of 3f powder will be good.If you are going through Camrose PM me first & I might be able to get you started. PS- I sat in front of you at the sale. Aj
 
As a rule of thumb for target shooting, the coarser the powder and the greasier the lube, the more fowling you will get. I chronographed a few of my target loads; with my regular charge of 50 gr of 3F in a 54 cal, I think I got around 1300 fps. Going to 2F, I lost about 100 fps and a further 100 by going to 1F

I would stick to 3F powder and use some form of moose milk (based on water soluable oil and water). Make sure you use 100% cotton for patching.

I trust you realize that you clean the gun by pouring warm water down the barrel and following with a bronze brush for several cycles then dry patches to dry the barrel and some form of oil which is non migratory like Fluid Film which comes in a spray can and is used for rust prevention on boats amongst other things. Should find it at Canadian Tire

cheers mooncoon
 
Once you figure out what load you are going to use I would make sure you have everything you need in case you have issues at the range.

1. Somebody mentioned a nipple pick, I would never head out without it.

2. Spare nipples, I had times when the pick wouldn't get the job done and had to install a new nipple to get it to fire.

3. Nipple wrench

4. Ball puller and a rod. I have seen it happen a few times, people get excited and forget to put the powder in and load a ball. I have seen people have the puller but it doesn't fit on their rod. Make sure you have all the bits a pieces before heading out.

5. Quick clean patches and cleaning jag. If you are going to shoot a lot it's best to run a cleaning patch once in a while. I like the CVA Barrel Blaster quick clean patches, followed by a dry patch.

6. Patch Puller Worm, in case you lose a cleaning patch you can dig it out. Like the ball puller make sure it fits your rod.

7. Before you head out make sure you have everything you need to give it a good cleaning when you get home as you really need to clean them well so make sure you have all the tools required to take it apart and clean it well. I would do a test dis-assembly before shooting to make sure you are not missing anything before shooting it.

Hope this helps.
 
Last edited:
tbrwlf said:
You need:
Powder horn. Never load the gun from your horn unless you have the brass spout and measure. Most don't have this.
Powder measure( get an adjustable one)
Primers. I recommend you use #10 magnum. They have a great track record with me.
You should get a touch hole pick. It helps clear the nipple if it gets clogged.
Ball starter
Range rod. You don't want to break your rod while practicing.
Ball. As said 440
Patches. Try to get some prelubed patches about .10 thick. I find that works best in my guns.

Then you need range cleaning solution. I use a mix of windex, isporophyl alcohol, dish soap and some water.
Click to expand...

You mean windex made with vinager? And not the most common windex with ammonia.
I often see windex made with vinager used for cleaning at the BPCR shoots.
 
I disagree with the recommendation to use # 10 caps as they are for revolvers and may fit too tight on the rifle nipple. Use standard #11 CCI or Remington percussion caps - yes they ignite the powder but are not "primers" in the usual context. A typical max load for hunting with a 45 cal would be about 70 gr. FFFg: that will put a ball through a deer at 100 yds. Go for max accuracy, not max velocity. Good luck
 
given the condition this thing appears to be in... I don't think accuracy will even be something I can reasonably shoot for... but if I decide I like this muzzleloading thing... then I'll get another one to hunt with, but new
 
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