Getting ready to shoot my Potsdam but need some help

Oh! A thought for checking muzzle loader bores that a great fellow stateside showed me!
Bobber lights! They're tiny little LED lights - about the size and shape of a match stick snapped to 2/3 length. They've been at every walmart and target in the states I've visited - they attach to bobbers for fishing at night and you can buy replacement lights in sets of 2 or something like that. Just turn it on and drop it down the barrel and presto - brightly lit bore!

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bobb...j9&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8
http://i402.photobucket.com/albums/pp108/t-roys/utf-8BSU1HMDAyMzctMjAxMDAyMjEtMTcwM.jpg



Alternatively, since the potsdam should be in the 70 cal range - see if you can't find a small flashlight at Canadian tire or a liquidation/dollar store. If it'll drop down the bore great, otherwise gut it and electrical tape it back together without the clunky housing - an AA battery and LED will definitely fit down the barrel and you'll have a larger and white LED light to inspect with.
 
From the way you described the nipple, I absolutely would not shoot the gun without removing and replacing the nipple. Also to remove the oil from the barrel, I would suggest a bronze bore brush with a soft cloth patch on it. I suspect that a 12 guage brush would work well. When you push a new brush to the bottom of the barrel, twist the brush / rod as you start to pull back. Just pulling straight back means that it will be extremely difficult to withdraw the brush (twisting and pulling is relatively easy). I also suspect you are going to need heat to remove the nipple and as before there is a good chance that the threads will be pretty rusted. The threads are also probably not a standard north american thread and do not try using just anything that will grip enough to screw in. A piece of hardwood dowel tapered to the correct diameter and screwed in, should leave enough marks that you can check the thread pitch with a thread guage

cheers mooncoon
 
IIRC, the Germans were using inch threads at that time; metric only came in much later.

The German Inch was close enough to the English Inch that they are a close fit.

I have a very old German "thread restorer" which does a nice job making threads on a soft-iron shank. You can do the thread with the iron soft and then harden it afterwards.

As to charges, Jan and I both are shooting our Zulus with 60 grains of Black and a .690 Ball in a 12-bore wad. Further, Jan is shooting her 1850 commercial London musket with the same charge, same Ball and a 10-bore wad, getting quite decent accuracy..... out of a smoothbore! Likely this 1808 converted-percussion Musket here will eat the same, once the barrel has had its electrolysis, as will the 1833 chopped French musket.

LOT of work to do before summer!
 
Hello, Nabs. Regarding the stuck screw be patient, it will usually come out. Posters have suggested penetration oils and vibration on the screw head. That's good, keep doing that but also try heating the screw. Try transferring some heat from the tip of a soldering iron to the screw head. Actually the tip of an inexpensive pencil type soldering iron with a copper tip could be reshaped or cupped to fit the shape of the screw head for better heat transfer. It kind of wrecks the iron for soldering but it's now a specialized tool for such jobs as yours.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom