I say pull it by hand. Why!? Because its a royal pain in the as$, these royal pains tend to stick with me and therefore I tend to not dryball my loads...anymore that is.
Hello. New muzzle loader checking in1
- Thread starter emmab
- Start date
Being able to pick a little bit of fine powder into the drum is a handy trick to master regardless of how you pull a ball.
I admit to having succumbed to peer pressure and let a friend talk me into to using Pyro in a 50cal Mountain Pattern. Well about every 5th shot simply would not go off. So off comes the nipple to pick Black into the drum and flash hole. Most of the shots that did go off were holy hangfire fire batman. I've never bothered to figure out why that rifle hates Pyro so much...nor do I care.
I admit to having succumbed to peer pressure and let a friend talk me into to using Pyro in a 50cal Mountain Pattern. Well about every 5th shot simply would not go off. So off comes the nipple to pick Black into the drum and flash hole. Most of the shots that did go off were holy hangfire fire batman. I've never bothered to figure out why that rifle hates Pyro so much...nor do I care.
Well this has been a great thread and I hope it stays around so I can check back to it (and the stickies too of course)! Now Im getting into it again with my new revolver, replacing my first purchase which was an italian .36 model navy that destructed itself before I fired it. I was showing buddy how to put it on half #### and it locked up and a chunk fell out. So the new one is a New Model Navy from one of our sponsors who deemed my other .36 may not be worth gunsmithing price back to useable(loose arbor and a no name brand to boot!) So we struck a deal. So a range trip is going to be coming
Last question I have is why would anyone pull a "dry ball" or any other barrel block instead of shooting it out?
Thanks. Now Im into something different and the AR s are getting dusty!! LOL
Cheers
Last question I have is why would anyone pull a "dry ball" or any other barrel block instead of shooting it out?
Thanks. Now Im into something different and the AR s are getting dusty!! LOL
Cheers
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There are some circumstances that make shooting out a dry ball tough.
I have a CVA mountain that has a miserable drum on it. Its a real PITA to pick powder into. Its on the list to put a new drum on but never seems to make it to the top of the list.
As well the area just ahead of the breech plug can be less than minty fresh. Especially if the gun is older and seen lots of use. Which affects nothing as under normal circumstances the ball never sees this portion of the barrel. But if a dry ball gets shoved down there with some umph behind it, it slams up against the breech plug and squashes out into the craters....now you got a fun one on your hands :~)
And it may be just my good fortune but I have purchased 2 rifles used that showed there was a charge in the bore when I dropped the rod down.....I am not quite crazy enough to shoot out someone else s mystery charge.
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Thanks for clearing that up! Being a newbie means I haven't run into half the problems that can occur. Just from reading other posts it seems that a rammed in ball is going to be a mother to pull out. I know with my hawken it takes quite a bit of force to seat a ball so I can imagine it wouldn't be fun. And I'm sure I would need a heavy duty rod for sure to even start to move it. I'll keep experimenting with co2 and see if it's possible(and make a range rod out of steel too). Just the idea of working on the business end isn't too appealing either. Thanks again for great information
it's actually the holding of the rifle with your feet and thighs as you grunt, fart, moan, swear and sweat trying to get the ball to move that causes anyone in eye shot who's "been there done that" to burst into 
."Why not just shoot it out?" As well as that which has already been said, depending on how tight your ball/patch is to the bore diameter can make or break the procedure. We're only talking about 1 or 2 grains, and with a tight ball it won't be enough to move it...you may well experience the same with CO2.
target shooting=tight interference projectile with lighter loads.(40-60 grains)
Hunting= a looser projectile fit, with like twice or slightly more of a powder charge.(80-100+grains)
*edit* forgot to mention. Only shoot lead. Not the wheel weight sh1t...the procedure above would be next to impossible to get the screw to cut into the WW material (too hard)
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Emmab, when I mentioned the CO2 thingie I included that it's a BICYCLE accessory. You'll want to check out either MEC, who I know carries them, or one of the better bike stores in the area.
Now that you've got the rifle and revolver and have gotten to shoot the rifle and will soon be revolver savvy you'll want to join us at Chilliwack for our monthly black powder shoot. It's a nice trail walk along the base of the hill that serves as the range's big backstop. But pack portable as there's not really anywhere to set things down. So you want a shoulder bag or a vest with lots of pockets.
I'm coming to the realization that the patch and how tight it makes the ball fit is every bit as important as how much powder I use. And the best accuracy I've gotten was with a moderately tight patch which I was able to ram home with only a couple of grabs and which didn't try to peel skin off my hand or break my wooden ramrod. I had to use some .495 size balls recently because of running out of my preferred .490's. I used a thinner patch to compensate but it isn't the right one to get an accurate load. Something is missing or not right for this combo.
I've since gotten a .490 mold and if the balls from this mold work with my old patch material again then I'll likely not bother fussing with the .495's. Instead I'll just melt them down and turn them into a few more .490's.
I mention all this so you can see that the patch and ball have to complement each other. It's not just about the right powder charge. Although the patch is shed within inches of leaving the muzzle it still serves a very important function while in the bore of getting the ball spinning. So we can't just sluff it off.
Now that you've got the rifle and revolver and have gotten to shoot the rifle and will soon be revolver savvy you'll want to join us at Chilliwack for our monthly black powder shoot. It's a nice trail walk along the base of the hill that serves as the range's big backstop. But pack portable as there's not really anywhere to set things down. So you want a shoulder bag or a vest with lots of pockets.
I'm coming to the realization that the patch and how tight it makes the ball fit is every bit as important as how much powder I use. And the best accuracy I've gotten was with a moderately tight patch which I was able to ram home with only a couple of grabs and which didn't try to peel skin off my hand or break my wooden ramrod. I had to use some .495 size balls recently because of running out of my preferred .490's. I used a thinner patch to compensate but it isn't the right one to get an accurate load. Something is missing or not right for this combo.
I've since gotten a .490 mold and if the balls from this mold work with my old patch material again then I'll likely not bother fussing with the .495's. Instead I'll just melt them down and turn them into a few more .490's.
I mention all this so you can see that the patch and ball have to complement each other. It's not just about the right powder charge. Although the patch is shed within inches of leaving the muzzle it still serves a very important function while in the bore of getting the ball spinning. So we can't just sluff it off.
Thanks for the information and invitation to shoot with you! That sounds very interesting. Do you use revolvers too or is it just long guns?As you know it was the first trip out last weekend and I ended up with the prelubed patch measuring 15 thou. This and a .530 all lead ball seemed to shoot to poa for me while sitting down. I'm not vey accurate off hand standing so sitting I was able to hit what I was aiming at(more or less lol). I'm in the process of putting together a CO2 thingie using a bike tire inflator that I did get from MEC. I'll post what I have done if it works. It consists of the cartridge, valve and a tip from a MIG wire feed. The tip is copper and has a thread pitch that works on 1/4x 28 nipple hole. Now I will thread the other end to be the same as a bicycle schraeder valve which is on the inflator. I'll drill a larger hole through the tip , screw it into the rifle-and attach it to the inflator. So we'll see if it works.Thanks again to all who participated in this post!! Cheers
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- Location
- vancouver island
And another newbie safely converted to the "Dark side"
