Hello, I am looking for advice on what accessories I should have for loading during target practice and for hunting. There's a few kits on marstars website but I am curious if its better to buy one of those or acquire things individually. Any input would be greatly appreciated, the gun I am acquiring is a lyman deerstalker.
New to muzzleloading
- Thread starter ryanthace
- Start date
Welcome.
Initially, I would recommend just buying projectiles (balls). Later you'll get into casting your own, for now, just buy a couple hundred balls.
I'd recommend a brass powder flask, and a brass powder measure. When bench shooting, leave the flask behind you on the rifle rack...if when firing, a spark were to find its way into the flask on the bench beside you that would equate to a bad day...read, hand grenade detonating next to your head. No bueno.
With rifle, ball and powder out of the way, you'll also need patch and lube. I'd recommend 10 thou "pillow ticking" and commercially available "bore butter". The lubricant eases the ball and patch down the barrel and it also helps with swabbing out carbon, keeps it soft. Many guys also eventually make their own patch lube out of a concoction of beeswax, tallow, vegetable oils, etc... but initially, just buy a tube of BB, it's good stuff.
Just about anything can be used as a patch, but in order to keep a consistency of the load is why I recommend the 10 thou. pillow ticking.
If your deerstalker is a flinter, you'll need flints and priming powder, if it's a caplock...you'll need percussion caps...and you're off and shooting!
To load, aside from your ram rod, you'll need a short ball starter (maybe not a "need" but it certainly makes things easier). Some recommended rod attachments would be a ball screw (for when you dryball the gun...you will dryball the gun.), a worm, and a patch eye.
Do not put a brush down your bore...you'll never get it back out. If you absolutely must, and you really shouldn't, need to scrub the rifling, use a tornado brush as it's bi-directional. A copper brush is not.
wishing you tight groups!
Initially, I would recommend just buying projectiles (balls). Later you'll get into casting your own, for now, just buy a couple hundred balls.
I'd recommend a brass powder flask, and a brass powder measure. When bench shooting, leave the flask behind you on the rifle rack...if when firing, a spark were to find its way into the flask on the bench beside you that would equate to a bad day...read, hand grenade detonating next to your head. No bueno.
With rifle, ball and powder out of the way, you'll also need patch and lube. I'd recommend 10 thou "pillow ticking" and commercially available "bore butter". The lubricant eases the ball and patch down the barrel and it also helps with swabbing out carbon, keeps it soft. Many guys also eventually make their own patch lube out of a concoction of beeswax, tallow, vegetable oils, etc... but initially, just buy a tube of BB, it's good stuff.
Just about anything can be used as a patch, but in order to keep a consistency of the load is why I recommend the 10 thou. pillow ticking.
If your deerstalker is a flinter, you'll need flints and priming powder, if it's a caplock...you'll need percussion caps...and you're off and shooting!
To load, aside from your ram rod, you'll need a short ball starter (maybe not a "need" but it certainly makes things easier). Some recommended rod attachments would be a ball screw (for when you dryball the gun...you will dryball the gun.), a worm, and a patch eye.
Do not put a brush down your bore...you'll never get it back out. If you absolutely must, and you really shouldn't, need to scrub the rifling, use a tornado brush as it's bi-directional. A copper brush is not.
wishing you tight groups!
Muzzleloading Forum dot com.
Some people are happy with pre lubed patches but generally they're reported to deteriorate with time. Plus making lube yourself you can find what seems to be the magic elixir.
Start working toward casting asap. You'll undoubtedly end up going down that road anyway.
Track of The Wolf. The Gun Works in Springfield Oregon. Many, many others.
Repeat after me... muzzleloading forum dot com.
Some people are happy with pre lubed patches but generally they're reported to deteriorate with time. Plus making lube yourself you can find what seems to be the magic elixir.
Start working toward casting asap. You'll undoubtedly end up going down that road anyway.
Track of The Wolf. The Gun Works in Springfield Oregon. Many, many others.
Repeat after me... muzzleloading forum dot com.
Hi Ryan,
I would suggest you come to our club in Saskatoon sometime for a shoot. We have lots of guys that would be happy to show you our shooting kits and we would love to have you join the shoots. Everyone is welcome. Shoots cost $5 for the day and the range is 10 minutes west of Saskatoon. Our calandar is available at www.saskatoonmuzzleloadingclub.com. Here is a link to the calendar http://https://6593a0c0-6210-4e15-afb2-d761b8f1f301.usrfiles.com/ugd/6593a0_85525e72d2254e5ab18b1dfc0860e4e4.pdf
During the summer we have shoots pretty much every other weekend and they are lots of fun.
My shooting gear is pretty simple. A steel range rod for loading and cleaning. A short starter. An old leather purse used as a possibles bag. A powder horn, a bullet mold for casting balls, I cut my own patches from cotton bought at a fabric store, I use a mixture of cutting oil and water for cleaning and lubing patches. I shoot a flintlock so I have flints, screw driver and a little punch and hammer in my bag.
I would suggest you come to our club in Saskatoon sometime for a shoot. We have lots of guys that would be happy to show you our shooting kits and we would love to have you join the shoots. Everyone is welcome. Shoots cost $5 for the day and the range is 10 minutes west of Saskatoon. Our calandar is available at www.saskatoonmuzzleloadingclub.com. Here is a link to the calendar http://https://6593a0c0-6210-4e15-afb2-d761b8f1f301.usrfiles.com/ugd/6593a0_85525e72d2254e5ab18b1dfc0860e4e4.pdf
During the summer we have shoots pretty much every other weekend and they are lots of fun.
My shooting gear is pretty simple. A steel range rod for loading and cleaning. A short starter. An old leather purse used as a possibles bag. A powder horn, a bullet mold for casting balls, I cut my own patches from cotton bought at a fabric store, I use a mixture of cutting oil and water for cleaning and lubing patches. I shoot a flintlock so I have flints, screw driver and a little punch and hammer in my bag.
Licensed to kill
CGN Regular
- Location
- Peace Country Alberta
Pretty good advice. A couple things I would suggest differently though is, for just starting out, an empty shampoo bottle with some sort of spout, either one on the flip up ones or a fixed one works as a powder flask and is free. If. when you get hooked on MLing, you can then look for an actual flask or horn (or better yet make your own) and if you find that MLing is not for you, you have less accoutrements to try to sell. The other thing is that, for patch lube NOTHING beats saliva and again, it is free. When you get your patch materiel, cut it into strips, not patches, then short start and cut flush at the muzzle with a patch knife. easier that trying to centre the ball on a square or round patch as you only have to centre side to side. Again, a sharp perring knife from the kitchen works for this and, again, it is free and you can buy or make a nice patch knife down the road if you choose to continue down this road. Priming powder (ffff) is OK but not necessary. 3F from your horn/flask/shampoo bottle works just fine as does 2F for priming. No real need to buy a pound of ffff just for that but if you choose to stick with MLing, you can go the ffff priming powder route. Not recommended for hunting though as it is too hygroscopic (saliva patch lube is not recommended for hunting either as it can dry out waiting to be shot) . An old ladies purse works as a possibles bag, again, should be free if your wife has one laying around or, if not, can get one from salvation army of some other thrift shop for next to nothing. Short starters are nice and easy to make. RB's typically come in 2 sizes for most calibre. .005 and .010 under calibre size. Buy a box of each and try them to see which shoots best with the patch material you get. Patch material is 100% cotton or linen ONLY. NO BLENDS!!!!. Don't buy too much to star as patch material has probably the biggest affect on accuracy with PRB.
BTW, no need to buy anything special to clean it as plain water works as good or better than anything else. Just be sure to dry and protect after, fluid film is hard (impossible?) to beat for rust preventative.
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I have some different suggestions; one suggestion was not to use a bronze bore brush for cleaning because it will become stuck in the bore; I use a 20/28 guage bronze brush on an aluminum shotgun cleaning rod for cleaning. If the brush is new and stuck, twist the brush while pulling up and it will come up without difficulty. Over time the brush will crush down and not be a problem. On the short run Vaseline Intensive care makes a good patch lube for the range, later you can switch to "moose milk" which is a water soluable cutting oil with a few additives. Spit patching dries out quickly and the only smoldering patches I have seen were spit patched but not wet enough. For hunting use Fluid Film which is a spray on light grease, because it does not dry out while in the borer. It is also excellent for oiling the bore after cleaning because it does not migrate down the bore. I would use 3F powder because the coarser the powder and the greasier the patch lube, the more fouling you will get between shots. Buy some diaper flannel from your local fabric store, for cleaning patches and buy a micrometer for measuring patch thickness when buying cotton (only) fabric for patching. Final suggestion is to make a mallet shaped short starter with a 8 or 9" long 3/8" handle ; you will find the square end on the head to be easier to use for starting the ball and short starting a ball down 8 or 9" makes it easier to ram down than a 4" handle
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
All good advice - particularly a couple of handy tools I would add a nipple wrench (and a spare nipple or two) to that list as well as some kind of pick - I use pipe cleaners cut into 3" or so lengths.
As for patching, the best advise is cutting your own - I bought a couple square meters of cotton weave for about $15 .... way cheaper. (you want something with a very tight weave) I cut them into 2" (or so) wide strips run a bead of bore butter down it's length, roll it up tie it off with some string stick 3 or 4 in a little tin lozenge box and leave it on the car dash on a hot day - the bore butter will melt into the material.
not mentioned (I don't think) the reason for cutting your own patches is actually - accuracy! You get a perfect patch every time. Material wadded up unevenly around the ball can cause accuracy issues.....
I use blue shop towels for cleaning ... buy in bulk for the shop anyway and they work great!
Priming, you ~can~ prime with any granulation of powder, but 4f throws less chunks of crap in your face and does not seem to build up fouling as quickly.
I like the purse idea .... ahahah " hey Dave, hand me my purse!" hhaha
As for patching, the best advise is cutting your own - I bought a couple square meters of cotton weave for about $15 .... way cheaper. (you want something with a very tight weave) I cut them into 2" (or so) wide strips run a bead of bore butter down it's length, roll it up tie it off with some string stick 3 or 4 in a little tin lozenge box and leave it on the car dash on a hot day - the bore butter will melt into the material.
not mentioned (I don't think) the reason for cutting your own patches is actually - accuracy! You get a perfect patch every time. Material wadded up unevenly around the ball can cause accuracy issues.....
I use blue shop towels for cleaning ... buy in bulk for the shop anyway and they work great!
Priming, you ~can~ prime with any granulation of powder, but 4f throws less chunks of crap in your face and does not seem to build up fouling as quickly.
I like the purse idea .... ahahah " hey Dave, hand me my purse!" hhaha
