Black Powder 101,LOL
Well sir, you want to know about black powder shooting, well, i can tell you for one, its fun, for 2 its challenging, but nothing like the "big bang" and the smoke.
i shoot traditional hawkens rifle in 50 caliber , a kit gun from thompson center , as well i have 2 sxs shotguns well over 150yrs old, which i shoot regularly
For getting into it, my opinion would be a straight forward gun, nothing complicated or technical, the inlines to me are "cool looking" but just dont cut it on the range or at a shoot, most shoots only allow orig or replica original designed guns to participate, percussion cap guns are much easier to run than flintlocks, id go percussion for a beginner shooter
for the money id look on here for a good used thompson center hawkens or similar rifle, 50 caliber is the most common, which mine is, 45 cal guns are minimum for deer hunting, also, id look for a gun with a 1 in 48 twist rate barrel, this allows you to shoot lead bullets, also patch balls and saboted bullets
its the crossover twist rate for a multi use muzzleloader
as far as shooting it you will need the folowing
1- black powder or equivelant
2-shooting patches
3-short ball starter
4-cleaning jags and brushed for caliber of rifle
5-the will to have patience,LOL
6-percussion caps, or flint which ever your rifle has
7-powder measure and flask
8-patch and ball puller, nipple wrench and a nipple pic
loading these guns takes a min, but once you get it done a few times,its all comes naturally
9-projectiles of choice
so here is step by step,
1- check bore for a load left in it, by using ram rod that you have, measure length of barrel versus length of rod, if rod falls near out of site, its a good indication its empty
2-once that has been assertained, take your ramrod and an appropriate sized cleaning patch and wipe bore free of any storage oil or dirt from storing gun
3-once bore is rendered free of a load, and free of dirt and oil, proceed to take powder measure and set it to desired charge, NEVER POUR DIRECTLY FROM POWDER CAN TO GUN, BIG NO NO, STATIC CHARGE BETWEEN POWDER AND STEEL ON GUN COULD RESULT IN A FULL LB OF POWDER IGNITING
so what you should have is a measure, and pour from canister of powder to measure, do not flick or level off powder measure, as black powder is measure by volume not weight!!!!
4-once powder charge is in measure, proceed to pour into muzzle of rifle,
after that i will lightly tap with hand the side of barrel , allows powder to settle to bottom
5-choose appropriate projectile, either patched lead ball, or a bullet of sorts
place projectile in muzzle of rifle,using your short starter, tap projectile until it starts into bore just beneath muzzle, then use ramrod provided with rifle to firmly seat it on top of powder, you must be sure you have it firmly seated on powder
6-once projectile is in barrel and seated on powder charge, we can now proceed to cap or prime the gun, place hammer on half ####, and put percussion cap on nipple.
7-well we are now ready to go to the shooting bench or firing line, basically now pull hammer to full ####, take a good aim, and BANG.
after shooting is done, for next shot, take a patch on ramrod, swab bore with a semi wet patch to put out embers in bottom of bore also clears rifling to make reloading easier as there will be stuff building up in barrel after period of time
8-Now after we get home, we must clean our gun, black powder is corrosive and erosssive if left in gun, can ruin the barrel with rust!!!
so now we have to remove barrel from stock, go to the kicthen get a container of hot soapy water, dish soap works fine, use a claeaning jag for caliber you have, with cotton patching, swab bore up and down several time, water will get black quick, after probably 12-15 reps of swabbing, take barrel and dry patch it until patches come out clean, the heat from hot water should dry out inner barrel, also wipe down any area on metal where fouling from powder is seen, after we are all clean, we must oil mr muzzleloader inside and out, and check him periododically especially in humid weather, to prevent the rusties
I hope this has shed some light on the matter, believe me its not as hard as it looks, once you do it, or even watch guys shooting black powder, it all comes together
message me if you have any questions, also lots of info online on different guns and projectiles to use, also depending on your gun, general rule of thumb is using 2f black powder for 45-50 cal guns which are most common, some of the smaller bore guns need smaller ground powder called 3 f, the very large guns like shotguns or muskets sometimes use corse grade powder called f grade
when purchasing a muzzle loader whether on here from a member or from a dealer, ask what they reccommend for shooting it, and stick with it!!!!
happy shooting my friend hope you find a gun you like and start shooting!!
