Thanks for the pleasant surprise, Dad

Zedbra

Zedbra

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I was going through a box of jackets that my father had put aside for me before he passed and to my surprise it contained more than just jackets; inside I also found a Traditions Trapper .50cal black powder percussion pistol. I spent a good hour on the phone with Miramachi this afternoon, going through the steps to get this gun registered. The nice woman verified the gun over the phone and walked me through going online and requesting a registration, so now it is hurry up and wait. I guess I now have some reading to do to figure out how to enjoy shooting and maintaining this gun, plus where to find supplies (this is the fun part anyways).

 
Nice find. You'll like the Trapper. I've got one and it's a great shooter. 30 grains of triple 7 and a .490 dia. round ball and #11 caps (I prefer CCI's). Enjoy!
 
Excellent pistol but try about 20 gr FFFg real black powder with a 490 ball and lubed light denim patch. CCI #11 caps are perfect. #10 caps are for cap and ball revolvers.
 
Ol' Flinter said:
Excellent pistol but try about 20 gr FFFg real black powder with a 490 ball and lubed light denim patch. CCI #11 caps are perfect. #10 caps are for cap and ball revolvers.
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My condolences on the loss of your father. I suspect that it was his intention to surprise you.

X2 on the suggestion from Ol'Flinter. When you are ready to shoot it, there is a wealth of resources on this site.
 
MC One Shot said:
My condolences on the loss of your father. I suspect that it was his intention to surprise you.

X2 on the suggestion from Ol'Flinter. When you are ready to shoot it, there is a wealth of resources on this site.
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Thank you - I know it was meant as a surprise, the box was specifically marked in my name. Him and I always liked our jackets - it drives my wife nuts. Ironically, I had opened up two other boxes of jackets of his a few years back and then finally this one while doing some spring cleaning. I also found a nice powder horn.

I was told the registration could take some a while (maybe months), so I have time to read. From videos, it looks like I will be needing a few items to load this properly (I don't yet know all the names of the tools). Is there a good vendor here to consider calling for black powder gear and supplies?
 
Zedbra said:
Thank you - I know it was meant as a surprise, the box was specifically marked in my name. Him and I always liked our jackets - it drives my wife nuts. Ironically, I had opened up two other boxes of jackets of his a few years back and then finally this one while doing some spring cleaning. I also found a nice powder horn.

I was told the registration could take some a while (maybe months), so I have time to read. From videos, it looks like I will be needing a few items to load this properly (I don't yet know all the names of the tools). Is there a good vendor here to consider calling for black powder gear and supplies?
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Unfortunately there are no adequate vendors in the region for black powder shooting materials. Track of the Wolf is your best bet for the accouterments that you need. They will ship the products to you. Send me a PM with your email address and I will send you a pictorial list of what you need for the pistol. For black powder and caps which cant be shipped economically , Peter at Rustywood in Mission is the only dealer that I know of in the Valley.
 
I hope to run into you at one of the local BP shoots where you bring your Dad's gun out to play. If you see a guy that is seriously follically challenged at a local BP shoot down here in the Valley ask if he's BCRider.

From my own testing I started out at 20 on a couple of single shot pistols and worked up to 30 where they showed a big improvement in consistency and accuracy. I still need to fine tune things but the point is to stay flexible and find the sweet spot for the barrel and projectile. Hell, even the patch fit matters it seems. In one case I went from "minute of hillside" to truly a small circle of error just with a patch material change. So stay flexible for now and try a bunch of options for each aspect.

While MC One Shot is right that supplies are sketchy Peter at Rusty Wood Trading at least keeps black powder in good supply. Along with that he tries to keep cappers and measures in stock as well. He even has a couple of small bags of different size flints. He's trying to find a regular source of caps but at this point it's apparently tough to find any at all, let alone a regular supply. I know because I keep asking.
 
Thanks BCRider - I have a feeling that I am going to have a lot of fun with this pistol, which may lead me down a muzzle loader road of further enjoyment. ;)

Are there any particular items/measures that you would specifically recommend?
 
Zedbra said:
.......Are there any particular items/measures that you would specifically recommend?
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It's all pretty basic and well covered on a variety of black powder web sites that nicely describe the basics.

You've got a powder horn already so really you only need a measure. You can certainly buy them and in fact the last time I was up there Rusty Wood had the popular stick style measure with the adjustable piston and fold away funnel on the wall. He also had a variety of cappers that make handling the caps and putting them onto the nipple a much easier and tidier task if you're not shooting from a bench.

Speaking of your first trials from a bench setup. I suggest you bring along a towel that is large enough to lay out and place all your loading goodies on and still be large enough to fold the towel over the powder horn and caps. With a flint lock this is pretty important as there's a shower of sparks. But cap rifles and pistols tend to toss out at least SOME sparks from around the cap and the last thing you need is to have one of those reach the powder in your horn or flask. So a towel to cover up the stuff before you shoot is not a bad trick IMO.

One of the few things that I've done a bit differently for my single shot pistols is to make up a combination ram rod and ball starter that is similar to a regular muzzle loading ball starter but with a longer ram rod that lets me fully ram the ball down onto the powder in the pistols. I use this instead of the ram rod that comes with the guns just because it's easier to use the one tool than fuss around with separate starter and ram rod. I used a section of antler and wood dowel for mine but the same thing can easily be made from hardwood for the handle and regular dowel for the ram rod. A branch cutting from a hard wood tree that is around 1.5 inch in diameter would be dandy.

Round ball can be surprisingly hard to find in the lower mainland stores. And the odd time you do find it you'll cry at the price. I don't think it's exaggerating to say that most black powder round ball shooters have bought molds and a small melting pot and cast their own. I know I went that route a couple of years back. And having the pot is now leading me into casting my own bullets for my single shot cartridge rifles on a small scale basis.

I don't know what you have up in Squamish for black powder activity but here in the Fraser Valley there's two clubs with fairly large black powder groups. Ridgedale is one and the Chilliwack club in the other. Both of them hold regular monthly black powder shoots that involve a low key walk along a trail that runs around parts of the range. The targets tend to be quite odd and are certainly focused on the "fun" aspect. And in fact I don't doubt that if you made arrangements ahead of time to attend one or the other that someone would be more than happy to supply you a few balls, powder and caps to try your dad's pistol.

I know it's quite a drive but I can pretty much assure you that it would be a fun filled day and you'd learn a lot from the folks you wander around shooting with.
 
Zedbra said:
Thank you - I know it was meant as a surprise, the box was specifically marked in my name. Him and I always liked our jackets - it drives my wife nuts. Ironically, I had opened up two other boxes of jackets of his a few years back and then finally this one while doing some spring cleaning. I also found a nice powder horn.

I was told the registration could take some a while (maybe months), so I have time to read. From videos, it looks like I will be needing a few items to load this properly (I don't yet know all the names of the tools). Is there a good vendor here to consider calling for black powder gear and supplies?
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It won't take long to re-register it ( likely...). I brought one of my Dad's pistols in ' from the dark ' and it was surprisingly easy. Good score BTW
 
Thanks for that info, BCRider. There are many different shoots in Squamish, but black powder isn't one of them, unfortunately. I will certainly look into some of the organized shoots out in the Valley - sounds like a lot of fun. And thank you to MC One Shot for the detailed emails. Cheers, gents.
 
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