Muzzleloader Blues, Part 2

Last week I fixed the rust damage on my poor muzzleloader. Today, I'm  going to clean and protect the bore, since I'm sure it's rusty as well.

For most muzzleloaders, your ramrod will also serve as a cleaning rod. If not, locate an appropriate cleaning rod and patch holder or jag, as well as a bore brush sized for your rifle. An item called a bore mop is incredibly handy, but if you don't have one, patches can do its job as well.

I'm proceeding directly from the rust cleanup, so my barrel has been removed from the stock, and the nipple is also removed. If your gun is not to this point, do so before continuing.

(Editors Note: We apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. They were intended but there was a technical issue which prevented their inclusion.) 

1. First, rinse the bore with hot water and a bit of dish soap, and by hot, I mean just shy of boiling. 
2. Put the breech into a bucket or the bathtub and carefully pour the water down the muzzle until clean water comes out the nipple hole.
3. Once the water flows clean, rinse the bore with water that doesn't have soap in it. 
4. Dry the bore with cleaning patches.
5. Swab the barrel with a black-powder-specific bore cleaner, such as Thompson-Center #13. Regular gun oils and solvents can cause problems with black powder, so use the purpose-made products. 
6. Follow the wet patches with dry patches until they come out dry. 
7. Use either a bore mop or patch to lube the bore with a black-powder-specific lube. My preference is Bore Butter, because it is useful for almost any muzzeloading lubrication needs.

It's a bit different process than cleaning a cartridge firearm, but just as simple, and probably more important. Take care of your gun and it will take care of you for many years.

Lokidude

Muzzleloader Blues, Part 1

My cousin drew a muzzleloader elk tag and this weekend he, my uncle, and I were discussing our setups, our preferred loads, and other associated things. I ended up pulling mine out of the locker for the first time in a while, and was greeted by a disgusting sight: the entire area around the drum and lock had an unhealthy red coating. I'm sure it needs a thorough cleaning, and we'll get to that soon, but right now let's address the nasty elephant on my gun.

Rust like this occurs because black powder is hygroscopic, which means that it attracts and holds water. If it isn't completely removed from a gun, it will form a corrosive substance and rust will appear in a matter of days. The last time I fired this rifle, I obviously didn't get it all.

I started my cleaning by removing the barrel from the stock. This is the first step for cleaning the arm anyway, and it makes it far easier to get into all the crevices where rust hides.

The nipple (where you put the percussion cap) was seized into the drum and required vice grips to remove, which caused a bit of damage. While it could probably be salvaged, I have spares and nipples are fairly cheap. More importantly, it's very likely that rust has worked its way up the inside of the nipple, and that isn't easy to remove. Cleaning the threads will help prevent this in the future, and since I had the appropriate 6mm tap handy, I ran it down the hole to get everything clean and shiny.

For removing the surface rust, I use normal gun solvent and a bristle brush. Steel or nylon will work, but I'm fond of brass for this particular task. It may take a couple rounds of solvent and brush, but the rust should come off fairly readily.

Unfortunately, there is a bit of surface damage, so I'll have to apply some cold bluing compound when I've finished the rest of the cleaning process.

The damage has been arrested, but I still have a lot of cleaning ahead of me. We'll go through that coming up in the near future. I am also building a part that will prevent much of this problem in the future, but that too is a story for another day.

Lokidude

Black Powder Rifles: A Demonstration

Last week, I promised video of how to load and fire a black powder rifle. Today you get that video. In addition, I'll be linking the tools needed to safely load your rifle.

A flask and powder measure are needed to safely feed powder down the barrel. There are some wonderfully fancy ones on the market, but a simple pair like this will do the job very nicely.








The small tool you see me use to start the ball and patch down the bore is referred to as a short starter. It's not truly mandatory, but loading without it is an absurd pain.

There are other tools and gadgets on the market, with varying degrees of usefulness. As you get more experienced, you'll be able to decide which of these tools work best for you. And now, our feature presentation.



Have fun, and be safe and accurate.

Lokidude

Black Powder Riflery

Yesterday, Firehand wrote about forming your own cartridge cases. As a guy who shoots some obscure stuff, that was pretty cool. However, I'm going to go a step further down the DIY shooting hole, and discuss black powder riflery.

Why Black Powder?
Black powder has some benefits from a preparedness standpoint: the rifles are very simple and can be maintained with minimal tools, and the actual consumable components are also fairly basic and can be made at home if you're bold and careful. (Percussion caps are the current exception to this statement, but there have been cap-making tools available at times, and the buzz is that one may soon re-appear on the market. Until then, caps are cheap and stable, and can simply be stocked up.)

How it Works
If you watch cooking shows, the current buzzword seems to be "deconstructed"; common dishes served as component or disassembled parts. Shooting a muzzle-loading rifle is basically deconstructed shooting: powder, primer, and projectile are loose and are loaded separately into the gun, then fired like any other. Due to their explosive nature, caps and powder are quite expensive to ship and therefore are a bit limited online, but are readily available at most local sporting goods stores.

Powder

Powder must be black powder or a specific substitute. Smokeless powder will not work in these guns, and will result in serious injury or death. Also, do not exceed the maximum charge listed for your rifle! In my rifle, this happens to be 100 grains, as measured by volume instead of weight. 

One benefit of a black powder gun is that if you do not need that maximum charge, you can choose to load a lighter charge easily in the field.

Primer
Percussion caps are fairly universal. Some ultra-modern muzzle-loaders use shotgun primers, and a few very old designs use a larger musket cap, but the vast majority of percussion caps used are a standard #11cap. Your instruction manual will confirm which cap or primer you need.

Projectile
These can take one of a number of forms:

Patched Round Ball is the original load, and remains an effective benchmark to measure the rest of the slugs against. It gets its name because it is a simple round lead ball, sized slightly smaller than the bore (e.g. my .50 caliber muzzle-loader uses a .490 diameter ball). A small piece of cloth or other material is used to seal ("patch") the ball in the bore.

Full-bore Lead Bullets are the evolution of patched balls. They are sized to match the bore of the rifle and require no patch; just a bit of lubricating grease to obtain a full seal. They hit harder, expand better, and are in all ways an improvement on the original.

Jacketed Conical Slugs look like giant modern bullets that could be loaded in a cartridge case. They frequently have large hollow points, and use a plastic skirt to get a nearly perfect seal in the bore, giving better velocity and accuracy. They are the best performance available in a full-bore bullet, but cost more than simple lead.

Saboted Bullets are where the best of modern technology meets the old patched ball. Sabots are sized down from full bore, and use a plastic sleeve to get a good seal. They fly much faster than full-bore slugs, but sacrifice a bit of weight to do so.



Actually loading and firing a black powder rifle is kind of a show-me process. The easiest way to do that is through a video, which will be the meat of next week's article. Until then, take care of yourself and keep your powder dry. 

Lokidude