Originally Posted by icehunter (Post 2775414)

First...make sure its pure lead and not ww material...Second,you could always join the ABPA...Alberta Black Powder Assossciation...Lots of helpful ppl in that club with members all across Alberta. There is a book out there ,by Sam Fadela..it was titled...gun digest-Black powder loading manual. A google search or even hitting Cabelas or whole sale sports should help you out.

Or you can ask questions in here also...we can do our best for ya..

Originally Posted by recce43 (Post 2900641)

well took my hawkin 50.cal shooting it for the first time .... Iam hooked

Originally Posted by DiannJPearson (Post 2906034)

Before using a black powder gun you should first check for the rules and regulation of your state. Some states only allow certain types of muzzleloaders during their primitive seasons.

Originally Posted by NW Tradegunner (Post 2358047)

Sometime in your experience with BP rifles, you'll get a dry ball experience that will just about drive you crazy. You forget to put the powder in and ram that tight patched ball down the bore and when it hits bottom; crap! So you pull out your ball puller and proceed to screw it into the ball. In most cases the pure lead ball allows the screw to thread into it. On a rare ocassion, the ball is too hard; maybe the person that cast the balls used wheel weights ( heaven forbid) and it won't screw into it. Or the screw is too blunt and basically drills right through the ball! What now? If your gun has a bolster or a drum, you can unscrew the nipple and put a little FFFFG in there, screw the nipple back in. Put on a percussion cap and fire it in a safe direction. With a flintlock, dribbling FFFFG into the touch hole may send it out upon firing; but I doubt it. Usually a long whistling flame comes out of the touchhole and you're back to square one.
The only alternative is to pull the breech plug. About 35 years ago this fellow black powder shooter, that's dead now, told me how. When you get home, take the barrel off the gun, turn the barrel so you can see where the breech plug and the barrel match on the bottom of the barrel, turn the barrel so the sights are facing downward. Take a cold chisel and strike a mark that shows a line on both the breech plug and the barrel. This is your reference mark when reassembling the breech to the barrel. Pad the jaws of your vise with copper sheet so nothing get marred. Put the breech plug/tang in the vise jaws. Rest the front sight end on something solid. Now the barrel is horizontal and held up on both ends, front and back. You'll need a piece of rope at least 6 feet long. Take masking tape and tape one end of the rope to the barrel by the front sight. Take the other end of the rope and tape it to the breech end. About 3 or 4 wraps of tape will hold it. Now wrap the rope around the barrel in counterclockwise manner. Now insert a sturdy stick, a hockey stick will do, I use a stout piece of maple. Now turn the stick and as the rope tightens things start to happen. The stick shouldn't marr the barrel and the barrel should litterly pop loose off the breechplug. Unscrew it and knock out the ball and fowling. Put the breechplug back in and using the rope wrap it clockwise and proceed with the stick until the reference chisel marks line up. Whew! Won't do that again! I've done quite a few over my years of shooting BP and the shooters I did it for are ever grateful and tend to be a little more cautious.

Originally Posted by recce43 (Post 2775146)

any hints for a new guy shooting muzzleloder. i bought a hawkin 50.cal i want to cast my own round balls and bullets i get lead for free..
what is a good book about blackpowder shooting ?

Originally Posted by recce43 (Post 2775146)

any hints for a new guy shooting muzzleloder. i bought a hawkin 50.cal i want to cast my own round balls and bullets i get lead for free..
what is a good book about blackpowder shooting ?

Originally Posted by Tactical Lever (Post 2906111)

I think a grease zerk adapted to fit would probably work especially paired with a pneumatic grease gun. I don't want to try it, though!



Lyman if you are still looking. I don't know if the old are any better than the new...

Originally Posted by petew (Post 1872449)

Good Idea for a range puller. The little comercial pullers are handy in the possible bag, for pulling your balls in the woods,but they are also hard on Ram Rods, and can pull the end off the rod if it is not pined in place and glued.

Originally Posted by icehunter (Post 2906149)

If you read up above..I made a ball puller that works every time. Only cost 3 bucks to make...Fits under the foam in your rifle case..why make life difficult??:snapoutofit::test:

Originally Posted by icehunter (Post 2906149)

If you read up above..I made a ball puller that works every time. Only cost 3 bucks to make...Fits under the foam in your rifle case..why make life difficult??:snapoutofit::test:

Originally Posted by Bushleague (Post 3008671)

I've always been able to fire mine out by pulling the nipple and feeding powder down the hole, if you really shoved the ball in deep you might need to do this in a couple stages. Feed what you can down the hole, put the nipple on and fire it, which should push the ball forward enough that you can get a decent amount of powder behind it. Pull the nipple again, feed in more powder, seat the ball on the charge and shoot her out.

How's that for not making life difficult?

Originally Posted by recce43 (Post 2988726)

so I plan to hunt using my muzzleloader ball and cap for the first time . any hints for using this in the winter late season moose

Thanks
Shawn

Originally Posted by icehunter (Post 3008934)

By the time you feed a few grains of powder in,waste a cap,fire it,do this say 3 times...I just grabbed a puller and shot 3 shots off. :sHa_sarcasticlol:..Making life wayyy simpler..

Originally Posted by icehunter (Post 2906093)

We don't have any common sense gun laws up here either!! An we don't all live in igloos and get around with dog teams and sled...:snapoutofit:

Originally Posted by JCart (Post 3072294)

Hope you got your moose..... For next season practise shooting at different distances and/or head to a local BP shot they are good humour. Most BP shooters are really helpful with all things BP. Other thing I did was make a small possibles bag that hangs on a waste belt rather than a purse over shoulder type. Find the former style much easier to hike with. To clean my Lyman Great Plains in 50 cal I use hot water and dish soap. Disassemble leave the nipple in stand up in a small bucket (windshield washer jug with top cut off) nipple down. With cotton patches over your cleaning jag draw the soap solution up through the barrel using a pumping action. Change cotton often, then take out nipple and continue. Once you're happy how clean it is rinse with boiling hot water by pouring it down the barrel. Dry the inside right away with more cotton patches over the cleaning jag and run a few patches with good quality synthetic oil. Re-assemble. Give external a good coat of synthetic oil. I also use a quality anti-seize paste like copper coat on the nipple threads. I use a 15 thousandths thickness patch. Head to your local sewing supply store with your micrometer and buy a few different thicknesses, get 100% cotton only. To make patches I just cut strips then squares, so my patches are square not round.... Way more accurate then round ones, least that's what I tell all my BP friends...

Happy shooting, keep your powder and caps dry....

jrc