Black Powder rifle for noobs,**NOT** modern inline rifles

[petew]

Originally Posted by icehunter

So its Sunday morning and I am bored so I thought I would share a very simple tool I made for the certain ooppsie you will eventually have when you come to the conclusion that a rifle fires better when the powder is under the ball!!

On the very left is a ball puller which screws into the ball. OK looks simple enough,but they are only usefull for throwing at the neighbours cat!!They thread into your ramrod and get drove into the stuck ball,but the threads arent sharp enough to dig in,and if it does your hand slips around the ramrod as you try to screw it in. Save your 5 bucks and I will show you something that works for half the cost..



This here gadget..




Its a handy dandy piece of ready rod with a screw welded to it..here is the business end. Take a piece of 1/4 inch ready rod and weld a #6 screw to the end of it. A mig welder works great for this,dont have a mig? No problem,local welding shop or autobody shop has one and will probably weld it for nothing for ya.So just above the welded screw we have a 1/4 inch nut,the reason for this is to lock things tight.I built this for a 54 cal rifle but with a slight adjustment in case size or tape it will work for other calibres. Take 2 30-06 cases,drill the primer hole out to .250 (1/4 inch) Slide one down the ready rod.Now the mouth on a 06 case is .308,but no problem.Grab a role of black tape and give the rod a few wraps to make up the difference and screw the 1/4 nut and case up so that half the 06 case neck mouth covers half the tape. Now take the other 06 case and drop it down opposite the first one. Just like in the picture. Now take and give both case necks a few wraps of black tape to hold them together. Run another 1/4 inch nut down the rod and tighten it against the last case,this way things are tight and lined up.The cases will be loose in the barrel so take your tape and give each case a few wraps on the base so that it is just snug in the bore.This way you know that the screw will be centered in the bore and on the ball...



So now the handle end,thread a 1/4 nut down a few inches,grab a piece of wood dowel and drill it out slightly larger then the rod. You want the dowel to be able to swivel on the rod.The reason for this is because as you pull the ball out,the rod will swivel with the rifling and wont hang up. Just like a cleaning rod works.Thread 3 1/4 inch nuts on top and tighten them against themselves.Take and drop this down the barrel so the screw rests against the stuck ball,a slight tap to get it started and take a ratchet with a 7/16 socket and thread the screw into the ball. When it stops,( and you will definately know it) Grab your fancy dancy wood dowel handle and with one pull...out comes the ball.Oh and give the exposed part of ready rod a few wraps of tape so the metal of the rod is not contacting the rifling in the barrel.



There ya have a ball puller that works every time...and only costs a couple of bucks to build!!

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.

[Gunrarr]

Thanks for the great on making a ball puller, I'm sure that will work better than the one that I bought, just like you said. Tom.

[trike_flyer]

Nice to see there is interest in the bp shooting. Been doing it for years. I recemend maxi balls for hunting and better accuracy. Last deer I shot with mine the bullet went diaganally through the deer from front leg to out the rear leg. He was turned a bit facing me.

As to your ball puller that is for your ram rod, I have used mine about 2 times and it worked fine. I do have a differant ram rod than stock on my tc 54 renagade hunter. Found that you can get a ram rod tip and aluminum arrow to make a great ram rod that you will never pull apart. May be able to do the same with the new carbon arrows.

Have fun and keep your powder dry.

TF

[icehunter]

Originally Posted by trike_flyer

Nice to see there is interest in the bp shooting. Been doing it for years. I recemend maxi balls for hunting and better accuracy. Last deer I shot with mine the bullet went diaganally through the deer from front leg to out the rear leg. He was turned a bit facing me.

As to your ball puller that is for your ram rod, I have used mine about 2 times and it worked fine. I do have a differant ram rod than stock on my tc 54 renagade hunter. Found that you can get a ram rod tip and aluminum arrow to make a great ram rod that you will never pull apart. May be able to do the same with the new carbon arrows.

Have fun and keep your powder dry.

TF

The problem I found with buying one is this. The shank is 2 thick and the threads are too dull to cut into a ball. The reason this was made up was before I got into black powder a friend of mine did the seat the ball without powder trick. He called me up just fuming mad and thought he was screwed. I hit the shop with a idea and it worked.He was happier then a clam in mud as how slick it worked...I gave it to him and 6 months later when I finally got into BP I made one for myself.Since all the time I take a rifle out its in a hard case,I just left it in the case under the foam. In fact it has never came out of the case,so I always have it with me where ever I go shooting.

[NW Tradegunner]

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.

[chillyviolin]

Originally Posted by petew

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.

I had that exact thing happen to me with my Lyman Trade rifle. After my very first shoot ever with it and first time shooting a Muzzleloader, I set about cleaning my rifle. I got my wire cleaner attached to my ramrod (I did not have another rod then), I got my ramrod buried in the the barrel and was giving it a good brush, when I went to pull out of the barrel the ramrod came out, but the brass end and brush stayed buried in the bottom of the barrel. It took me days to get it out. eventually I took a 3 foot aluminum air blow gun, cut the bent end off, and put it down the hole (it was a perfect fit for my 50 cal). I then tapped it down over the wire brush with a rubber mallet, and then pulled everything out. By that time I had a bad taste in my mouth for the hole muzzle loading thing, but I persevered, I "Glued and pinned" the brass end back on my ramrod and now use it only for seating bullets, bought myself a better rod for cleaning, and keep on shooting. Morale of the story, if the end of your ramrod is not "pinned and glued" make sure to have it done. I simply glued mine back on, drilled a small hole through, then glued a roll pin in place, and ground it down smooth.

[Tactical Lever]

Originally Posted by icehunter

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??

You neglected to give a solution for pulling a saboted bullet/slug that's copper jacketed. Just filling some holes! Life can be difficult; and thank your lucky stars that it is, or it would end up boring and unfulfilling.

How about some tips on running a hot (quick) reload?

Although you illustrated the right way, you did not mention that you should not tamp the load with your hand directly over the muzzle. And actually advocated using the heel of you hand.

[recce43]

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

[JCart]

Originally Posted by recce43

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

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

[coyoteman]

Originally Posted by JCart

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

For moose,I wouldnt use,a round ball,I would go with a heavy hunting bullet--The REAL bullet[rifle engraved at time of loading}works fine.Of course we are talking about a regular muzzle loader,not online.with iron sites.A 8 inch gong at 100m works good for practice,and shot at from different positions--standing kneeling etc.Of course you have to realize the limitation,of the gun,and get close enough for one killing shot.Watch the loud click,when cocking the hammer,if you are useing a Hawken--Those big old moose got big old ears----

[partsman]

Can anyone recommend a good replacement rod, I have an old cva mountain rifle in 50 cal have not used it much since bc did away with black powder season, but I think if my eyes heal up so I can shoot again I would like to get away from a wood ramrod, I hear how they can break or ends pull off.
So any idea on where to get a good one?