But I usually like quick, easy, and neat if it doesn't cost too much. Do the wads go between the power and the ball? Or do they go on top last, like the bee's wax?
blackpowderguide.com
I load powder, wad then ball last. here's a pretty good deal on ball size. some pistols have different sizes , but not by much.
What Size Round Balls for Black Powder Revolvers? | Black Powder Guide
Picking the right diameter round ball for your cap and ball revolver is critical to not only ensure accuracy, but safety as well. Find yours here!
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This is just till you get home or if you wait to long to clean them, I have done this for years when I shot black powder, just a good quick thing till you get to clean them right that’s allHi,
Bill and Tom were telling me that they take their guns apart and put them in water to wash them out.Some folks use sonic cleaners for the cylinder nipples and other parts. I guess it doesn't hurt anything as long as they are cleaned, dried, and reassembled with the proper lubricants, etc.
Overall, shooting muzzle loaders was quite enjoyable. So much so that I've begun shopping around for a muzzle loading pistol and supplies. The pistol reproductions are not that expensive (for example: from https://muzzle-loaders.com/collections/muzzleloader-pistols ) but I was told some supplies may be hard to get sometimes, especially some of the percussion caps. Plus, in most states you can buy a muzzle loader and have it shipped right to your door. That's pretty cool.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Somewhere in those pictures you said: "I was actually ringing that steel from 25 yards, the 12" square yellow plate on the right side of that stand." ............................. Well yeh, but you were using both hands!!!! Jus' kiddn' friend. You done good, real good!!!!May the 4th be with you!
That's right ladies and gentlemen. It's Star Wars Day so what did I do? I went to an outdoor range in the woods and shot with some of the oldest technology available. But just as I was about to leave for the range the UPS truck pulled up and the driver left this at my front door.
You're looking at 1000 rounds of S&B 124 grain 9mm and 800 rounds of LAX ammo 200 grain .45ACP. Let me stash this in my office so I can hit the road. Less than an hour later I was here at the Bristol Shooting Ranges.
This is a very large facility with all kinds of ranges, archery, air rifle, black powder, muzzle loader, etc, 7-25-50-75-100-200 yard ranges spread out over a vast property. There seemed to be some odd rules for an outdoor range, but I didn't complain.
Only 5 rounds per magazine? No rapid fire? Not that I'm Machine Gun Kelly or anything but sometimes you want to practice a Bill Drill, ya know? Ah, no biggie. I paid my range fee and took the road back to the "Wilderness Range" where the black powder/muzzle loaders hang out. There's also a .22LR-only range back here.
The amenities are kind of rough back here but all the necessities are here. For a few bucks they'll even feed you lunch. Today's special was chili but I had brought snacks so I took a pass.
This is the muzzle loading range, 25 yards. To the left is the black powder range, 50 yards, and to the right is the .22LR-only range with different targets from 7 to 50 yards. We'll see that in a little bit.
You see some steel on the left side and some silhouettes and other targets along the back line at 25 yards.
These are the muzzle loader pistols that my buddy Bill brought today. The smaller ones shoot a .36 caliber ball and the larger (right) a .44 caliber ball.
I became well-versed in how to load these pistols. It's quite a process but it allows you to take your time, relax, visit, and not blast through 200 rounds in an hour. You spend more time shooting the breeze than you do actually shooting. Bill's friend Tom was also there shooting his muzzle loaders and between the three of us we probably went through 100 rounds in three hours. Bill had these really nice stands that made loading a lot more convenient.
Those plastic tubes were pre-loaded (by Bill) with the right amount of powder then the tubes were sealed with the ball itself. You'd take the ball out, pour in the powder, drop in the ball, then press it into the cylinder.
Then you would used bee's wax to seal the cylinders so that there would be much less danger of all the chambers firing at once from an errant spark.
This one is ready to take to the line. It's not considered fully "loaded" until you've put the percussion caps on the nipples at the back of the cylinder.
The brass colored yin-yang object you see holds the percussion caps and dispenses them one at a time so you can place them on the nipples. Then you can use a dowel to snug up the caps.
This is a fully loaded, ready to fire, muzzle loading revolver just like they used in the 1850s.
Wow, I thought those 10 yard and 15 yard targets were dinky. But I actually did pretty good at 25 yards today. These pistols are heavy with little recoil and very accurate.
I was actually ringing that steel from 25 yards, the 12" square yellow plate on the right side of that stand.
Bill's buddy Tom brought out a pistol as well as his Springfield muzzle loader rifle. He showed me his procedures, using this syringe device to measure the powder...
Then he'd ram this huge bullet down the barrel. That's about 460 grains.
Then you'd place the percussion cap on. This Springfield muzzle loader uses a four wing percussion cap.
Tom let me fire his rifle a couple of times and I was able to ring the steel. We didn't shoot it from 50 yards, just 25 yards. If we wanted to shoot farther Tom said he's have to load in more powder. As it is the bullet has an 800fps muzzle velocity. But that's a huge slug. It would really do some damage.
Hey, that's 20 pictures. I'll tell you about the rest of my day in the next post. We'll do a little .22 plinking then go up to the front range and work with our 9mm pistols. Even though I brought my AK we ran out of time today. Thanks for hanging out with me.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Wow, what a day ... what a facility ... what a range report ... I'll never kid ya' again about using two hands!!! LOL!Hi folks,
Continuing with my epic day, I say "epic" because it's been two years since I've been outside in the fresh air and sunshine shooting with friends, we moved over to the .22LR range right next door. This back range area closes at 3pm and it's been busy all day. A few stations opened up about an hour before closing so I started putting lead downrange, 5 rounds per magazine.
There were all kinds of targets scattered all over this range, paper, little steel, bigger steel, dueling trees, etc, from 7 to 50 yards away.
I worked out with my Rossi RS22 and Ruger Mark IV Target. With the rifle I could hit the steel along the 50 yard line, not so much with the pistol. About 20-25 yards was all I could do consistently with the pistol.
Here, let me zoom in a little on the selection of targets. I did pretty good hitting the targets that I could see.
This back range closed at 3pm so we moved up to the front range to shoot our 9mm pistols. I had brought 100 rounds of S&B 124 grain and my XDM Elite Precision. We walked past the 100 yard rifle range to get to the pistol range. Someone had brought an Enfield rifle. The 200 yard range is on the other side of the lobby.
We stepped into this room of sorts with narrow booths and windows for shooting stations.
Bill and I took lanes #13 and #14, my favorite!
The range went cold just as we got there so everyone put their firearms in slidelock and stepped away.
I put a B-8 at 7 yards there on lane #14.
I put a reactive silhouette at 25 yards. I had an extra so I let Bill use one too.
Even loading only 5 rounds per magazine you can go through 100 rounds pretty quickly.
Shooting like this is kind of like having blinders on. Bill says next week they'll take down the front wall with all the windows and this line will be a lot more open air.
I stuck my camera outside the window just before the range went hot. I guess it's not quite as claustrophobic as it seems in the pictures.
Bill and I traded guns for a couple of magazines. He's got a P38 from the 70s.
When the range went cold Bill and I checked and repaired our targets. My 7 yard target wasn't too terrible.
My 25 yard target has most of the hits on the 12x18 silhouette. I need to work out more at 25 yards.
When the range went hot again I had about 25 rounds left. I put a couple magazines on the 7 yard target and the rest on the 25 yard target. Then we split. We were both out of ammo.
The drive home was gorgeous. As much as I like the desert and mountains of California, I also enjoy the wide open spaces, farmland, and wooded areas of the Upper Midwest.
I made it home just as the clouds rolled in and it started raining. Mrs. BassCliff and I went out for a quick bite and now I'm enjoying a cold one while I regale you with tales of mediocre marksmanship. What's a bass player to do? Thanks for coming along with me. I look forward to sharing your fun too. Be blessed.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
I never got really involved in muzzle loading (I figured that if god had wanted me to shoot black powder, he would never have invented the .270Win.Hi,
Bill and Tom were telling me that they take their guns apart and put them in water to wash them out.
Overall, shooting muzzle loaders was quite enjoyable. So much so that I've begun shopping around for a muzzle loading pistol and supplies. The pistol reproductions are not that expensive (for example: from https://muzzle-loaders.com/collections/muzzleloader-pistols ) but I was told some supplies may be hard to get sometimes, especially some of the percussion caps. Plus, in most states you can buy a muzzle loader and have it shipped right to your door. That's pretty cool.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
) But during the muzzle loading season which was usually just two weeks, I would usually go to the woods on the weekends primarily to look around a little before regular gun season started. If I did get a shot with the 'smoke pole', I didn't have to worry too much about cleaning it even with black powder. I lived only about 45 minutes from camp so I'd just unload it, put it in the back floorboard and go home.
I never got really involved in muzzle loading (I figured that if god had wanted me to shoot black powder, he would never have invented the .270Win.
But immediately, or as soon as I could I'd get in a good hot shower along with the barrel from my Hawken. Yep, right into the shower with me and a couple long, stiff brushes. With lots of hot water and some soap, a little scrubbing, then I'd let it stand in the corner of the shower while I finished. Once finished I'd turn the water up to scalding hot and point the shower head directly on to the barrel while I was drying and dressing. Then a finish off with a final drying and some oil. By running the real hot water on it for a short while, it warmed the metal enough so that when I took it out, it virtually dried itself.
A good oiling of the barrel and lock works, and a good wipe down of the wood and brass, and never had a problem with any corrosion. Now, that was using all black powder, never used the Pyrodex so don't know if it would have worked the same. The wife wasn't real crazy about it, but let it go as long as I didn't leave any little black flecks in the bottom of the shower. Really easy and worked well for the short time I used them.
Well thought out and said my friend! Well thought out and said!I soak mine in hot water to break up the fouling, but i never took a shower with one. lol only thing i would want in the shower is maybe the wife and then still wouldn't want a rifle barrel in there that's longer and harder than me. yeah, it might ruin the mood. for me anyway.
Funny, but all the times I took my barrel into the shower with me, I never considered it competition .................................. LOL! LOL! On the other hand, never had the wife and the barrel in there with me at the same time!!! LOL!
You guys are dreaming of times long gone by. How do I know? The wife and I used to shower together every day. I am younger than you guys and probably in better physical shape and doing those things in the shower these days is usually painful and anticlimactic.
Sure. Same here. Shower is, eh, let’s say challenging. At this point I prefer easy.Hi,
Well, we may no longer be a raging inferno, but there are still a few embers that catch fire once in a while.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff
Sure. Same here. Shower is, eh, let’s say challenging. At this point I prefer easy.
Well, I'm not real sure of what 'guys' you're referring to since the only thing I'll admit to being in the shower with is my 'black powder' barrel and giving it a good 'scrub-down'. I don't have clue what these other perverts have been doing in their showers!!!You guys are dreaming of times long gone by. How do I know? The wife and I used to shower together every day. I am younger than you guys and probably in better physical shape and doing those things in the shower these days is usually painful and anticlimactic.
Dammit, there's the need for that AGREE selection again!Hi,
Well, we may no longer be a raging inferno, but there are still a few embers that catch fire once in a while.
Thank you for your indulgence,
BassCliff