Black powder and muzzleloaders

[Obeah Mon]

did you mount some kinda sight on it ?

 

[Devious Dave]

did you mount some kinda sight on it ?

Sorta funnily enough someone was selling a flashlight mount for it and it had a front sight it just clamped to the barrel and pretty much sits perfectly straight

 

[Obeah Mon]

If you still have this do this

https://www.grantcunningham.com/2014/07/ed-harris-how-to-make-and-load-all-brass-410-shotshells/

 

[Saint Zacharias]

I love my black powder rifles. In my collection is a .50 cal Great Plains and a .36 cal Jukar that I just recently acquired. I have shot the .50 a good bit and it's really fun to go through the whole process of loading.
My dream gun is the model 1841 Mississippi since Mississippi is my home state and it holds a soft spot in my heart to know a rifle was nicknamed that because a large amount of MS regiments used it. Unfortunately it's a pretty expensive gun and goes pretty quick anytime it pops up on an online store.

 

[AncientPhosphur]

What’s a decent Baker rifle replica? Most I’ve seen is Indian replicas that are known to be less than great

 

[Devious Dave]

I love my black powder rifles. In my collection is a .50 cal Great Plains and a .36 cal Jukar that I just recently acquired. I have shot the .50 a good bit and it's really fun to go through the whole process of loading.
My dream gun is the model 1841 Mississippi since Mississippi is my home state and it holds a soft spot in my heart to know a rifle was nicknamed that because a large amount of MS regiments used it. Unfortunately it's a pretty expensive gun and goes pretty quick anytime it pops up on an online store.

I've heard mixed things about jukar but I have bid on a few of the cheap pistols on GunBroker I wouldn't mind having one of those 40cal ones I see popping up every now and then the rifles look really nice

I think null banned our favorite crazy old guy @Obeah Mon

 

[Mortan Shekelstorm]

What’s a decent Baker rifle replica? Most I’ve seen is Indian replicas that are known to be less than great

from my research a lot of the cheaper black powder rifles on the market are from India and Pakistan, One of the few reliable ways to get a new non Jeet rifle are kits.
Muzzleloaders Seems to be the best pricing and high reputation compared to,
Loyalistarms Whom to my knowledge only sell Jeet made imported into Canada, They also do not ship completed rifles to USA
MidwayUSA Heard less of MidwayUSA compared to Muzzleloaders but they sell the same Traditions rifle kits You can also find Assembled Traditions rifles being sold online or physical
Kiblerslongrifles Has higher prices along with lock being billed alongside the stock. More artisanal in my opinion
If you are able to spend more or unable to assemble the kit you can buy one already assembled.
The four biggest brands I've seen in my fervently autistic research were
Traditions
Pedersoli
Lyman
Investarm
Out of the four, I would suggest Traditions for getting into black powder or if you don't want to pay too much
and Pedersoli. I have heard nothing bad about either only difference is the fit and finish of the cheaper Traditions compared to Pedersoli.
I've been researching a lot latley over black powder and everything it entails. Hope my autism has been enlighting

 

[Procrastinhater]

Damn reading this threads got me wanting to take that Hawken out this weekend. I'll have to get some things first though, can anyone give me a check list of what I'm gonna need so I don't miss anything?
I got powder and balls.
I'm not planning on hunting with it, I've only taken it out a couple times and both times I had someone with me so all I took was the rifle

 

[Mortan Shekelstorm]

Damn reading this threads got me wanting to take that Hawken out this weekend. I'll have to get some things first though, can anyone give me a check list of what I'm gonna need so I don't miss anything?
I got powder and balls.
I'm not planning on hunting with it, I've only taken it out a couple times and both times I had someone with me so all I took was the rifle

Powder, patch and ball are your most important along with a powder measure and tamping rod. Bullet lube is not required but can make things smoother to fire

 

[Procrastinhater]

Man that Hawken is fucking cool. I'm slow as fuck to reload though, I can't believe people used to get 3 or 4 shots a minute off with muzzle loaders back in the day, you don't realize how quick that is till you try.
Definitely a fan of black powder.
Just like the Founders intended.
These things are fun.

 

[Shig O'nella]

I can't believe people used to get 3 or 4 shots a minute off with muzzle loaders back in the day, you don't realize how quick that is till you try.

Wax paper is the secret. Measure out your powder beforehand into a square of waxed paper and twist closed. It's ready to go, just tear, pour, ball, tamp. The paper is right there in your hand as your patch.

We used to have black powder volley drills in barracks - one of those regimental traditions that ... eh, they seem stupid on the surface but they're worth keeping around. 5 volleys per rank per minute was the absolute fastest we could do. Not quite full auto suppression fire, but still pretty good.

 

[WhoBusTank69]

Man that Hawken is fucking cool. I'm slow as fuck to reload though, I can't believe people used to get 3 or 4 shots a minute off with muzzle loaders back in the day, you don't realize how quick that is till you try.

The Hawken, or any hunting rifle really, is definitely not ideal for 3 shots a minute, but they were also drilled and didn't have much spare time like we do now.

 

[Procrastinhater]

Not quite full auto suppression fire, but still pretty good.

If you're doing that fire by ranks thing they did at the end of Zulu, 1st rank, 2nd rank, 3rd rank, by the time the 3rd has fired the 1st would be pretty close to being ready again.
I know they were using Martini Henry's by the time they fought at Rourkes Drift, but that volley fire shit is a pretty good way of keeping up almost continuous fire.

The Hawken, or any hunting rifle really, is definitely not ideal for 3 shots a minute, but they were also drilled and didn't have much spare time like we do now.

Yeah rifles take quite a bit of tamping to get the ball seated because of the rifling which probably slows it down, its likely a lot easier with smooth bores, although apparently the Brits could still get off 3 or 4 rounds a minute with Baker Rifles during the Napoleonic War. I guess they drilled like fuck for it though, best army in the world at the time.
Couldn't beat George Washington though.

 

[Douglas Mortimer]

Man that Hawken is fucking cool. I'm slow as fuck to reload though, I can't believe people used to get 3 or 4 shots a minute off with muzzle loaders back in the day, you don't realize how quick that is till you try.
Definitely a fan of black powder.
Just like the Founders intended.
These things are fun.

Black powder is my favorite

Not only is it a fun form to shoot with be it pistol,musket or rifle it's the whole time being outside and taking your time. It's a really nice way to escape and meditate by yourself. I wish more people would get into it. It helps you appreciate history and the art of it all.

 

[Jotch]

I am almost completely new to black powder firearms, but they attract me since the ammo can be all homemade as opposed to smokeless powder firearms.
Does anyone have any info to get started with?

 

[MrB]

I am almost completely new to black powder firearms, but they attract me since the ammo can be all homemade as opposed to smokeless powder firearms.
Does anyone have any info to get started with?

Skylighter sells complete kits and has tutorials. It’s geared towards homemade fireworks hobbyists but it’s all applicable to firearms too.

 

[General Emílio Médici]

I am working on building a black powder rifle myself. I had this idea of making a break open shotgun and my own black powder cartriges but I decided to dial back and first get good at making the power and and manufacture a caplock pistol first.

I remember seeing years ago a video of a guy who made his own percussion caps. I remember the recipe for the chemical he used and I have used it before (It's potassium chlorate and red phosphorous, literally just crushed match heads and shaved phosphorous from the strike strip) but it's the stuff he used to make the little caps themselves which I need and can no longer find.

Dude had this system where it was two pieces of metal, and he would put a aluminium sheet in the middle of it (from can, he would just cut them open and spread the metal) and then hammer the metal. It would punch out a perfect little capand he could then just pull the sheet of aluminium out and repeat, getting something like 50 caps from a single can. Does anyone know the fuck I am talking about?

 

[Devious Dave]

I am working on building a black powder rifle myself. I had this idea of making a break open shotgun and my own black powder cartriges but I decided to dial back and first get good at making the power and and manufacture a caplock pistol first.

I remember seeing years ago a video of a guy who made his own percussion caps. I remember the recipe for the chemical he used and I have used it before (It's potassium chlorate and red phosphorous, literally just crushed match heads and shaved phosphorous from the strike strip) but it's the stuff he used to make the little caps themselves which I need and can no longer find.

Dude had this system where it was two pieces of metal, and he would put a aluminium sheet in the middle of it (from can, he would just cut them open and spread the metal) and then hammer the metal. It would punch out a perfect little capand he could then just pull the sheet of aluminium out and repeat, getting something like 50 caps from a single can. Does anyone know the fuck I am talking about?

https://22lrreloader.com/products/11-percussion-cap-maker

 

[♦️ King of Diamonds ♦️]

See the thing is I find black powder very interesting and would love to learn more about it/shoot some- but where I live at least there IS a very strong social stigma that if you are into black powder stuff or own anything black powder people are just going to assume you're a convicted felon, have been 5150'd, or- god help me... Canadian.

Now with that being said if I did get anything black-powder just for the lulz I would want a functional replica of a Pirate's blunderbuss. There used to be a website called "Pirate Fashions" that sold some pretty kick-ass functional ones (some even had spring bayonets) but they seem to no longer sell actual, functioning weapons. I also don't want have to buy one of those kits and build/assemble it myself because I'd probably fuck it up (I'm not a gunsmith/skilled craftsman). Anyone know any pre-made flintlock blunderbusses for sale online? Gunbroker only seems to sell actual antiques from back in the day.

 

[Devious Dave]

if you are into black powder stuff or own anything black powder people are just going to assume you're a convicted felon,

You only see that kind of sentiment online and in YouTube comment sections. Black powder is sort of like the ham radio of guns.

People always say felons can own black powder guns, which is true, but I'm pretty sure percussion caps and powder, although unregulated, still count as reloading supplies, which is illegal for a felon to own.

I can't recommend any good flintlock kits but I do wanna add don't get a cheap one flints are a lot harder to make than percussions if you get a cheap one the frizzen won't be properly hardened and it won't throw sparks like it should also you need to have access to real black powder pyrodex and substitutes don't work in a flint
Here's a good video talking about it

https://youtu.be/tfsLzr0mJ1A