doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Greenhorn Muzzle Load Question

Apparently WD 40 is a water dispersent - so as an emergency holding operation - till you can flush out the badness with water - it is quite effective. Good old H2O is by far the best thing but it can be messy if you have your best shooting gear on and not always convenient.
I have to say it is great - even at my ripe old age to learn something new. I had never heard of bees wax for barrels but I can see the logic - I am sure it would protect them from rusting. Pretty difficult to apply to the inside but if it was warmed a little and applied with a mop I guess it would work. I suppose if it was all you had - and no one had yet invented a John Deere - not too sure where we are going with this one! Not too sure how lacquer would stand up to the wear on a metal barrel. As soon as it was chipped it would have to be repaired. I remember at school we would lacquer brass work in metal work class but it didn't last very long before it was damaged and looked awful. I still think that the traditional way of browning or blacking and an oily cloth is best.

The barrels have been browned the traditional way but to stop the barrels rusting and give it protection wax was used or lacquer in some cases.

T

Oldfarmer knows of which he speaks! (However as a Yank, I have only the vaguest idea of how big a cricket ball is!)

FWIW:

I apologize to Michael Petrov for not seeing his recommendation if Starr's book, earlier. "Great minds", I guess.

General observation:

If I could only have one black powder gun (or, in a pinch one gun, period) it would be a double-barreled muzzle loading shotgun. Properly loaded and choked there is very little that these old-fashioned guns cannot do very well as long as lead projectiled ammunition is used.

Necessary "stuff":

I recommend a nipple wrench; a nipple pick; "good" nipples such as "Hot Shots" (Most "original" or "factory" nipples are junk.); a powder flask and separate powder measure, a shot flask and separate shot measure, a "capper", and a 1/2-inch strait-grained hardwood cleaning/"range" rod with gripping handle ( an appropriate wood ball is fine, as is a wooden tool handle) and a brass gag tip and appropriate jags, brushes, swabs, screws, and worms.

A lace-on recoil pad is not always a bad idea, either. Many of these guns are just a bit short for modern shooters. Newton's Second Law is generally not cancelled for muzzle loading shotguns.

A pair of Gripswell gloves that are designed for double barreled shotguns migh be useful, too, especially if the gun is to be used for range work. Black powder shotgun loads can really heat up barrels.

Loading: Random observations:

Use the best caps you can get. You won't be sorry. FWIW, I have had excellent success with RWS caps.

Powder: "The real soot" is best. Most shooters seem to prefer FFg and it works well. If I can get it, though, I still prefer Fg, heavier charges and (maybe) more "dirt" be damned.

Wads: There are two schools of thought about whether to use filler wads in muzzle loading shotguns. Those who favor the use of filler wads assert that such wads provide needed "cushioning" for the shot (They do not.) and efficient transmission of needed bore lubricant (They do). Nonbelievers (like Starr) assert that extra cushioning is not needed (They are correct.) but can run into trouble with lubricating the bore during continued firing (Hence, old V.M. spitting down loaded bores!). A compromise that has worked for me is to run rubbing alcohol soaked patches up and down the bore between shots, especially if only card wads are used. (Old-time gunfighters often cleaned their guns with "rot gut whiskey". I suspect that rubbling alcohol might be just a bit less toxic!) Otherwise, properly-lubricated felt or fiber filler wads can work just fine.

"Notching wads": Card OP wads can tend to "back out" when they are loaded due to back pressure in the bore. One trick to prevent this is to put a slight "notch" on one side of the wads. If two wads are loaded. make sure that the notches don't "line up" and all is well.

Shot: Use the "good stuff". "Magnum" shot is not only harder than "chilled" shot but it also tends to be more uniform in size and roundness. Besides, with the price of shot being what it is, the extra that one has to pay for magnum shot is piddling.

Loads: While BP can be loaded to practically any common velocity level it does best at about 1000 to no more than 1100 f.p.s., hence the recommendation of "volume-for volume" loading. With cylinder bore guns, a smaller volume of powder relative to that of the shot can contribute to improved patterns. Such loads can perform very well on clays with normal shot sizes. For hunting, it is often recommended that the shooter "come up" a shot size, especially is "shot resistant" game like pheasants is on the program.

Muzzle loading shotguns can be very effective "ball shooters", too. However, this subject can be treated another time.

Cleaning: All the recommendations that have been made have been good ones. I would just like to add, however, that Ballistol can be an excellent product for muzzle loading shotguns. Mixed with water to "black powder strength" it does a very nice job of "tidying up" after hot or cold water cleaning and it also does a very nice job of final cleaning and preservation of leather, wood and metal at full strength.

Dingelfutz
Sorry about the confusion over the size of the balls you have in the US. I only used the cricket ball analogy as I thought the majority of the civilized world would understand!!
I suppose a rounders ball – sorry, I think you call the game baseball – would be similar. I bet you still think a football is egg shaped rather than round?

Oldfarmer

You must be thinking of what Aussies use in Australian Rules (?!) Football. A "real" football is more "pointy" to allow more effective passing and to prevent such abominations as "the drop kick"! I suspect that a better choice might have been a tennis ball, since a ramrod "knob" the size of a baseball might be a bit cumbersome. (Besides, isn't speculating about the size of peoples' balls a bit personal?)

All that having been said, I still find your insights about ml shotguns to be "spot on". Since the Renaissance of classic breech loading double guns seems to be well under way, perhaps it might be time to consider rehabilitating the popularity and usefulness of the "front feeding" (from the German) varieties.

I certainly wasn't trying to cast doubt on the size or shape of the knobs and balls you have in the US - and in any case I have been told by ladies when I have visited the US that size doesn't really matter - MUCH!!
Now we - and the rest of the world - have a great game called rugby which uses an odd shaped ball - maybe someone should introduce it to the US - but you would have to stop wearing your shoulder pads!!

We have rugby, here, and I suppose the game might have its points. I wouldn't know. Unfortunately, in my experience, rugby playes are ALMOST as snobbish as soccer players are. Sad.

I'm coming in late here, already on page 4 and I haven't read but 3 or 4 posts. Someone may have already said it already, so forgive me if that's the case and I'm just repeating, but anyway, it bears repeating: NEVER LOAD THE BARRELS FROM THE POWDER FLASK. NEVER! Always pour the charge into a powder measure of some type, whether homemade or manufactured. Otherwise you risk having a bomb go off in your hand and how would you feel about your gun then?

OK - Now I get to go cook dinner and then I'll read this long thread about what looks to be a wonderful acquisition! Safely Yours - Marc

I agree if you don't know what yer doing don't load from a flask.

Homelessjoe, if you know what you are doing you wouldn't load from a flask.