Anyone have any tips to make loading a flintlock easier?? The first two or three rounds are fine at the range, but after that its almost impossible for me to get the 4th round down the barrel. Even broke a ramrod last time out I was pushing so hard. I tried running dry patches and even patches with a blackpowder cleaning spray on them down the barrel between shots but it didn't help much. And I'm only using .015" patches! Can only imagine what would happen if I tried .020" patches! So how do you guys do a long afternoon at the range??
Deuce280
Tricks for a "tough" loading flintlock?
4 reading
Sounds like you need to clean the barrel a little better. Dry patches wont work. I take s small thermos with hot soapy water in it to clean mine a couple wet patches then dry good to go.
Two ways to alleviate the problem.
First, and best, swab the bore between shots, or at a minimum every other shot. A wet patch followed by two dry patches. Muzzle loader accuracy is based on consistency. Keeping the fouling consistent from shot to shot is as important as measuring the powder and the patch ball combination. Personally, at a match, I usually have a can or bottle of diet soda with me. I place some patches on the bench and soak them by pouring the soda on them. o the point they could be squeezed and have drops of maisture come out. Use the jag to pump one up and down two or three times and then the dry patches.
The second method, is to use a very wet patch that softens and wipes the fouling with each shot. Success with this depends a bit on the rifling in the bore. Some folks claim bore butter will do this. Others claim odd mixtures of pine oil and other stuff works for them.
I have done a lot of target competition shooting over the years and an overwhelming majority of match competitors swab the bore between shots.
There have been a lot of methods tried over the years to reduce fouling from shot to shot. Everything from wads under the ball, various concoctions of patch lube and changing powder granulation.
Lastly, if your patch and ball combination is a little loose, or, you are shooting more powder than can be consumed within the bore, fouling increases in multiples. As long as black powder is burning under pressure, the fouling stays minimal. When there is no pressure or not much pressure, the fouling left is much higher. So if you shoot a 110 grains in a short barrel traditions deer hunter, the powder will still be burning after the ball exits the muzzle, it leaves much more fouling than backing down to 80 grains, which is about what can be consumed within the bore before the ball exits. (that extra powder does impart some extra velocity, but at a much lower proportion per grain of powder.
For minute of deer accuracy, it comes down to what works for you.
First, and best, swab the bore between shots, or at a minimum every other shot. A wet patch followed by two dry patches. Muzzle loader accuracy is based on consistency. Keeping the fouling consistent from shot to shot is as important as measuring the powder and the patch ball combination. Personally, at a match, I usually have a can or bottle of diet soda with me. I place some patches on the bench and soak them by pouring the soda on them. o the point they could be squeezed and have drops of maisture come out. Use the jag to pump one up and down two or three times and then the dry patches.
The second method, is to use a very wet patch that softens and wipes the fouling with each shot. Success with this depends a bit on the rifling in the bore. Some folks claim bore butter will do this. Others claim odd mixtures of pine oil and other stuff works for them.
I have done a lot of target competition shooting over the years and an overwhelming majority of match competitors swab the bore between shots.
There have been a lot of methods tried over the years to reduce fouling from shot to shot. Everything from wads under the ball, various concoctions of patch lube and changing powder granulation.
Lastly, if your patch and ball combination is a little loose, or, you are shooting more powder than can be consumed within the bore, fouling increases in multiples. As long as black powder is burning under pressure, the fouling stays minimal. When there is no pressure or not much pressure, the fouling left is much higher. So if you shoot a 110 grains in a short barrel traditions deer hunter, the powder will still be burning after the ball exits the muzzle, it leaves much more fouling than backing down to 80 grains, which is about what can be consumed within the bore before the ball exits. (that extra powder does impart some extra velocity, but at a much lower proportion per grain of powder.
For minute of deer accuracy, it comes down to what works for you.
Zimmer, the biggest problem with this I am having is in my TC PA hunter carbine. Using 80 grains. Maybe that is just too much powder for a short barrel gun?
"pre lubed patch" Just might be not enough lube.
Some prelubed patches are barely wet with the lube.
Just try some patches with a bit extra or a different lube.
The purpose of the lube which can be not just to help the patched ball slide out, but can also be to coat the bore so the fouling doesn't stick fast.
Shooters have tried all manner of things, windex, olive oil, pine oil mixtures, spit, bees wax, cheese wax, shortening, bear fat, coon oil, Whale oil, corn oil,
Sprayed on dry teflon, slick 50, stp oil treatment, KY jelly, The list is amazing. Recently I heard of shooters trying wd-40. I use spit at the range and vegetable oil when hunting.
80 grains shouldn't be too much for your barrel. Wouldn't hurt to try 70 for a series of shots. Trying 3ffg for a series of shots, You could also try a tighter patch ball combination (495 ball) although I suspect it may be the lube or amount of it.
Expecting more than two or three shots without wiping is probably a stretch anyway.
Some prelubed patches are barely wet with the lube.
Just try some patches with a bit extra or a different lube.
The purpose of the lube which can be not just to help the patched ball slide out, but can also be to coat the bore so the fouling doesn't stick fast.
Shooters have tried all manner of things, windex, olive oil, pine oil mixtures, spit, bees wax, cheese wax, shortening, bear fat, coon oil, Whale oil, corn oil,
Sprayed on dry teflon, slick 50, stp oil treatment, KY jelly, The list is amazing. Recently I heard of shooters trying wd-40. I use spit at the range and vegetable oil when hunting.
80 grains shouldn't be too much for your barrel. Wouldn't hurt to try 70 for a series of shots. Trying 3ffg for a series of shots, You could also try a tighter patch ball combination (495 ball) although I suspect it may be the lube or amount of it.
Expecting more than two or three shots without wiping is probably a stretch anyway.
Makes sense. I'll be sure to clean the barrel more often on the range. I was just under the impression that it was a sin to use anything wet or even damp in a muzzleloader (except when cleaning with boiling water at home). I'll take some bore butter to the range with me and lube the patches a bit more.
Also...consider switching from Goex to Swiss Black Powder. Fouling far, far less which makes reloading much easier. I used Goex for many years & about 5 years ago switched to Swiss & will never look back.
In cold temperatures, "bore butter" related fouling will become very hard. Swabbing between shots becomes a requirement within the loading chore.
It's a lube that during warm humid weather stays soft. Late flintlock....
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Experiment...experiment...experiment.
The mink oil lube sold by trackofthewolf...when it comes to grease lubes.. has always worked well for me through a wide temp range.
It's a lube that during warm humid weather stays soft. Late flintlock....
The mink oil lube sold by trackofthewolf...when it comes to grease lubes.. has always worked well for me through a wide temp range.
Good info guys... i never considered lube to be an important part of the process. Thought it was just to keep rust away when storing the gun!
I think I have heard of using crisco before, possibly read it somewhere here.... There's alot to these flintlocks! Sounds like I need to spend an entire summer experimenting with it! Just hoping to get it good enough for late season right now....
1)Swab between each or everyother shot.(Wet followed by 2 dry)
2)Thicker patch makes a cleaner burn.
Your 1st shot at a deer is out of a clean barrel not one that has had 6-8 shots out of it.Duplicate that 1st shot.
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2)Thicker patch makes a cleaner burn.
Your 1st shot at a deer is out of a clean barrel not one that has had 6-8 shots out of it.Duplicate that 1st shot.
Make sure you clean all petroleum based oil out of the barrel before your first shot. Black powder and petroleum do not mix. Alcohol works good for this. A liquid lube is good for the range but not for hunting. It dries out after a few hours.
If your bore is rough, you're pretty much stuck with cleaning between shots. You could try polishing the bore with some steel wool and an abrasive like toothpaste.
I have several flintlocks with Getz or Rice barrels. I can do an entire 40 shot woodswalk without wiping the bore. I use windshield washer fluid with a few drops of Dawn dish detergent mixed in. Don't skimp on the lube!!! Every time you load your gun, if you patch is wet enough, it pushes the dirt down on top of the load. So each shot cleans the barrel from the previous shot.
Bill
If your bore is rough, you're pretty much stuck with cleaning between shots. You could try polishing the bore with some steel wool and an abrasive like toothpaste.
I have several flintlocks with Getz or Rice barrels. I can do an entire 40 shot woodswalk without wiping the bore. I use windshield washer fluid with a few drops of Dawn dish detergent mixed in. Don't skimp on the lube!!! Every time you load your gun, if you patch is wet enough, it pushes the dirt down on top of the load. So each shot cleans the barrel from the previous shot.
Bill
Maybe i am lucky...maybe i have a "loose bore". I dont know...
When i started with a rock l read about "seasoning your bore" in my TC manual....made sense....so i did it...i lube with bore butter..shoot. 490 hornady round balls and. 018 pillow ticking patches...pre-lubed but i use a ball block and "fill the void" with bore butter between the ball and wood...at the range i just use the patches as is..or shoot from my ball blocks to put new ones in for the season..
I also shoot 90gr of 3fg goex from a TC Hawken...
I can shoot all day and never clean...accuracy doesnt change noticeably and it never gets harder to load...ive went over 20rds just to prove a point to a buddy....
I clean with hot tap water and rusty duck BP Solvent...then dry and bore butter before the barrel cools....
Once a year i will run boiling water through and get it real hot and do it..
I have a buddy that uses wd-40 to clean and oil...another uses regular gun oil...ive seen them ramming trees trying to seat a ball after a shot...lol...
If i do want to run a patch at the range i run a few patches soaked in 91% alcohol...
When i started with a rock l read about "seasoning your bore" in my TC manual....made sense....so i did it...i lube with bore butter..shoot. 490 hornady round balls and. 018 pillow ticking patches...pre-lubed but i use a ball block and "fill the void" with bore butter between the ball and wood...at the range i just use the patches as is..or shoot from my ball blocks to put new ones in for the season..
I also shoot 90gr of 3fg goex from a TC Hawken...
I can shoot all day and never clean...accuracy doesnt change noticeably and it never gets harder to load...ive went over 20rds just to prove a point to a buddy....
I clean with hot tap water and rusty duck BP Solvent...then dry and bore butter before the barrel cools....
Once a year i will run boiling water through and get it real hot and do it..
I have a buddy that uses wd-40 to clean and oil...another uses regular gun oil...ive seen them ramming trees trying to seat a ball after a shot...lol...
If i do want to run a patch at the range i run a few patches soaked in 91% alcohol...
When I shoot a patched round ball I lube the patch with some stuff I got many years ago which is a paste. I swab first to clean the rem oil I use to store the rifle. I use alcohol to do this for two reasons. 1 it works well and 2 it is a flamable liquid. I use a wet patch followed by two or three dry ones. After the shot I repeat the process, let the barrel sit and go check my target and look for the patch and then return and load for another shot. This also serves to keep the barrel cool and shoot as it would when shooting at game. I have even swabbed in the field if time permits. Lets face it we realistically have only one shot at a deer and a second shot to finish the job if needed.
Well the answer is simple. Flintlocks don't fire like modern rifles, so one must clean the bore of blackpowder residue before shooting at least two or three times.
The thing I did was to make homemade "moose milk", a less expensive way of having "cleaning fluid" and constantly having it available. It's as important to shooting as the blackpowder.
At the range, I always had a plastic bottle, normally containing hand wash dish soap, filled with "moose milk" for the range sessions. And at the range I had a shotgun cleaning tool and kept rags on hand for cleaning duty.
If you don't want to clean a blackpowder bore, you're not ready for blackpowder shooting.
And if you're not the cleaner type, you may never get the hang of blackpowder shooting.
The thing I did was to make homemade "moose milk", a less expensive way of having "cleaning fluid" and constantly having it available. It's as important to shooting as the blackpowder.
At the range, I always had a plastic bottle, normally containing hand wash dish soap, filled with "moose milk" for the range sessions. And at the range I had a shotgun cleaning tool and kept rags on hand for cleaning duty.
If you don't want to clean a blackpowder bore, you're not ready for blackpowder shooting.
And if you're not the cleaner type, you may never get the hang of blackpowder shooting.
This was just posted today on the American Longrifle forum.....Go over and check it out. http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?board=1.0
<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">I have been using the LHV "replacement", Shenandoah, for some time with success. In October of this year I loaded one of my rifles 127 times for Scouts to try with no problems in apparent accuracy or loading. No cleaning between shots either. Load was tight and first and last shots were mine with the rifle shooting the same. Next day, 83 shots in 3 1/2 hrs with same results. Wore me out, but rifle was still goin</span>g.
</span>
<span style="font-style: italic"><span style="font-weight: bold">I have been using the LHV "replacement", Shenandoah, for some time with success. In October of this year I loaded one of my rifles 127 times for Scouts to try with no problems in apparent accuracy or loading. No cleaning between shots either. Load was tight and first and last shots were mine with the rifle shooting the same. Next day, 83 shots in 3 1/2 hrs with same results. Wore me out, but rifle was still goin</span>g.
</span>
i always had trouble getting powder to lite in the barrel hated waiting on the fizz to light the main,, so an old timmer tought me a little trick ..take a splash of your flash pan powder an put it down the barrel 1st ... that was u get a direct ignition an theres no hesitation once u pull the trigger
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