45 huntsman

[cgoff]

I have a 45 huntsman that I have managed to bring back from the dead.  I gutted the reciever and cleaned it , freed up the firing pin and managed to beat the press in breech plug out and replace the nipple.  I even got 90 % of the crud out of the barrell and it only shows a little bit of pitting.  My question is, is it normal with these older muzzloaders to have sparks fly out from between the breech and the barrell when you fire a cap.  I placed a NO. 11 on the nipple just to see if it would fire and I got all kinds of sparks.  There does not seem to be an excessive gap between the barrell and the reciever.  just wondering if this is normal or something to worry about.

[PHATINJUN]

Take a feeler gauge and see how thin you can go around the bbl @ lockup. Make sure your firehole is completly open. Sometimes what looks like a good tight lockup may not be all the way around. You will get blow back that's just the design...but you want that gap just as tight as you can get it. Did you put a new "O" ring on the plug also make sure you very lightly grease the new ring that will help powder blow back some. Can't say any of mine blow sparks but they blow back around the bbl. Try a load of 50gFFFG .009 patch and a .445dia pure lead ball or a 250g pure lead Minnie without the patch. Let the fun begin. Kurt

[topper88]

Sounds like your making progress.  Check the stickies above on how to contact Mr. Hubbard.  He has a nipple conversion for 209 shotgun primer that replaces the #11 cap nipple.  Now the secret to making it work perfectly is to go to your local Loews plumbing department and buy a #60 o-ring pkg. for 99 cents.  While your there spend another dollar and get the #11 to replace the o-ring around the breech plug.  The #60 o-ring goes inside the 209 nipple cavity before the 209 is inserted and acts as a high pressure gasket and makes a perfect seal.  It worked for the space rockets.  Who said black powder shooting wasn't rocket science? The primer then head spaces on the o-ring. All blowback, sparks & whatever will stop.  The H&R idea was way ahead of it's time.  Add some refinements & it's the best ignition system for black powder.  You can convert from #11 cap>musket cap>209 primer>SRP 0r SPP all for very little money using the same breech plug.

To take it to the final step for the .45 cal where powder volume is lower.  Purchase the Vari-Flame kit from Precision Rifle and use small rifle primers. Now your questioning how is that huge firing pin going to detonate a tiny small rifle primer.  It does most of the time for me but when I use Wolf SRP it works perfect as they are made of copper and are softer to crunch easier.  If you examine the vari-flame the area surrounding the primer is tapered and the H&R large pin just fits.  If not dress the corners up a touch.  It's like art as well as science.

Hope you find my discoveries as useful as I did.