Kurt,
Congratulations on your new rifle. You will love muzzleloading, I don't know anyone that has tried it that didn't like it.
The things you will need are: powder measure, powder, 209 primers, bullets/sabots, range rod is more durable than the Huntsman ramrod and is not neccessary but I strongly encourage buying one.
Here is some very good information for a beginner to read before attempting to shoot your rifle. If you have any questions about the information, please ask for clarification. Remember, there is NO dumb question when it comes to muzzleloading. Never let anything distract you during the loading process. Stay safe!
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"MUZZLELOADING 101"Written by Rich Dunkirk (Bluelk)
Chapter 1: Getting Started
One of the things that I have noticed about the discussions I have read so far on this board concern the use of Pyrodex pellets vs. loose powder; accuracy problems; good quality rifles vs. bad quality; what is the best gun; etc.. I think a lot of you are missing several major points about muzzleloaders and muzzleloader hunting. Let's go through these 1 by 1 and discuss them.
#1. Anytime that you purchase a muzzleloader (ML) and are trying to get it to fire accurately the only thing that you should be worried about when it comes to a powder is synthetic or real blackpowder (BP); not whether or not synthetic pellets are better than loose powder. The reason for this is that as little as 5 grains of powder can make a difference in how accurately you deliver the bullet to the target. You should work up a load that can consistently deliver the bullet to a 6" target under whatever potential conditions you might find while hunting. The only way to do this is to first decide on which bullet you are going to use. Due to state laws you may be restricted to patched roundballs; or you may be able to shoot conicals and saboted pistol bullets. When you select the bullet make sure you are selecting a bullet that the manufacturer consistently makes exactly the same all the time. There are an awful lot of bullets out there that are as inconsistent, from box to box, as anything you can imagine. On a regular basis I see as much as .004 to .005 difference in the outside diameter of the same brand of bullets from the same manufacturer.
The best round ball ammo that I have found comes from Hornady. The best conicals I have found are from PowerBelt and BlackBelt. The best sabots I have found are from MMP, who by the way, manufacture sabots under private label for many companies. Most of the pistol bullets that we use in the sabots are of pretty good quality. When you select a sabot bullet consider how much mushrooming the bullet is going to do. If your kill zone shot is consistently into bone you might not want a bullet that mushrooms a lot. You want that bullet to shatter the bone on impact, not mushroom a huge amount. Remember that when a bullet mushrooms it is loosing velocity and penetration potential.
Now that you have selected the bullet that you want to use, it is time to select your propellant (powder). There are advantages to both synthetics and blackpowder. The synthetics on the market right now today tend to be susceptible to moisture, but also do not create as much residue (fouling), so are easier to clean. Blackpowder burns hotter, produces more muzzle velocity grain for grain when compared to synthetics, but does produce more fouling. It is also slightly more corrosive than synthetics. Decide which LOOSE powder you want to use. Run a patch or 2 down the barrel and make sure that you have all the moisture and/or oil out of the barrel. With either a .45, .50, or .54 I recommend that you load your first 3 bullets with 75 grains of powder, set your target at the 50 yard line, use a 6" bullseye target, load your weapon. Don't forget: powder first, then patched roundball or bullet. This may sound silly, but more than once I have seen it done just the opposite.
Select a firing position, either standing, sitting, kneeling, or prone. I would suggest that you select the position that you think you will be using when you hunt. This will probably be the standing or sitting position. Bring the rifle up to your shoulder and fit it in securely. Take a deep breath and let it out. Take another deep breath and let it half out. Bring your rifle muzzle up so that you align your sights on the bullseye. Slowly, while contacting the trigger with only the pad of the first joint of your trigger finger, SQUEEZE the trigger. Do the absolute best that you can possibly do to hold the sights dead onto the bullseye. When the gun fires if you know in your heart of hearts that you did not buck, jerk, or wander off of the bullseye then lay your rifle down and observe where the strike of the bullet is in regards to the bullseye. If you feel that you could have bucked, jerked, or wandered off target then totally disregard where the bullet went, but if you know you did the best job holding your sight picture then consider that 1st shot as exactly the way you will shoot from then on. Clean your rifle with a wet patch and solvent, and then dry it with several patches.
Repeat the same procedure as with the 1st shot until you have shot 3 rounds that you know you could not have done a better job of holding your sight picture. If you have any shots that you feel you could have done better with TOTALLY DISREGARD those shots. You may have to go through 5 or 6 shots before you know for sure that you have done your best on 3 rounds. If you have done this you should have 3 holes in a fairly consistent area of the target. If they are not in the bullseye, which is very likely, don't be concerned. You are not trying to hit the bullseye right now. All that you are trying to determine is whether the rifle shoots straight. Believe me, there are many out there that don't. We will get into the 2nd chapter of this on another post later. Thanks
Chapter 2: Zeroing your rifle
Ok, now you have 3 holes in the target and all of them in approximately in the same area. Clean your rifle again and make sure it is dry. Now select 3 more bullets, but this time increase your powder charge by 5 grains. You should now have 80 grains. Go through the same routine of holding good sight groups, clean between each shot, and disregard any "flyers", or shots that go astray. You may, or may not, see this group of shots in a different location than the 1st group of 3 good shots that you made.
Now it becomes decision time. This is where you have to be absolutely honest with yourself. If you are counting holes that are in the target that were the absolute best that you could do then you have to make a decision. That decision is this: if the holes are not in the bullseye then you have to decide how you want to put them there. There are 2 methods: 1 is to increase your powder load by another 5 grains, or move your sights. If you have been totally honest with yourself I would first try another 5 grains of powder, particularly if with your last increase of 5 grains your bullet strikes got closer to the bullseye. If they got further away from the bullseye I would move my sights. Don't forget: "MOVE THE REAR SIGHT IN THE SAME DIRECTION THAT YOU WANT TO MOVE THE STRIKE OF THE BULLET".
Now it is time to experiment. Take 3 more bullets and go through the same routine. Clean after every shot: hold your sight picture as tight as possible: disregard the "flyers". Now how much do you move your sights. Look at the instruction booklet that came with your rifle and it will tell him how much each mark, or click, moves the strike of the bullet at what distance. If 1 click, or mark moves the bullet 1" at 100 yards, then you should factor that in for the distance that you are shooting. Make sure you understand the formula before you move the sights and then act accordingly. It is only through this tedious, time consuming, trial and error that you will consistently place your bullets in a 6" circle at 100 yards. If you can get them closer than that then absolutely do so. If I can't get 3 rounds in a 3" circle at 100 yards something is wrong.
Now this is what makes ML fun. Factors that can influence how your powder and bullet perform are not limited to you and your ability. The ambient temperature is a factor (bullets move around more when it is hot), heat of your barrel (don't get it too hot, that is why I said to lay your rifle down and clean it between shots), obviously wind is a big factor. Don't try to zero in a rifle on a real windy day unless that is the norm for your area. Try to zero in early in the morning, or early evening. The wind tends to now blow as hard at these times. THE ONLY THING YOU ARE TRYING TO ACCOMPLISH DURING THIS ZEROING IN PROCESS IS TO GET THE GUN TO SHOOT WHERE YOU POINT IT. This is the only way you are going to get confidence in your weapon, and know just exactly what factors influence the strike of the bullet. As much as humanly possible you want to eliminate all of the variables except the human ones.
One thing to keep in mind is this. Every muzzleloader made shoots differently than every other one. You can take 2 identical guns, same barrel, same stock, same sights, same bullet, same amount and type of powder, same weather conditions AND THEY WILL SHOOT DIFFERENTLY. No 2 muzzleloaders are alike. Do not take your buddies setting and make it yours. Sight in YOUR rifle. The one thing that most folks forget is that the rifles and conditions might be the same, but what is the 1 difference? It is the person shooting the rifle. No 2 people have the same eyesight factors, nerve factors, or physical build. These are all factors that enter into what powder to use, what bullet to use, what kind of sight to use. What works for 1 rifle probably will not work for another one. You don't wear your buddies underwear so don't use his settings for your rifle. At least I don't think you do!!
Chapter 3: Working up your hunting load
Ok now you should have 6 holes in your target that represent the very best that you could do. If not keep working on it, and do yourself a favor and don't stop until you have a good group of 3 shots. Lay your rifle down and go out to the target. Paste up all of your holes. I do not like to use bright colored pasties because they tend to draw my eye. I use natural colored ones. Move your target out to 100 yards. Clean your rifle with solvent and dry the barrel with several patches. What we are going to do now is fine tune your setup.
What we are going to do is work up a load for the species that you are going to hunt. A heavy load for elk, a lighter load for whitetail/blacktail, a load for black bear, and a load for grizzly/brown bear. One thing to remember: there is no substitute for accurate shot placement. You can have the biggest bullet, 200 grains of powder, and with lousy shot placement all you are going to do is wound the animal and make it suffer. So what we are doing right now is making that gun shoot where you point it.
The very best piece of equipment that you can use during the process of sighting in and working up a load is a chronograph. A chronograph is an electronic device that you set about 1 1/2 to 2 feet in front of the muzzle of your rifle while you are sighting in. It measures the speed of the bullet while the bullet travel through the "traps" of the chronograph. It does not technically measure the muzzle velocity because muzzle velocity is measured directly at the muzzle. Because of the gap between the muzzle and the chronograph what you are technically measuring is the speed of the bullet.
Let's talk about velocity for a minute. Most centerfire (CF)rifles shoot their bullets in the range of 2800 - 3500 feet per second (fps), while the fastest that I have ever seen a muzzleloader (ML) bullet travel is about 2400 fps. Normally, though, a ML bullet is traveling in the range of 1500 - 1800 fps. Because a CF bullet travels so fast it creates an aerodynamic shock wave immediately in front of the bullet. As the bullet just begins to penetrate the skin of the animal the shockwave is the first thing that enters the animal. The shockwave produces tremendous trauma to tissue and that coupled with the mass and velocity of the bullet is what does all the damage. On the other hand, a ML bullet because it is traveling at a much slower speed does not have the shock wave. As it penetrates the hide it very rapidly accumulates tissue and pushes that forward into the animal. There is an exponential increase in the amount of tissue accumulated the further it travel through the animal. This is called the "wound channel".
The accumulation of tissue combined with the "shrapneling" effect of any bone that is hit is what does all the damage. The weight and mass of the ML bullet are a critical part of how large the wound channel is. The largest wound channels I have ever seen have been produced by PowerBelt and BlackBelt bullets. I have seen them regularly produce wound channels in excess of 6" across! Saboted pistol rounds produce a good wound channel, but in my experience it is not as large as that produced by a solid lead conical. Research done by 2 of the "card carrying" experts on ML bullets and their effects, Al Marion and Alan Shenogle, indicate the tremendous effects of these bullets. All of this technology is for naught, though, if you do not produce the wound channel in the kill zone. Don't forget; the kill zone on a deer is 6" at 100 yards, and for an elk is 12" at 100 yards. To emphasize what I am saying cut out both a 6" and a 12" circle of cardboard, paint it a bright color, and take it 100 yds. away and take a look at it. That is your kill zone!
Chapter 4: Why I don’t like Pyrodex Pellets
One of the really great things about muzzleloader (ML) hunting that I like is that I can custom tailor a load that exactly fits my situation. Unlike in centerfire (CF) where some pencilneck is sitting at a desk and making the decision as to what weight of bullet, what kind of powder, what amount of powder, and what type of bullet is best for me in my situation when he knows nothing of my situation. With a ML I can choose every ingredient that makes my situation work. All that bullet manufacturers in CF do is reach a compromise.
What we do in muzzleloading is tailor each component for our individual situation. I want to be able to know in my mind that I have put together a combination that is going to give me the results that I want, and if I don't get those results I want it to be as a result of something I did, not something that some obscure individual sitting somewhere at his desk did. That is why, so far in this conversation, I have said to decide what bullet you want to use, and what powder you want to use, and then adapt both to YOUR situation. Let's talk about powder. I know what I am going to say is maybe not going to sit right with some of you, but let's let the chips fall where they may. My purpose, as moderator, is not only to help solve problems, but in some way help make more folks better hunters. This means respecting and treating the resource (animals) with respect and not make them suffer anymore than necessary. By swiftly and effectively downing an animal with as accurate a shot as possible we have fulfilled that objective.
I have never seen a ML or CF rifle where the trajectory of the bullet was not greatly affected by 30 or 50 grains of powder. The amount of powder, and type, have tremendous effect on the path of the bullet, so consequently on the accuracy of your shot. Let's put it right up front. I DO NOT LIKE THE IDEA OF PELLETS, WHETHER THEY ARE 30 GRAIN OR 50 GRAIN, AS THE ONLY INCREMENTS OF POWDER THAT ARE AVAILABLE TO ME IF I CHOOSE TO SHOOT PELLETS. If you are having problems with accuracy, or you want to increase the speed of your bullet, and the only choice that you have is to increase or decrease by 30 or 50 grains you are being seriously mislead. You have now subjugated yourself to the same position as a CF hunter. You have become a slave to the ballistics, and lack of accuracy, that 30 or 50 grain increments of powder provide! You are letting somebody at that obscure desk somewhere tell you that you can get the results you want by adjusting your powder load in those increments. IT DOESN'T WORK FOLKS! I hate to say this, but they have made you lazy ML shooters. Notice I did not say hunters! What is the biggest reason you use pellets? Because they are easy to load and control. You have forsaken assembling the best load that you can that will treat you and the animal in the best way possible. You have gotten frustrated because you aren't really getting the accuracy that you want or need. All of us are guilty of rationalizing poor shots.
When we do that we start using "Kentucky windage" far too much, or start moving our sights around and end up with a worse situation that we started out with. I know as sure as God made little green apples that some of you are going to come back and say I'm all wet; but if you are honestly getting the accuracy that you want under all circumstances by increasing or decreasing your load in 30 or 50 grains increments then you are the very rare exception to the masses. You are cheating yourself out of one of the real pleasures involved in muzzleloaders. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about. I only shoot .54's. Why? Because by adjusting my bullet weight and powder charge I can hunt anything from a 1000 lb. grizzly to a 75 pound javelina (hog). Show me 1 centerfire rifle that can do that. Better still, show me 1 person shooting pellets that can adjust his or her load as finitely. Don't let the ease of pellets override the necessity of taking the time to work up the absolutely best load you can by increasing or decreasing your powder charge in 5 grain increments. If the only option you have, if you are shooting pellets, is to increase or decrease you powder charge by 30 or 50 grains then, sadly to say, you are a shooter who is hoping like the devil to hit the kill zone when the gun goes off. If you take the time to work up a load with loose powder and continue to use it when you hunt then you don't have to guess where the bullet went when you squeezed the trigger.
Let's say for the sake of argument that you sighted in your rifle with the bullet and powder charge that you wanted and you used loose powder to do so. By some fluke it works out that 100 grains, or 150 grains of Pyrodex were just exactly what gave you the 3" shot group at 100 yards that you are striving for. Then, by all means, use the pellets but only after you have gotten a 3" group at 100 yards. If you start out using pellets and wonder why you can't get that 3" group, I think I have told you why. That is my 2 cents worth on the subject.
To illustrate the subject a little more. The only thing I will ever say on this page is what my personal experiences have been, not someone elses. I have all 7 of my rifles sighted in to where I can get a 3" group, or smaller, at 100 yards. When these pellets came out I wanted to see what the effect would be by changing my loads in 30 or 50 grain increments. I took all 7 guns to the range and shot pellets through all of them. Every shot was a minimum of 4 inches away from where the gun normally shoots. With one of my percussions the bullets were in the 7 ring! Nuff said.
Chapter 5: Selecting your rifle
If you are thinking about getting into muzzleloading (ML) there are quite a few factors that need to be taken into account:
1. Do you hunt anything bigger than a whitetail or a black bear?
2. How much does the cleaning aspect bother you?
3. How much recoil can you tolerate?
4. How much time are you willing to devote to learning a new shooting sport?
5. How much money can you afford to invest in this new sport?
6. What is the general weather in your area during hunting season?
If you hunt nothing larger than a whitetail or black bear, then IN THEORY, you need nothing larger than a .50 caliber. I prefer to use a .54 because I can use lighter loads for smaller animals and heavier loads for bigger animals. Every gun on the market can only be loaded with a certain amount of powder before you get into a real dangerous situation. So make that decision.
If the cleaning issue is a major factor, and you really don't want to have the hassle more than absolutely necessary, then I would shoot loose Clear Shot and buy a stainless steel barrel. The stainless barrels don't rust the way blued ones do, and will tolerate a bad cleaning job better than blued. Inlines are the easiest to clean because you can remove the breech plug. Percussion are the next easiest to clean, and flintlocks are the hardest.
If you have a sensitive shoulder, or some arthritis in your shoulder, then I would stick with a .50, or even entertain a .45. Also, in this respect look for a gun that has a little weight to it. Heavier guns do not transmit the recoil to your shoulder as much as lighter guns do. They are obviously a little harder to carry around all day, but you can solve the problem by putting a sling on the gun. Also, as you work up a load the recoil will increase. Look for a gun where the receiver group (breech area) is firmly seated low in the stock. Look for a gun, that when fired, transmits the recoil as much as possible in a straight line to the stock. If the stock drops down immediately behind the receiver group then that rifle will transmit more recoil to your shoulder.
Learning how to properly use your muzzleloader will take a definite time commitment on your part. I believe that it is vitally important to learn as much about your gun as you possibly can BEFORE you ever stuff powder and a bullet down the barrel. Go to the library and see if they have any books, stay to tuned to this forum, read or print out of these General Discussion Chapters that I am posting, talk to someone who is KNOWLEDGEABLE about the sport, but don't get hung up on the technical aspects because there is more misinformation floating around about muzzleloaders than with any other shooting sport! This sport is just like any other in that you have to get the basics down first and then constantly go back to those basics if you have a problem. If there are any muzzleloader organizations in your area go to one of their meetings and see if you can learn anything.
Now the critical stuff. The general rule that I tell everyone is to buy the absolutely best rifle you can afford. In this business you get what you pay for. Low prices - low quality. Low quality - more problems. The main ingredient with any rifle, in regards to quality, is the barrel. Some rifles have die cut lands and grooves, some have have laser cut, and some have forged. I prefer laser cut and forged lands and grooves. Any rifle with a Green Mountain barrel has laser cuts. Remington forges theirs. Die cut lands and grooves have "chatter" marks in the barrel and it can sometimes be very difficult to remove them. I am going to do a chapter on this problem and it will help you solve that problem if you do end up buying a rifle that has the die cut lands and grooves. When you go to the store to buy your rifle take a couple of cotton balls with you. If you have a bore scope, or bore light, also take that with you. A small mirror will work if you don't have the scope or light. When you narrow down your choices, and before you buy, use a ramrod and run the cotton ball down the bore. Look in the bore with the scope, light, or shine light down it with the mirror, and look for cotton fibers stuck inside the bore. Buy the gun that has the fewest number of fibers that are stuck in the barrel. If you find a gun with no fibers stuck in the bore, buy that "puppy" right then and there. It will save you innumerable problems later on.
I would buy a gun with a synthetic stock. It solves a lot of problems, the least of which is scratching. Also,don't forget you are going to have to buy some accessories; caps, powder, patches, bore swabs, bore brushes, etc. that pull this whole thing together. Plan on spending around $50.00 on top of the cost of the gun.
If the weather around your place is really moist then I would lean toward an inline. It is much easier to keep your "powder and nipple area dry" with one of them. With normal amounts of rain, snow, or humidity you can get by just fine with a percussion (side hammer, cap and ball, or whatever you want to call it). Flintlocks are the most difficult to deal with in a high moisture situation, but if you are willing to deal with the problems, or your State laws dictate that you have to use a flintlock, then you have no choice.
On the subject of barrel twist. If you are going to shoot patched round balls then a 1:66 twist is what you should use. If you are going to shoot ONLY conicals, and are going to buy a percussion, then a twist in the area of 1:44 or 1:45 will be okay. Most all of the inlines have a twist in the area of 1:28 to 1:32. You can shoot the Power Belts and Black Belt bullets in these and get real good results. Remember, that all the twist does is produce more or less spinning of the projectile. 1:66 produces less spin than a 1:45, and a lot less that a 1:28. You can produce too much spin on a projectile. As an example, even though you can TECHNICALLY get a patched round ball down the bore of a 1:28 twist barrel, when you shoot it God only knows where the bullet is going to go because you have put too much spin on the ball. Round balls are not as aerodynamically sound as a conical.
Chapter 6: Lapping your barrel
We are now at the point where you have gotten your rifle to shoot where you point it. What we need to do now is modify the barrel so as to make sure that your accuracy increases and your bullet travels faster down the bore. What we are going to do is "lap" the barrel. This is a major job so get the following items all rounded up before you start. Get the following items: 2 new brass bore brushes, a hand full of patches (I cut mine from an old t-shirt and wash them when they get dirty), 2 or 3 bore swabs, a small can of automotive valve lapping compound (fine), bore solvent, a few cotton balls, and some teflon based lube. Make sure it is teflon based. Also, a little liquid refreshment for you helps.
If you have a vice take the barrel out of the rifle. If you don't have a vice leave the barrel in the rifle, but get a buddy, wife, or kid to help hold the rifle. If you have a vice open it up and pad the jaws with about an inch of rags to cushion the barrel so that you don't scratch it. Close the vice tight enough to hold the barrel still. If you don't have a vice put a human on the stock end of the rifle and tell them to hold it tight. Put a bore BRUSH on your ramrod, wrap it with a patch, and apply a liberal amount of lapping compound all around the patch. What you are going to do is run that brush/patch compound down the barrel and remove any manufacturing burrs off of the edges of the lands, and remove any high spots. If you want to see how bad the situation is before you start, put a cotton ball on a worm jag and run it through the bore. Look down the bore and see how many cotton fibers are stuck in there. Even if you don't see any you still want to lap the barrel for reasons that will become obvious.
Push the ramrod down the barrel and pull it out. That is 1 stroke. If you had any amount of cotton fibers stick in the barrel you are going to do 100 strokes. If you did not have ANY stick to the barrel you are going to do 50 strokes. After about 10 or 15 strokes you will need to change the patch and apply more lapping compound. After you have completed this step clean the barrel THOROUGHLY with a bore brush because you will have lapping compound in the grooves. Put some solvent on a bore swab and clean it some more. After you have cleaned it run another cotton ball down the bore. Do you see any fibers? If you do repeat the lapping process for another 50 strokes. Clean it again and run another cotton bore down the barrel. If you see any fibers repeat the lapping process for another 25 strokes. Okay, now you can run a cotton ball down the barrel without having any fibers stick, and when you look down the barrel it is shinier than you know what. Make sure the barrel is as clean as is humanly possible.
A mistake that some people make is to mount their ramrod in a drill motor and spin the ramrod down the barrel. DON'T DO THIS or you will round off the edges of the lands and you will lose your gas check on your bullet. Just let the bore brush/patch combination rotate normally as you run it down the barrel.
Change out the bore brush for a BORE SWAB and saturate the swab with the Teflon lube. Use lots. Now, if you had the barrel in a vice take it out and put it in a bucket of REAL HOT water. If you had someone hold the rifle take the barrel out of the stock and do the same thing. Hold onto the barrel with a thick glove or some rags during this process. Get THE ENTIRE barrel HOT from end to end! Absolutely saturate the inside of the barrel with the Teflon based lube. As the barrel cools it will suck the lube into the pores of the steel and seal it in. The more lube you use the better. Let the barrel cool completely. Take the clean bore swab that you have left and clean the excess lube out of the barrel. Look down the barrel. I suggest you wear some sunglasses when you do!!
What you have just done is what every professional target shooter does to his rifle. You have increased the speed of your bullet anywhere from 100 to 200 feet per second, and made the rifle more accurate. How have you made it more accurate? Remember one of the basics of ballistics. The explosion of the powder behind the bullet produces gas which pushes the bullet out of the barrel. The more gas you can retain behind the bullet the faster the bullet travels. The faster the bullet travels, in combination with the twist of the barrel the more accurate your rifle is. All of those chatter marks, burrs, and high spots cut into the obfligated (expanded)base of the bullet, or patch, and allowed gas to escape around the bullet while it was traveling down the barrel. You have eliminated that from happening by lapping the barrel.
After the barrel has cooled completely, run a patch down the barrel with a light coat of oil, reassemble the rifle and have some liquid refreshment. I have found that barley pop tastes real good right about now. Once a year repeat the teflon based lubrication portion. I also apply the teflon based lube to the OUTSIDE of the barrel while it is hot and it seems to help keep the barrel from rusting.
Chapter 7: CAMO and Scent Control
What I would like to discuss in this Chapter is something that a lot of people do not pay much attention to, and that is "camoing in" and scent control. It seems like every hunting show on TV talks about a big concern with which direction the wind is blowing. What I am going to do is put forth a method of scent control that I have used for years, and I never worry about where the wind is coming from. Instead of doing all of what we are going to discuss, if you have a couple of hundred bucks you want to spend, go out and by some of that Scent Blocker stuff.
Before we start you are going to have to get some things together: 2 pairs of these real cheap vinyl gloves (or 1 pair of rubber gloves), Scent elimination laundry soap, scent elimination spray, enough large trash bags to hold all of your camo, and some metal or plastic clothes hangers. The first thing you are going to do is wash all of your camo gear in the wash machine, but before you do you have to get all of the perfumes out of the machine that have been put in there by your wife's laundry detergent. Fill up the machine with clear hot water and add about 1/2 cup of the scent elimination laundry soap. Let it run the longest cycle that you can, but don't put any clothes in the machine. You are just flushing it out. After it shuts off and drains, load in some camo. Wash the camo with the scent elimination soap. When the load is finished, put on a pair of the vinyl gloves. Take each piece of camo out and hang it on a metal/plastic hanger. Don't use wood because it absorbs odors. Be very careful to not touch any of the camo with your arms or the clothes you are wearing. Hang that machine load outside to dry. Do this for ALL of your camo to include hats, gloves, scarfs, handkerchiefs, jackets, pants, shirts etc.. When they are dry take them off the hangers and put them in a large plastic trash bag. If you have some pine needles, or anything that is going to be in the area where you are going to hunt, put that in the bag(s) with your camo. Twist tie the bag real tight and store it someplace where there aren't too many odors.
One thing a lot of people don't know is that plastic breathes, so be kind of careful of where you put the bags. I hang mine in our tack room. When you leave to go hunting don't wear your camo to your site. Change clothes when you get there. Remember, you now have scent free clothes with maybe a little pine scent. Don't forget that the inside of your vehicle has odors that can transfer to your clothes. Everything that man uses is disgusting to animals such as deer or elk. Tobacco, chew, snuff, breath mints, coffee, gasoline, diesel fuel, vehicle exhaust, and MOST OF ALL campfire smoke. If you think you might have gotten some human odors on your camo lightly spray a little of the scent elimination stuff on you. Particularly around the crotch area and under your arms. Another thing, while we are on the subject of scent elimination sprays; read the post by "itsgreg" on how to make some spray of your own. A really cool idea. It is at the "Scents" page on this site. One of the things that I do religiously is to wash all of my socks and underwear in the scent elimination soap that I am going to wear while hunting. You might as well stop the odor at the source. I also use scent free deodorant, body soap, and shampoo. I wash up every time I come back to camp. A lot of archery hunters quit eating meat about a month before archery season also. It is a fact that meat is the largest contributor to body odor. Don't forget your gloves and face net.
Now on a subject near and dear to this website and all of us, and that is camo. I hunt deer, elk, javelina (hogs) and antelope with the same amount of camo that I use when I am turkey hunting. Mix and match your camo. Try to wear a dark pattern for your trousers and a tree/leaf pattern for your shirt or jacket. Take a look at the patterns and colors in nature. It is a hodge-podge of colors and patterns. Try to emulate that same thing. It is not necessary to duplicate every tree and bush that you see, but to blend in. Human skin shines. Nothing in nature shines except the surface of water. If you have shiny furniture on your rifle use something to make it dull. Make darn sure that the sun doesn't flash off of it. One of the best things that I found a couple of years ago is a product called the "Gunbrella". It is a waterproof cloth "case" that fits over your rifle, with the muzzle sticking out of the end. Jump on their website at
www.gunbrella.com and you will see what I am talking about. They really work and I highly recommend them. If you think that scent control the way I described it is "voodoo", I have a picture of a buddy of mine who practices scent control the same way I do sitting on a stump with a herd of 11 elk totally surrounding him. Several of them are within arms length, and they don't even know he was there!! SCENT CONTROL WORKS. Give it a try and you will never have to worry about wind direction again.
Another thing to not overlook is ultraviolet. Deer and elk can perceive ultraviolet rays much much better than we can, and you get ultraviolet in your camo from the dyes that the manufacturers use in order to make the colors look more vibrant. You also get it from your regular laundry detergents. Buy some ultra violet elimination spray. It is in the same place as the scent elimination soap and sprays in the sporting goods store. I spray it on my clothes before I pack them into my trash bags. Be sure it is dry before you pack your clothes away.
When you get back to camp, take off your camo and hang it outside. Spray a little scent control on areas that you might have touched. WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LIGHT A BIG CAMPFIRE, OR ANY TOBACCO PRODUCTS, WHILE YOU ARE WEARING YOUR CAMO. If you absolutely have to have a campfire put your camo inside your vehicle or tent. Smoke absolutely drives animals away from you. Also, the odors from the lunch, or supper that you are cooking will do the same thing. I know it sounds like a royal pain in the backside, but the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages, particularly when you are setting in camp and looking at the deer or elk hanging in the tree! Hope this helps.
Chapter 8: Sabots
From reading all of the posts on this site, and from questions that I get at seminars all the time, there is a lot of confusion about what sabot/bullet combination is best in what rifle, and in what specific situation. Let's try to take the mystery out of this. Several steps have to be taken, by you, to determine the answer, but below I will give you the things that you have to do to arrive at the answer.
#1: As you have read in some of my other posts before you decide which is best for you, the first thing that you must do is to determine exactly what the inside diameter of your barrel is. Just because the manufacturer says that your rifle is a .45, .50, .54, .58 DOES NOT MEAN A THING. Get 4 people together with their rifles, make sure all the rifles are by the same manufacturer, make sure they are all the same advertised caliber, measure the inside diameter, and I will guarantee you that you will have 4 different inside diameters. This is exactly the reason why I insist that you not use the combination that somebody else tells you will work, unless his/her rifle has exactly the same inside bore diameter as your rifle. If you don't have a small inside micrometer go to either a machine shop or gunsmith and have the bore measured. You want the measurement in inches, not in metric. You then need to convert it to a decimal. If you have a problem doing this let me know and I will get you the decimal equivalent. Usually if you ask the machine shop or gunsmith what the decimal equivalent is they will tell you.
#2: Once you have the bore diameter figure you now know what the diameter of the sabot/bullet combination has to be. For the sake of argument: if your bore measures .445 then your sabot/bullet combination, when put together, cannot exceed .445! Also, take the following into account. When you load your first round the barrel is clean, but when you load the second round the barrel is no longer clean. It has fouling in it. If you are using a sabot/bullet combination that measures .445 in diameter and you are loading your second shot, you are going to have to darn near get a hammer and pound it down the bore! I always make sure that my sabot/bullet combination is at least .001 UNDER my actual bore diameter so that the 2nd shot is easier to load. If you notice, I did not say EASY, I said EASIER.
#3: When you measure the diameter of your sabot/bullet combination insert the bullet in the sabot. You will notice that the bullet does not go all the way to the bottom of the sabot. Below the bullet there is about 3/16 of an inch of solid plastic that has a small cup in the bottom of it. This is called the gas check. When the powder ignites, the heat of the explosion causes the walls of this "cup" to obfligate (expand) and seal against the inside walls of your bore (lands and grooves). When you measure your sabot/bullet combination DO NOT measure the solid plastic at the bottom of the sabot. Measure the diameter where the bottom of the bullet stops in the sabot. This is your maximum width (diameter). If your bullet causes the sabot "ears" to expand then your bullet is too large for the sabot. You either have to get a bullet with a small diameter, or a sabot with a larger diameter. Whichever you have to do, the combination should not exceed the inside diameter of your bore MINUS .001!
#4: Here is a chart of sabot/bullet combinations for various calibers:
SIZES AVAILABLE COLOR SABOT BULLET OPTIONS
.36 cal. x .311/.314 bullet gray 70/90 grain
.45 cal. x .355/.357 bullet blue 88/220 grain
.50 cal. x .429/.430 bullet green 180/265 grain
.50 cal. x .451/.452 bullet black 185/260 grain
.54 cal. x .429/.430 bullet white 180/265 grain
.54 cal. x .451/.452 bullet red 185/260 grain
.58 cal. x .451/.452 bullet gray 185/260 grain
DEER HUNTING BULLET RECOMMENDATIONS:
.357/.358 diameter 140 to 160 grains
.429/.430 diameter 180 to 240 grains
.451/.452 diameter 225 to 260 grains
Shoot jacketed, swaged, or cast pistol or rifle bullets in your rifle. Properly selected bullets can deliver increases in expansion, penetration, and shock effect. You do not need any lubes with a sabot. With the designs and weights of modern bullets available from your local dealer your muzzleloader can be well suited for anything from small game, to varmints, to big game.
Most recommended bullets are available in jacketed, jacketed hollow point, swaged or cast, semi-wadcutter, semi-wadcutter hollow point, or Keith type.
#5: In my humble opinion you can save yourself a lot of hassle if you don't shoot sabots, but switch over to PowerBelt or BlackBelt bullets. I field tested these several years ago, fell in love with them, and haven't shot a sabot since. The biggest reason I converted over was because the belted bullets are so much easier to load on that second shot.
#6: In my opinion the best sabots on the market are made by MMP in Harrison, Arkansas 72601, at RR6, Box 384. The last time I checked they were $7.25 for a bag of 50. A real nice fellow by the name of Del Ramsey is the boss, and he is more than glad to help you with any sizing problems that you might have as long as you buy some sabots. Tell him that I said to call. He's a great guy.
#7: If you have any questions post them on the board and I will help get an answer. I hope that this chapter has taken some of the mystery out it.
Chapter 9: Moisture Control
After we go through the process of getting together all of the accessories, i.e., short starter, patches, bullets, powder, solvents, oil, etc., sighting in our rifles so that they shoot where we point them, lapping the barrels, and in general getting comfortable with our rifle, the next thing that we encounter and have to solve is moisture control. This one element has ruined more shots, hunting trips, and trips to the range than any other thing. Moisture control really begins before you ever leave the house, and continues throughout the entire time you are in camp, your vehicle, at the range, or while actually hunting. All of us know, and hopefully practice, leaving our rifles oiled or greased down while in storage at home. Wise practice, just don't overdo it. A light coat of oil, or grease, is all that is needed. For you folks in high humidity areas it is good to check your rifles every 30 days or so, and redo if necessary. Just don't get carried away. One of the things that helps with moisture control at home is a gun cabinet or safe. In my gun cabinet I have 2 containers of SILICATE granules that soak up humidity. Mine are the type that when they change color I put them in the oven and dry them out, and then reuse them. I recommend them highly.
The first step to moisture control when you are going shooting is to remember that moisture is not just water or humidity. It also is oil and grease. Look at it as anything that will prevent your powder from burning once it receives ignition (spark).
Keep you powder containers tightly closed, and stored in a dry, dark space.
During the process of setting up your camp, or if you are not setting up camp, just before you load your rifle for the first time, THOROUGHLY dry the barrel with several patches. Don't rely on just 1 patch. The old saying comes in to play here and that is: "better safe than sorry". If you are in an area where you won't spook the game it is a good practice to pop a few caps and make sure that your ignition channel is open.
Check and make sure that your powder measure is dry. If not dry it. In the driest place possible load your measure and pour the powder down the barrel. Load your bullet. If there is any, and I mean any, sign that it might rain or snow you MUST take preventive measures to keep that powder dry. I ALWAYS put a "Muzzle Mitt" or condom over the end of my muzzle if I even think it might rain or snow. Also, don't forget that if there is moisture on the tree/brush branches it could drop down your barrel, or get into your lock or nipple area. You can buy "Muzzle Mitts" from Norm's Hunting Help, P. O. Box 206, Flint, TX 75762, (903) 839-3558.
Now for a flintlock: If there is moisture I normally don't load my pan with FFFF until I know there is game in the immediate area. Make sure you pan is dry before you do. Also check the touch-hole and make sure it is open with no obstructions. Don't forget that if you prime your pan and walk around with your pan loaded before you shoot you should roll your rifle a little so that the powder is laying up against the touch-hole. You can seal the "seam" where the frizzen closes against the pan a couple of ways. You can close the frizzen, light a candle, and let wax drip on the seam and seal it. Don't forget to let some drip on the seam next to the lock face. You can do the same thing with grease and finger nail polish if you want to. The best thing that you can do is tie on a "cow's knee". You have read threads posted by steve00 and myself about these. THEY WORK. I take a rectangular piece of lightweight canvas, make any modifications necessary to ensure that it fits tightly over the lock, and stock. Sew at string, or a piece of boot lacing, to each of the four corners. Make sure they are long enough to tie off under the stock. Soak the entire thing in linseed oil until it is thoroughly saturated. Hang it on the clothesline, or fence or a post until it is THOROUGHLY dry. Throw it in your possibles bag. When you get out, if it is raining, or you think it is going to rain/snow tie it on. Make sure that it is tight.
Now for a percussion (side hammer, cap and ball) or inline: Make sure that you are using the hottest nipple that you can buy. The best that I have found are the "Hot Shot" nipples. They have a sort of red anodized finish on them. Again, if you are in an area where you won't spook game pop a cap and make sure the firing channel is open. Put your cap on. I use only "Dynamit Nobel" caps. In my humble opinion they are the best on the market. Again moisture in the area. You can put the wax, grease, or finger nail polish around the edges of the cap where they contact the nipple. You can also use a "cow's knee" in this situation if you want. For inline users make sure your bolt is closed, but now touching the cap. When I hunt with my inline(s) and it is raining/snowing I carry it with the ejection port facing down towards the ground.
I would also like to recommend a product that you guys have seen me post before and that is the Gunbrella. They work. Hit their website at
www.gunbrella.com and you will see what I am talking about. You guys with scopes take a close look at that scope cover. IT WORKS. This past elk season my partner and I hunted in 7 straight days of snow, freezing rain, and rain and never had a misfire. 2 more elk in the freezer!!
Another thing to remember is that when you get in your vehicle to go to another area, or to go back to camp, and there is a temperature difference between the inside of your vehicle and the outside, the steel in your rifle is susceptible to "sweating". When I am moving I don't turn on my heater. If you are going to be in camp for a few days and haven't been successful the first day, leave your rifle in your vehicle. If you take it into your tent or cabin IT WILL SWEAT and your powder will get wet. One of the myths that I have heard for years is that you have to unload, or "fire out" your charge everyday. I have loaded my rifle(s) when I get to camp and have left them loaded for as much as 10 days and not had a misfire. Just remember to remove your FFFF from the pan, or take off your nipple. Here is where your cow's knee or gunbrella comes into play. After you remove your FFFF or cap tie on your cow's knee or close up your gunbrella and the nipple, pan area will stay dry.
Think about something for a minute. Do you think that all of the pioneers, trekkers, longhunters, and mountain men only hunted, or defended themselves, when the sun was shining and there was no humidity? The techniques that I have shown here were all developed by them. The only thing that is new in this discussion is the gunbrella. By the way, instead of condoms the pioneers used a piece of waxed paper, or a piece of intestine stuck to the muzzle.
Chapter 10: Accuracy
Have you ever noticed ever once in awhile that when you go out to shoot your rifle that for some strange reason it just isn't as accurate as it was the last time you shot it? Believe it or not, it might not be you! One of the things that I found out years ago was that when you sight in a rifle take a look at the Lot Number on the bottom of the container. If you have several cans, or bottles, of powder (Black or Pyrodex) you probably will notice different Lot Numbers. I have found that different Lot Numbers shoot differently. You might have used a different Lot Number and that is why you are not quite as accurate once in awhile. What I do is to make sure that I am using the same Lot Number for hunting that I used to sight the rifle in with. Now if you only have 1 can or bottle you don't have anything to worry about unless you ran out of powder while sighting in and when to the store and bought some more. Just a little tip to pay attention to.
One of the things that I have noticed here on the forum is how many of you guys use rifles that have brass furniture. By furniture I mean the metal parts. These are real prevalent on "Hawken" style guns, and those that are marketed as "Kentucky long rifles". Don't forget that when you hunt with them you are taking a chance that the sun will reflect off of them and you run the risk of spooking game. You might want to dull them somehow before you go hunting to make sure that doesn't happen. An old timer told me once that "the only thing in nature that reflects light is the surface of water" and that animals are very sensitive to reflected light. There are several things on the market that you can use, and after the season is over you can wash them off. One of the things that I have been using for the last couple of years on my rifles is one of these camo fabric covers. They really work, and all you have to do is take them off after you get back.
Chapter 11: Powder
I would like to expound a little on some of the factors that I covered in Chapter 10, as it relates to powder.
Through the years I have done a lot of testing with different powders and have formed an opinion in my own mind about how different powders react, and what is the effect on working up a hunting load. What I mean by a "hunting load" is this: any bullet traveling more than about 5 feet per second will punch a hole in paper at 100 yards, but will it penetrate the hide, flesh, and bone of the animal that I am hunting? The answer, obviously, is "no", so we have to work up a load that will do the damage that is necessary, so that we can humanely dispatch the animal.
As most of you who are regular visitors to this forum have figured out I work up hunting loads with a chronograph. The reason I do this is because I think it is the only way to determine just how effective any particular powder and bullet combination is. Granted, a chrony only measures the bullet speed a short distance from the muzzle of the gun, but it is a whole lot better than just guessing at how fast a bullet is traveling. I do not have the instrumentation to determine the speed of the bullet at 100 yards, nor am I a good enough mathemetician to figure it out, nor am I a good enough shot to get a bullet through the triangle framework of a chrony at 100 yards. I can shoot through the triangle at 50 yards, but again I am not smart enough to interpret the numbers that I get to a situation at 100 yards. Maybe some of you have been able to do this, or have a chart someplace that tells what happens to a particular bullet between 50 and 100 yards. If you do I would really like to see how to do it.
Now here is what I have found. When shooting 2f powder, for some reason, your bullet speed reaches a plateau of speed, that no matter how much more powder you safely put down the barrel, you do not get any more appreciable increase in the speed of the bullet. When shooting 3f powder I have found that you do not hit this plateau, and you can continue to increase the speed of the bullet with higher amounts of powder. The same thing holds true for Pyrodex and Pyrodex RS. From the tests that I have done Pyrodex RS produces the same increases in bullet speed as 3f blackpowder does. I have seen this same phenomenon with .45, .50, .54, and .58 caliber rifles. I have tested it in flinters, side hammers, and inlines. They all exhibit the same thing. As some of you know, Lyman puts out a pretty good book that explains a lot of this. At the sake of getting real technical, it relates to something called "lead pressure units". Do I understand it? NO. Do I believe it? YES. What it boils down to is the different "burn rates" between 3f and 2f.
What does all of this mean. What it means is that if you work up a load with 3f powder or Pyrodex RS, and for some reason you switch over to 2f or regular Pyrodex, you are going to have to sight in your rifle again. It also means that your bullet is probably not going to be traveling as fast, and this could have an effect on how effective your shots are going to be.
LISTEN CLOSE TO WHAT I AM GOING TO SAY: Just because you can get faster bullet speed with 3f or Pyrodex RS, it does not mean that you can pour a lot more powder down your barrel than what the manufacturer says is a safe amount. What it means is that you will get faster bullet speed with 3f than you will with 2f. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU CAN LOAD MORE 3F OR PYRODEX RS DOWN THE BARREL THAN WHAT THE MANUFACTURER RECOMMENDS.
So, if you guys that are thinking about buying one of these "new magnum" .45's because of their greater bullet speed, you might think about changing from 2f to 3f, or Pyrodex to Pyrodex RS. That is, if you are using 2f or Pyrodex right now.
Please understand, that these are the results that I have found. It does not mean that this is gospel. You may get different results.
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