A question for the front stuffers

[docone31]

To get my wife's feet wet in real shooting, I got her a .45cal front stuffer.
I have to remove the breech and remove an unfired load. It has been sitting for a long time.
What is the powder charge for this caliber?
I was thinking on Pyrodex with either Ball, or REAL loads.
It is simple, hands on, and I think it will open her up in terms of shooting experience.

[jdgabbard]

Not a front stuffer, but IIRC when it comes to front stuffers it almost depends on how big a plume of smoke you want.

Wait, you said Pyrodex, right. Last time I saw a box of pyrodex I believe it said you could use one or two of the pellets. So for just a lighter load I would just use one for the wife. As for which to use, roundball or some real boolits, I would probably stick with the RBs. As they will be a bit lighter, and will let your wife adjust to the daily activity of having that thing recoil into her shoulder. The point is not to scare her off before she gets hooked ;)

[fourarmed]

I don't know what your rifling twist is, but a rule of thumb imparted to me is to start with the caliber (45) in grains of black powder with a patched round ball. I tried 50 grains in my .50 TC, and it was a pleasant and reasonably accurate load.

[44man]

To get my wife's feet wet in real shooting, I got her a .45cal front stuffer.
I have to remove the breech and remove an unfired load. It has been sitting for a long time.
What is the powder charge for this caliber?
I was thinking on Pyrodex with either Ball, or REAL loads.
It is simple, hands on, and I think it will open her up in terms of shooting experience.
Why not just fire the load out? Cap her and let her rip. Unless of course someone forgot the powder! [smilie=1: Make sure the ball is down all the way.
Then clean it good.
In my .45's with round ball I use 90 gr of FFG or same volume of Pyrocrap for deer. For plinking, 50 to 60 gr will do.
I can tell you that if the gun is a factory gun like a TC, you can ruin it trying to remove the breech plug. Better to remove the nipple and poke with a pin, dribble some FFFFG into the hole, replace the nipple and shoot it. If at first it fails to fire, re-seat the ball for each try in case it moved.
They also make a CO-2 gadget that you plug onto the nipple to blow everything out of the barrel.
Even if you forget the powder you can shoot a ball out. Dribble FFFFG in, fire it, add as much powder again as you can get in, re-seat the ball and it will shoot the ball out. MAKE SURE YOU PUSH THE BALL BACK DOWN! Sometimes it comes out with just what you got in the first time. It takes almost no powder at all to remove a ball.

[twotoescharlie]

removing the breech plug voids T/C warranty

TTC

[docone31]

Hehehe,
Being who I am, and no firearm sits without getting fixed, I made a tool.
The ramrod had a screw to pull the balls, the previous owner had removed the one that came with it, ground off the threads of a screw and put it in the ramrod to try to pull the ball.
I took the ramrod, threaded in one of those new sheetrock screws, made a few turns and pulled the ball.
No powder came out!!!
That explains why the rifle did not fire for the gentleman.
I tried to pull the breechplug, and it was way too tight to do it without ruining the breechplug.
This is a nice little muzzle loader, fits my wife pretty well. The bore is "dusty" without rust.
I looked at the Pyrodex site and 70gns is an average load. She handles my 03-A3 like it was hers, and her G63 Swede in .308 like no tomorrow. I am not worried about the push from black powder. I will probably go between 50gns, and 60gns. We do not hunt, so I do not need to get her used to recoil. If she wants to step it up, she can.
I gotta silver solder the trigger guard tomorrow, the brass cracked on the screw head area. Aside from that, not bad. Don't even have to refinish the stock. Blueing is ok, some scale rust, but otherwise not too bad.
I think she is going to like smokepoles. I know I do.

[stubert]

Is it an in-line or a side lock? If a sidelock, Do NOT remove the breech plug shoot it out , pull it out, or blow it out. If it is a side lock start with 1 grain per caliber and go up. You might want to try real black, pyrodex can give hangfires in some rifles. Enjoy it

[docone31]

It is a sidelock.
I never liked the inlines, something just never felt right about them.
I love the smell of Goex, or Swiss, might just be the way to go.
The real thing.

[carpetman]

I bet Rock Hudson nor Liberace knew nothing about this topic.

[leadeye]

I used one of those CO2 gadgets to clear a charge when faced with the same problem. They work very well.

[docone31]

Thanks for all the info guys.
It really helps me out. It has been such a long time for me.
I think the wife and myself are going to expand our experiences together.
Last rifle I had was an old Remington cap and ball. Had nice scars around the primer nipple from useage long ago.
Wasn't worth much back then,
today????

[oldtoolsniper]

My father received a front stuffer from a fellow 25 years ago. He had stuffed two balls into it with no powder. Those CO2 things were not yet invented. The gentleman whom owned the rifle was prone to drink, lots and lots of it. My father knowing that lead melts before steel placed the barrel in a vice pointed at a wood cabinet mounted on the wall above the workbench.Started the tourch and began heating. The cat was eating lunch under the cabinet on the workbench when the uncharged lead plugged bore erupted into a large cloud of smoke, noise and sparks. I can’t print what my dad said, the cat was fine but he never went in the basement again. I have never forgotten that lesson. No one got hurt except the cabinet. It was scorched and complete with the hole when the house sold after my father’s passing. I wish I had taken the cabinet.

[jcwit]

Removing the breech plug voids the warrenty? T/C used to offer the wrench to remove the breech plug as an accessory. Course I'm going back to the old fashioned side locks.

[Hang Fire]

To get my wife's feet wet in real shooting, I got her a .45cal front stuffer.
I have to remove the breech and remove an unfired load. It has been sitting for a long time.
What is the powder charge for this caliber?
I was thinking on Pyrodex with either Ball, or REAL loads.
It is simple, hands on, and I think it will open her up in terms of shooting experience.

Traditional or modern inline? Big difference betwixt the two, I know about traditional, (over 40 years of building and shooting) but next to nothing about inlines.

http://hstrial-rchambers.homestead.com/Index.html

[defib]

For just kiling paper I shoot 45grains of pyrodex in my 54cal my hunting load is 80 - 90