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You did well, Pilgrim...….
REALLY well !
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You did well, Pilgrim...….
REALLY well !
.
Now I lay me down to sleep
A gun beside me is what I keep
If I awake, and you're inside
The coroner's van is your next ride
Nice find & great price!! I have a GPR flinter in 54 cal., I built from a kit. I counln't be happier. The rifle shoots amazing with patch ball.
Now comes the fun part.... LOAD DEVELOPMENT!
SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM
Looks like a lovely addition to the family.
Don't forget pawn shops when looking for guns. They don't always know what they have. I got my Knight Wolverine for 60 bucks because the guy couldn't get rid of it. I inspected the bore and liked what i saw. Its was designed more for sabots, but it shoots lead good enough for me.
"Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far."
~Theodore Roosevelt~
Bait O' Eggs,
Check out Grey Haven Arms up on Whidbey Island. https://greyhavenarms.com/
See what he has or can do for you.
Good hunting.
You did well! Welcome to the addiction!
Good buy.
About half off (msrp) of what such rifle sell for.
Bait O Eggs,
I live and hunt here in N.E. Oregon. Got into muzzle loading a few years back. Have taken 1 elk and one deer with it. Both were taken with conicals. This year I'm going to PRB. There is a guy here in LaGrande that has a shop that deals mostly in muzzle loaders. He has been doing it along time. Pretty sharp fella. He's my go to guy when I have questions, or need supplies. He hunts with a .50 cal and PRB and has been killing elk a while. It seems that the key thing, like others have stated, know your rifle. From my personal experience, the conicals have quite a bit more recoil. But they hit hard. The PRB's travel faster and flatter, and will kill cleanly as long as you do your part. I shoot a .54 and run 100 grns of goex with Hornady great plains bullets. They kill well. I have been considering getting a Lee REAL mold, but I really want to get this PRB thing figured out. Good luck with your hunt this year. As for me, I'm in the same boat, waiting for the draw info to come out.
Gunny, I drew next to nothing, hope you got a good hunt. I have been trying to decide which powder to start with. Picked up most of the supplied I need except powder, hopefully smoking soon
Well done. That's a fine rifle. Get a good tutor or good instruction manual. Cleaning is the life of these things. There is a marine rust preventative made by the Boeing Corp. (airplane guys). It's an aerosol, penetrative in nature, and dries with a thin wax finish. For the life of me, I can't remember the trade name.------T-81 ? A little internet research might help. If I can find it, I'll get back here. Anyway, it's fantastic for exterior rust prevention. Won't rub off like "Rig" or other oils.
Follow up: I dug around and found the info. BOESHIELD "T-9". It's an aerosol and a little goes along way. 1-800-962-1732
725
I finally got out and made some smoke for the first time with the new gun.
First off that set trigger, really makes the front trigger light. I am guessing less than a pound. Barely touch it and she goes off.
Not knowing what powder or bullet to start with, I got a pound of triple 7. There are only two places in the state that sell "blackpowder" . I was told at a couple stores, they dont stock it because their insurance wont allow it, just to unstable????? They all had an assortment of pyrodex etc.. I got some 425 grain Great Plains bullets 54 cal.
The first 9 shots, didnt go off on the first trigger pull. Hammer drops, but no bang. Reset hammer and try again and she goes off. I dont think I was getting the cap all the way down on the nipple. The last two shots I used my pocket knife to push the cap down since my finger wasnt getting it done, and they both went off. Maybe I need a new nipple, or to learn how to get it on, or just probably I dont know what I am doing.
I was shooting about 50 yards, off the hood of the truck, from the sun into the shadows, it was a little tough to see the dot on the paper. I loaded 100 grains of Triple 7, and shot a 3.5 inch 3 shot group. Son followed up with 3 shots and was about a 3 inch group. I upped powder to 105 grains and the grouping was about the same. Not optimum shooting set up, but not real bad.
After shooting I ran a few patches down the barrel with some cleaner, I was surprised how quick they came back "clean". 4 patches and they were essentially clean. Some butter afterwards, and I removed the nipple and cleaned it up, greased the threads and reinstalled it. Hope I got it clean enough.
Not to self: be careful where you put the buttstock, to much shoulder and it hurts, a little more in the crook of the arm and it hurts not so much. That curved metal rear butt plate is sharp top and bottom.
Good for you. You might try backing off on the powder loads a little and you might see groups shrink. 100 & 105 gr is pretty hefty loads especially with 777. Your problem with the caps is fairly common. There are a variety of nipples and caps out there and they are slightly different in both size and taper. You can remove the nipple and put it in a drill and remove some metal a little at a time until you get better nipple fit. You also see this problem allot when buying used guns because dry firing mushrooms the nipple. Usually you start off with a powder charge and move up 5gr at a time until you get your best groups or groups you are looking for. Since you already started with 100gr you can do the same on a downward scale. I don't knw your purpose but some choose to sacrifice a small amount of accuracy for more power for hunting. That's for you to decide but 100 gr of 777 is more than is needed for deer.
Aim small, miss small!
One thing I've noticed with cap locks, if it has been dry fired the nipple can mushroom just a little bit and will cause the cap to misfire. Dress the sides with a diamond knife sharpener or a good stone really can help. My favorite for misfires is when a piece of the cap gets stuck up in the hammer and cushions the strike. Nice rifle, have fun working up loads for it.
Ya done good pilgrim.
Unfortunately cant't tell where you are from, but look for what may not be available to you . . . Black Powder
50 gr FFFG and PRB is very accurate in my self built 54 and 8-110 is also. STAY WITHIN MANUFACTURERS RECOMMENDATION ON LOADS
The Lee REALs shot decent also
Try your best to find true black powder, if not . . . IF you have yo use Pyrodex clean it good and as soon after shooting as possible
Dab of dishwashing liquid in plain ol water cleans it up very well using Black or pyrodex . . . Don't know about cleaning with the other substitutes.
Good luck on your hunt.
Amendments
The Second there to protect the First!
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |