Buckskinner
Member
Gents,
After 25 years of shooting paper with patched roundballs, and the occasional blacktail foray, I got drawn for a ML elk hunt in SW WA.
WA regs for ML are: open sights, inline okay as long as the nipple is exposed (not easy to find modern inlines with exposed nipples), no sabots, lead only projectiles, no 209 primers.
Well, my old CVA Hawken/Frontier rifle fits this bill, and I'm sure historically that design is responsible for much meat hanging in camps and markets around the world.
I chose to leave my Tennessee Po' Boy flintlock with the 41" barrel at home. SW WA ain't exactly open fields. Picture a rainforest of blackberries, devil's club, vine maples, ferns and mossy blowdown, where the ground always feels spongy. The clearcuts look easier to move through, until you're in 'em. Then the 3 generations of slash reach up and ain't too helpful. Totin' a 5' long rifle through that stuff ain't so recommended...
So I swapped some parts and got the "Frontier Rifle" up to speed. Its got a 28" barrel, and has won some shootin' contests at rendezvous, but I didn't trust a 280 gr +/- round ball going at about 1200 fps +/- on elk. Though I'd like to hear folks' experience to the contrary!
So I chose a 385 gr PB as my first conical bullet, over 100 gr FFFg Goex, ignited by a musket cap.
I should say I tried Pyrodex pellets first, but they failed to go. After popping about 6 caps, I finally dribbled some powder down the nipple in to the drum. It went, after a 2 second hangfire.
First question: Anyone have success with pellet powder in a sidelock with musket caps?
So, the Pyrodex went off, and I loaded a second PB. It got stuck about 4" down. I finally pulled it, and swabbed the barrel.
The third bullet went down nicely in a clean bore. It shot fine.
The fourth bullet got stuck in the same place as the second. After much cursing, I pulled that one too.
Fifth bullet in a freshly swabbed barrel, down she went.
Sixth shot: no good though pasted with Bore Butter, its stuck in there still, as my ball screw pulled out of the short starter, so its to the workbench the rifle went and sits there still, recipient of many a baleful glare...
Not the rifles fault though, is it?
Second and third question: Is FFFg too fine for unpatched bullets? Does it cause too much fouling for a PB, or any conical?
Last question: Anyone patch a conical?
I will try FFg next, and try PB again. But would a different bullet, say a Lyman GPB with its prelubed grooves help?
After 25 years of shooting paper with patched roundballs, and the occasional blacktail foray, I got drawn for a ML elk hunt in SW WA.
WA regs for ML are: open sights, inline okay as long as the nipple is exposed (not easy to find modern inlines with exposed nipples), no sabots, lead only projectiles, no 209 primers.
Well, my old CVA Hawken/Frontier rifle fits this bill, and I'm sure historically that design is responsible for much meat hanging in camps and markets around the world.
I chose to leave my Tennessee Po' Boy flintlock with the 41" barrel at home. SW WA ain't exactly open fields. Picture a rainforest of blackberries, devil's club, vine maples, ferns and mossy blowdown, where the ground always feels spongy. The clearcuts look easier to move through, until you're in 'em. Then the 3 generations of slash reach up and ain't too helpful. Totin' a 5' long rifle through that stuff ain't so recommended...
So I swapped some parts and got the "Frontier Rifle" up to speed. Its got a 28" barrel, and has won some shootin' contests at rendezvous, but I didn't trust a 280 gr +/- round ball going at about 1200 fps +/- on elk. Though I'd like to hear folks' experience to the contrary!
So I chose a 385 gr PB as my first conical bullet, over 100 gr FFFg Goex, ignited by a musket cap.
I should say I tried Pyrodex pellets first, but they failed to go. After popping about 6 caps, I finally dribbled some powder down the nipple in to the drum. It went, after a 2 second hangfire.
First question: Anyone have success with pellet powder in a sidelock with musket caps?
So, the Pyrodex went off, and I loaded a second PB. It got stuck about 4" down. I finally pulled it, and swabbed the barrel.
The third bullet went down nicely in a clean bore. It shot fine.
The fourth bullet got stuck in the same place as the second. After much cursing, I pulled that one too.
Fifth bullet in a freshly swabbed barrel, down she went.
Sixth shot: no good though pasted with Bore Butter, its stuck in there still, as my ball screw pulled out of the short starter, so its to the workbench the rifle went and sits there still, recipient of many a baleful glare...
Not the rifles fault though, is it?
Second and third question: Is FFFg too fine for unpatched bullets? Does it cause too much fouling for a PB, or any conical?
Last question: Anyone patch a conical?
I will try FFg next, and try PB again. But would a different bullet, say a Lyman GPB with its prelubed grooves help?