Saw a couple of mentions of alloys etc. Muzzle loader ball and bullets should ONLY be PURE LEAD. They are not designed to shoot alloy slugs, only pure lead. You will get by far the best results. I assume we all know what a short starter is and that is the way to start a ball down bore, not just with the rod. It should take steady even, force to seat a ball but not excessive force as mentioned above. If the ball gets tight quickly, swab the bore with whatever solvent you are using. I like Bore Butter and OxYoke lube. I have used pre lubed patches and dry which I lube myself with OxYoke. I have done the melting, soaking method and its good. I use empty cap tins to store them in. Its like anything, it takes time to learn all the little tricks. Making sure the ball is firmly seated on the powder charge is one of the most important things. Failure to do so can result in a bulged barrel or worse. Sam Fadala has a number of really good books on BP shooting. If you dont have one its good stuff for the library.
I once stuck a cleaning jag down bore and had to shoot it out with a small charge of powder trickled into the nipple hole. Aimed it at my garage floor and cut loose! Bounced off the floor and the garage door offered just enough resistance to stop it. I know that feeling of packing all your stuff up and leaving the range without firing a shot, it sucks!
Hello,
No doubt the wrinkles from 2009 have been worked out for this .72 caliber muzzle loader problem by now but, perhaps someone new to muzzle loading might read some of this and thereby be able to bypass a few of the headaches:
I'm +1 with Sestoppelman on everything he posted Nov-14-2013 in this thread, including that traditional style muzzle loading rifles were not meant to shoot hardened bullets (use pure lead only), I've also had to trickle powder down the nipple hole, etc.
Since those carefree days of my sordid youth, I have long since invested in a stuck patch remover (looks sort of like two twisted fish hooks on the end of a jag), as well as a bullet worm / puller (looks like a wood thread screw point on the end of a jag).
Also, since those years long ago (I began the loose powder & shot affliction in my late teens, now I'm an old pruneface), I have discovered that the typical "pillow ticking" is too thick for any rifled muzzle loader I have owned, making it nearly impossible to load a projectile, even when the bore is unfired/shiny clean.
Almost all of the rifled ones I've owned were 1 turn in 66" or slower, for patched ball shooting.
It has been my great success in that regard to use my old T-Shirts as patch material.
This is way cheaper than having a custom mold made for each rifle to accommodate the industry standard diameters of ball, while patched with ticking.
Someone recently told me that nowadays various thicknesses of ticking are available - it's about time ! (my worn out T-Shirts are still cheaper).
Furthermore, I have had the greatest satisfaction in using solid vegetable shortening (Chrisco brand here in The States) as a patch lube.
And, I use it to cover each bullet after loading the cylinder of my "cap & ball" revolver as well, to reduce the chance of chain firing when a spark squeezes past a bullet or bullets in remaining chambers upon firing the intended chamber.
Over-powder or over the bullet type fiber wads, slightly larger than the caliber also prevent chain firing of revolvers but the vegetable grease works well in colder climates, such as here in Alaska and is so inexpensive that the fiber wads are not really my thing for the loose powder and ball revolvers.
Back to ML rifles:
Another thing that I learned and now cling to is, maintaining a heavy duty "range rod".
The first one I bought is very stout fiberglass and made for match shooters, so they do not have to wrestle against a flimsy ram rod that wants to bow, every time a bullet gets stubborn against loading.
My piece de resistance however is a heavy steel rod, wrapped in clear plastic tape to protect the bore.
My Chrisco lube tends to loosen the tape from time to time but I then just peel it off, de-grease the steel, dry it good and re-tape it as needed.
I have a piece of elk antler stub that fits over the end to push on with the hand so that I have a wide surface to bear on when loading any stubborn bullet (my starter is also sporting a piece of elk antler as the handle to which to two different lengths of starter rod are set in permanently.
I have hunted all of my adult life for rabbit, squirrel and game birds with muzzle loaders but, sadly have never gone for larger animals with one.
Maybe one day I will get to that, not sure though as I am not getting any younger.
Cheerio,
Velo Dog.
