Supplies You’ll Need for Your Muzzleloader After purchasing your muzzleloader, if you plan on shooting it, you had better pick up the following items: · Black powder or a black powder substitute · Powder flask and measure · Caps or flint for ignition · Projectile – Patch and ball, lube and bullet, or a sabotted pistol bullet · Cleaning supplies I’ll talk about each, plus talk about some other things you may want to consider. Don’t worry if this seems like a lot of stuff just to shoot a gun, or seems like a big expense. The cost is minimal, and many of the items will last as long as your gun. Black Powder Muzzleloaders shoot Black Powder or a black powder substitute. The three most common black powder substitutes on the market today are PyrodexÔ, Clear ShotÔ and Clean ShotÔ. In general the black powder substitutes produce less fouling in your guns barrel, and therefore allow you to shoot more rounds between cleaning. Some substitutes claim to be less corrosive, however I would always recommend cleaning you gun soon after firing. The substitutes usually cost more than real BP, but are easier to find. Black powder is considered to be an explosive, and therefore requires special permits to stock and sell. On the other hand real black powder may only cost ½ of what the substitutes cost, and ignites much easier. Personally I prefer real BP when shooting a sidelock (traditional) style muzzleloader, due to easier ignition. I sometimes have problems with sidelocks hang firing (delayed firing) when using a substitute. The modern in-line, due to their design provide more energy, from you cap, to your charge and have fewer problems with misfires and hang fires. Black powder is rated according to the granular size of the powder itself. It will be marked as ffg (2fg), fffg (3fg), or ffffg (4fg). 2fg has the largest granules and is used for shooting in large bore rifles of .50 cal and up, and shotguns. 3fg is used in the smaller caliber rifles, up to 50 caliber and pistols. 4fg is used for priming of flintlock guns, and has the finest granules. The substitutes are usually labeled to be of an equivalent black powder granular size. Finer granules will produce more energy for a given volume than will the larger granules, so if you go from shooting 2fg in your gun to 3fg, you should to scale back your load about 5 – 10%. Energy produced by black powder can vary between manufacturers and even between lots from a manufacturer, so whenever you get a new batch of BP don’t be surprised if your pet load has to adjusted a bit. The substitutes tend to be a bit more consistent, but you should always fire a group or two whenever you get a new batch of powder just to make sure your load is still accurate. Besides, it will give you a good excuse to head to the range. For the rest of this article I will refer to black powder and the substitutes as just black powder, unless otherwise noted. Never confuse smokeless powder with black powder, the chemistry of smokeless powder is very different from black powder and produces pressures that can be dangerous in a muzzleloader. Now for disclaimer # 1: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER shoot smokeless powder in a black powder gun!!!! Did I mention you should never shoot smokeless powder in muzzleloader? NEVER, NEVER, NEVER mix black powder with smokeless powder. Muzzleloader barrels are not designed to withstand the higher pressures that can be generated by smokeless powders, so if you decide to shoot smokeless powder in your muzzleloader, do your wife and kids a favor and make sure you have a very good life insurance policy that will cover death by stupidly! Disclaimer #2: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER mix black powder with the black powder substitutes or mix different substitutes with each other. Unless you a very good chemist, it is impossible predict exactly how the different types of powder will interact. If you do decide to mix powders please see the note about insurance from the previous disclaimer. Powder Flask and Measure Black powder is always measured by volume, not weight. This can be confusing for smokeless powder reloaders who measure powder in grains, which is a unit of weight. You will almost always see muzzleloader loads listed in grains - don’t get your scales out yet, the load is still referring to volume. The best solution is to pick up BP powder measure from anyplace that sells muzzleloader supplies. They will have a verity of black powder measures to choose from. I prefer the adjustable types so I can easily adjust my load for different projectiles, guns, or powder. These powder measures are set to give you the proper number of “grains”. While you are at it, pick up a powder flask, the flask will make it easier to dispense your powder, and you won’t have to lug your whole can of powder out to the field. Flasks come in two basic forms: brass or a horn. The horns are cool, if you are into historical reenactment. The brass ones is usually smaller and nice if you going to be hunting, and want to limit how much stuff you are carrying. Get the flask that appeals to you. When measuring black powder, pour the powder from your flask into your powder measure that has been adjusted for your desired load. Fill the powder measure flush with powder and then pour the powder down the barrel. Time for disclaimer # 3: Many brass flasks come with a measures built on the flask. Never pour powder directly from your flask down the barrel of your gun. If there are any hot embers left from your previous shot, these embers may ignite your powder as you are pouring it down the barrel. This could cause a chain reaction, igniting the powder in your flask. At this point you are no longer holding a flask, but a bomb with a very short fuse. Kiss you fingers good-bye and consider this an expensive and painful education. When pouring the powder down the barrel, you should only be holding the amount of powder of your load and no more. The gun should be upright, so the powder will drop to bottom of the barrel. Avoid looking directly down the barrel, while loading the powder or any other element. The black powder substitutes are designed to use the same volumetric measure as real black powder. Don’t try to weigh black powder and then use an equivalent weight of the substitutes. Volume to volume real black powder and the substitutes produce equal loads, but do not weigh the same. Caps and Flints Flints are used on Flintlocks. Flintlocks are not normally recommended for new muzzleloader shooters, and I am not going to cover flints in this article. Unless law requires a flintlock I would recommend caplocks for new shooters. Pennsylvania is the only state I know of that requires flintlocks for hunting. But by all means, if your hart is set on a flintlock, get one, and have fun with it, just understand that they will require a bit more practice to shoot reliably. Caps serve the same purpose has the primer in a modern brass cartridge. Caps, when struck will produce a spark or flame that in turn ignites the powder charge. Caps come in three common styles: a No. 11, a musket cap and a 209-shotgun primer. The no. 11 caps are typically found on traditional, sidelock guns. No. 11 caps are small brass caps with about 0.11” inside diameter, and get their name from this measurement. Musket caps are basically a larger version of the no. 11s. The 209 primers are just what their name says, shotgun shell primers. Check your local regulation, because some regulations prohibit hunting with a muzzleloader that uses shotgun primers. In-lines may shoot any of the three, and many in-lines have conversion kits that allow the shooter to choose between the three types of caps. In terms of energy the no. 11 cap produces the least amount of energy and the 209 shotgun primers produce the most. I don’t have strong feeling regarding any of the caps; if you are following proper techniques any of the 3 will work fine. I shoot the no. 11s on a sidelock (worst combination) all the time with no problems. With a new gun just make sure you have the proper caps, since they are only interchangeable if your gun came with a conversion kit, and there is nothing worse than getting to the range only to learn you don’t have the right caps. Projectiles Projectiles come in three forms, patch and ball, lead slugs or bullets, and saboted pistol bullets. I’ve covered the merits of each in a previous article, but remember your gun is designed to shoot one or the other. You should know the rifling twist rate of your gun, slow twists (1:60) are designed to shoot a patch and ball, fast twists (1:32) shoots the sabots and bullets well. A 1:48 twist is a compromise meant to shoot anything, but most guns with this twist rate tend to shoot one type of projectile better than another, and may require a little more work to find the best load/projectile combination. If you were going to shoot patch and balls, normally you would buy a ball that is 0.01 inches smaller than your barrel and a patch that is 0.01 inch thick. For example if you gun is a .50 cal you would get 0.490-inch balls and 0.01-inch thick patches. The patches will need to be lubed. The lube helps keep fouling soft and will increase accuracy, allow you to shoot more shoots between cleaning, and make cleaning easier. You can buy prelubed patches, apply a lube to the patch, or use the time tested lube - spit. Spit may not sound too pleasing, but it works really well, and is cheap, just pop the patch in your month for a few seconds. Spit patches should be shoot before the patch has time to dry. When lubing the patch, the patch should be impregnated with the lube, but not with more lube than the patch can hold. The patch is used to grip the ball and rifling grooves in the barrel. Plus the patch helps form a seal between the ball and barrel during ignition, increasing energy. If desired accuracy cannot be achieve by varying the powder charge, many shooters will try different ball diameters, with different patch thickness. Unfortunately every gun tends to shoot a bit different and trail and error is really the only method that can be used to achieve maximum accuracy. Lead slugs, or bullets, have been around for quite a while. Typically they shoot much better in guns with a fast twist rate. Slugs fly a bit flatter than balls, and due to their shear size carry a lot of energy down range. They also tend to cause higher recoil. Slugs have grease grooves in them for a lube; these grooves should be filled with a lube. The lube serves the same purpose here has it does for a patch and ball and slugs shouldn’t be shot without it. Most slugs come with the groves pre-lubed. Slugs are normally slightly oversized, but made of soft lead. When loaded the sides of the slug will form into the rifling grooves, forming a seal over your powder, and ensuring the bullet is spinning when it leaves the barrel. Many hunters who go after larger game – namely elk, will use a slug because of the higher energy delivered downrange. Sabots are plastic sleeves that allow smaller diameter bullets to be shot in muzzleloaders. Sabots serve the same purpose as patches do for balls. However sabots do not require any additional lube. Sabotted bullets like fast twist guns and shoot the flattest and fastest of the three types of projectiles. Some shooter claims the plastic sleeve will leave a plastic coating on the inside of their gun’s barrel. Personally I have never had this problem shooting sabots. Sabots offer a very wide range of choices, because often pistol bullets can be used. I shoot all three projectiles for different reasons. I like a patch and ball for the historical aspect, and they can be very deadly and accurate at closer ranges (up to 75 yards). I like the heavy slugs when hunting elk. I often use sabots when hunting deer, because I get an slight increase in range, and if I buy the sabots and bullets separately they are relatively cheap. The most important thing to consider when choosing a projectile is the twist rate of the rifling in your barrel. All three types work great for hunting, but it is your job to ensure that you make ethical shoots, which produce clean fast kills. Cleaning Supplies If you are going to shoot black powder, plan on cleaning you gun when you are done shooting. Black powder and many of the substitutes can be very corrosive in a gun barrel. The fouling left behind in the barrel attracts water and a barrel will start to rust very fast, even in a dry climate. Don’t believe a stainless steel barrel is immune to the corrosive effect of black powder fouling. To clean a muzzleloader you will need a bore brush, cleaning jag, patch worm, cleaning rod (your ramrod may work), cleaning patches, gun oil, and perhaps a powder solvent. Get a good brass brush that matches the size of your gun’s bore. I guarantee you that your local muzzleloader supply store will have one. When cleaning you need to get all the fouling out and the brush makes this much easier. The cleaning jag is a small brass or plastic cylinder with slots cut into it that grips and holds a cleaning patch as you run it up and down your barrel. Often this jag will come on your gun’s ramrod when you buy your muzzleloader. There are also slotted pieces that look sort of like the eye of a needle that work great for holding a patch. The jag is often used in the field and at the range to do a quick cleaning while shooting. Sometimes the patch will fall off the jag. If this happens a patch worm, a small object with two or three wire hooks coming off the end is needed. Replace the jag with the worm, shove the worm down the barrel, give the rod a few twists, the wire hooks will snag the patch and out it comes. Get a patch worm, sooner or later you’ll need it, and if you loose a patch in your barrel, there will be no more shooting until it is out. A powder solvent is up to you. Black powder fouling will readily come out with hot soapy water. I keep a bit of solvent on hand for two things. First when I’m at the range and the barrel is too fouled to shoot, I’ll run a cleaning patch soaked in solvent down the barrel. Second, when cleaning at home I’ll thoroughly clean with soap and water then run a few patches with solvent down the barrel. Regardless of what you do, make sure you get all the fouling off all the metal parts, and that you dry and oil your gun well after cleaning. Most places that sell muzzleloaders will sell kits that contain everything you need for cleaning. It is better to spend a few dollars now, than a lot of dollars later to have the barrel replaced that wasn’t cleaned properly. Other (Opitional) Things You May Want The following items are not required for shooting your muzzleloader, but if you do much shooting sooner or later (most likely sooner) you end up with most of these. Ball Puller Sooner or later this will happen to you. You are at the range shooting, or even worse, racing to get gun loaded, because that once in a lifetime buck, is going to let you have a second shot. In your frenzy to load, you forget the powder. Now you’ve got a ball stuck down the barrel. Some in-lines will allow you to remove the breach plug and push the ball out, but this requires disassembly of your gun, and you may not want to do that in the field. A ball puller is the tool you need. They are much like a patch worm, but instead of hooks a puller has small sharp screw. The ball puller will fit on the end of your ramrod, it then goes down the barrel, and the shooter twists the screw into the projectile, and pulls it out. Another option is a CO2 discharger. This nifty device attaches to the nipple and blows a strong blast of CO2 into the chamber, which pushes the ball out. Needless to say, keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction when doing this, and don’t use compressed air (oxygen), if there is gunpowder in you barrel. Ball Starter This device is used to start a projectile down the barrel. A ramrod is quite long and cumbersome when trying to get a ball or bullet started down the barrel. Most ball starts look like a ball with two small legs of different lengths. These “legs” are actually mini ramrods. To use, seat you ball over the mouth of the barrel, place the shortest leg (usually only about 1/2” long), over the projectile, and whack the ball starter. The projectile is now just barely under the mouth of the barrel; now use the loner leg of the starter. With the projectile now about 6” down the barrel it is much easier to use your ramrod to fully seat your projectile. When shooting patch and ball, I highly recommend a ball starter. Sabots and bullets are usually a little easier to get started. Capper Cappers come in various shapes and forms and a used to make capping the nipple easier. Caps are small and easy to drop or loose. Cappers make handling the caps much easier. Some in-lines, because of their design, require a capper get the cap on the nipple. For a sidelock one of the simplest cappers I have is homemade from a piece of leather. When hunting a capper is indispensable for quick loading. Quick Loaders A Quick loader is normally a small tube that you pre-load and make loading in the field faster. Some even hold you cap. The basic principle is you pour the powder from the loader down the barrel and by design the loader hold you projectile lined up with you barrel to make starting easier. Some hunters swear by them, personally I don’t use them. This sounds like a lot of stuff just to be able to shoot your muzzleloader. Many muzzleloader supply stores (sporting goods stores) sell kits that have most of this stuff it. Normally they don’t include powder and caps but some may include sabots or bullets. The kits don’t cost a whole lot and will get you started. I promise you that if you really get into muzzleloading, you end up getting so many little gadgets and gizmos you need two are three possibles bags just to carry it all I plan on writing a couple more articles on muzzleloading, that will cover loading, shooting, cleaning, and troubleshooting, so check back often if you are interested in learning more about muzzleloading. Feel free to drop me an e-mail if you have a specific question or topic you’d like to see. Have fun shooting Back Home