Welcome to the TMA - the Traditional Muzzleloading Association
The TMA is always free to access: totally non-profit and therefore no nagging for your money, no sponsors means no endless array of ads to wade through, and no "membership fees" ever required. Brought to you by traditional muzzleloaders with decades of wisdom in weaponry, accoutrements, and along with 18th and 19th century history knowledge of those times during the birth our nation, the United States of America.

Recent Posts

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Accoutrements / Re: Ramrods......"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" Discussed Below:
« Last post by Bigsmoke on March 25, 2026, 06:52:54 PM »
I went to a rendezvous years ago in Washington state.
They had this "fun" event where you placed a regular 100 yard target at 25 yards and came back to the firing line.
At that point, someone distributed 3/8" x 36" dowels that had been donated by a hardware store in a local town.
The object was to try to hit the target with the dowel.  Probably 30 shooters sent rods flying down range, some hit the target, most didn't.  Mine didn't, not enough powder.
Anyway, out of all that, I didn't see any broken rods IIRC.
I think the worst that could happen to a brass rod being shot out of a rifle would be it could be bent.  And the recoil would be somewhat more significant.  After all, the rod would weigh about 1.2 pounds.
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Long Range Muzzleloading / Re: Are you up to a Revolutionary sized personal challenge?
« Last post by No Powder on March 25, 2026, 04:33:41 PM »
Tried again today Kees, using the same gun. Failed miserably. Still think I need to change guns.
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Accoutrements / Re: Ramrods......"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" Discussed Below:
« Last post by No Powder on March 25, 2026, 04:27:50 PM »
John, I've discovered those wooden rods don't normally survive being shot out of a gun. Do you think the survival rate of the brass ones would be better? :Doh! Maybe that could be a topic for one of Marks videos.
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Accoutrements / Re: Ramrods......"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" Discussed Below:
« Last post by Bigsmoke on March 25, 2026, 03:15:48 PM »
Another good video.  Thanks for posting it.

I think on the subject of the fiberglass ramrods, the problem wasn't about the tip wearing the rifling, it was that the fiberglass being somewhat abrasive, it would wear the crown of the barrel.

Long ago and far away, when we owned October Country, we started making brass ramrods.  First we made rods with both wooden and antler handles.  Then we started getting calls for brass undergun rods so we started making those.  We even made 23/64" diameter rods for CVA and Traditions guns.  Then people started complaining about the weight of them so we found a source of hollow brass rod, both 3/8" and 23/64".  I kinda liked making the brass rods.  It made me timagine I was a machinist.

Personally, I am more of a range and trailwalk shooter than a hunter so I always use a brass range rod for my loading and cleaning.  The undergun rod is more of a decoration than a functional item.
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Long Range Muzzleloading / Re: Are you up to a Revolutionary sized personal challenge?
« Last post by Winter Hawk on March 25, 2026, 03:07:08 PM »
 :bl th up :bl th up :hairy :bl th up :bl th up
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People of the Times / 3/25/1843: Texas force decimated after black bean lottery
« Last post by Craig Tx on March 25, 2026, 08:56:21 AM »
On this day in 1843, seventeen Texans were executed at Salado, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

As the members of the defeated Mier expedition were being marched from Mier to Mexico City, they attempted a mass escape on February 11. Some 176 were recaptured, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna ordered that one in ten of the prisoners be shot. The victims were chosen by a lottery in which each man drew a bean from an earthen jar containing 176 beans, seventeen of which were black. This event has come to be known as the Black Bean Episode. The bodies were returned to Texas and are buried on Monument Hill at La Grange, Fayette County.
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Accoutrements / Ramrods......"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" Discussed Below:
« Last post by BlackPowderManiacShooter on March 25, 2026, 12:01:28 AM »
"The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" is discussed using the wooden ramrod, Delrin ramrod and Fiberglass ramrod.
You also can use those ramrods to clean your guns.

Wooden Rod discussion:    @1:31
Delrin Rod discussion:       @4:10
Fiberglass Rod discussion: @5:23


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People of the Times / 3/24/1825: Mexican law invites Anglo colonists
« Last post by Craig Tx on March 24, 2026, 09:20:06 AM »
On this day in 1825, the Mexican legislature, meeting in Saltillo, passed the State Colonization Law of March 24, 1825.

The legislation was designed to bring about the peopling of Coahuila and Texas. It encouraged farming, ranching, and commerce. For a nominal fee, the law granted settlers as much as a square league (4,428.4 acres) of pastureland and a labor (177.1 acres) of farmland. Immigrants were temporarily free of every kind of tax. Newcomers had to take an oath promising to abide by the federal and state constitutions, to worship according to the Christian (i.e., Catholic) religion, and to display sound moral principles and good conduct. After accepting these terms and settling in Texas, immigrants earned the standing of naturalized Mexicans. Empresarios Stephen F. Austin and Green DeWitt, among others, started their colonies under this law.
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The Campfire / Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Longhunter!!!
« Last post by No Powder on March 23, 2026, 05:44:55 PM »
John, I believe I'd cherish that knife also. :hairy
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The Campfire / Re: HAPPY BIRTHDAY Longhunter!!!
« Last post by Bigsmoke on March 23, 2026, 01:52:06 AM »
I saw this this morning and sat here thinking about Longhunter's posts.  I hadn't thought about him in a while.
He must have been one hell of a guy, a real man's man.  I do have one of his knives and it is one that my heirs will have to decide what to do with 'cause I ain't gonna get rid of it.  I know he didn't personally make it, but he marketed it and that's good enough for me.
RIP my old friend, you are missed.
John
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