Frontier Rifle Care

[buffalo pony]

[size=150][/size]The shortage of Black powder in my area has made me question if 3f cant be used for priming and a main charge? I will tell you don't even think of trying 2f pyrodex as a main charge-a Flintlock needs real black powder but is it possible to get away with a single powder for priming and charge??

[Stormrider51]

The shortage of Black powder in my area has made me question if 3f cant be used for priming and a main charge? I will tell you don't even think of trying 2f pyrodex as a main charge-a Flintlock needs real black powder but is it possible to get away with a single powder for priming and charge??

Yes, I've used FFFg as both.  I've even used FFg.  As far as a shortage of powder, you can buy it from Track of the Wolf.  Of course, you have to buy 25 lbs but you can mix the grain size.

Storm

[mario]

I use 3F exclusively in my .62/20ga. for priming and main charge.

Once you get past .69 cal. or so, 2F is a better choice.


Mario

[1Poet]

Please feel free to correct my ignorance, but isn't the discussion here supposed to be about frontier rifle care, rather than a discussion of the use of powders? Just asking.

[Stormrider51]

Yep, but then Buffalo Pony asked about the use of different powder sizes as priming and things wandered off course.  This is a flogging offense but we only do floggings on Fridays.  Oh....it is Friday now.  Let the floggings begin!

Storm

[1Poet]

It may be a floggin' offense, but both me and BufPony are pretty new here. Hows about a one time suspension of the floggin' rule?

[Stormrider51]

Well, okay.  Just this once.  I may be getting soft in my old age.

Storm

[buffalo pony]

I am sorry I could not figure out the right place to shoot this question about powder use in flintlocks . But I did get a good answer and will be trying it. Frontier rifle care included the use of natural lubricants-vegetable-olive and animal grease. In fact if you want to defeat the nose of an Elk throwing out modern lubricants and solvents will do wonders for you and help you get in closer than before. While on this subject I have seen stocks that were whittled with a pocket knife and they look good. The truth is men were manly back in the day and self reliance was just part of everyday character. So was taking care of your equipment. It was a forethought not an afterthought. That's why I worship the long hunters and trappers that first saw this land unspoiled and why I want to if only for moments step into their experience. I will never carry a cell phone or call AAA. or hire a guide, have some one gut and dress my game or carry it out I  want to be the guy that gets called. Become your own gunsmith and you'll never have to pay one. Once you taste freedom anything else taste like leavings.

[Stormrider51]

I am sorry I could not figure out the right place to shoot this question about powder use in flintlocks . But I did get a good answer and will be trying it. Frontier rifle care included the use of natural lubricants-vegetable-olive and animal grease. In fact if you want to defeat the nose of an Elk throwing out modern lubricants and solvents will do wonders for you and help you get in closer than before. While on this subject I have seen stocks that were whittled with a pocket knife and they look good. The truth is men were manly back in the day and self reliance was just part of everyday character. So was taking care of your equipment. It was a forethought not an afterthought. That's why I worship the long hunters and trappers that first saw this land unspoiled and why I want to if only for moments step into their experience. I will never carry a cell phone or call AAA. or hire a guide, have some one gut and dress my game or carry it out I  want to be the guy that gets called. Become your own gunsmith and you'll never have to pay one. Once you taste freedom anything else taste like leavings.

Well said!  And no need to be sorry.  The exchange between 1Poet and I was just for fun.  There's another forum where newcomers are often derided for their questions.  This is not that forum.  Charlie and the other moderators see to that.  Always feel free to ask questions, just be prepared for different answers.  

Storm

[Archer]

I would also like to know how one dealt with weapon maintenance in the field at a time when your gun was by far your most expensive possession.  Also at this time one was living with the fact that having an unloaded weapon for any length of time could contribute to a sudden violent death.

Another thing, I think that the floggings should commence right away and should continue until there is an improvement in morale or morals, whichever comes first!

[mario]

I would also like to know how one dealt with weapon maintenance in the field at a time when your gun was by far your most expensive possession.

Answered above.

Also at this time one was living with the fact that having an unloaded weapon for any length of time could contribute to a sudden violent death.

1. There weren't Indians skulking around everywhere, at every time of day, on every day of the year waiting to pounce on silly White men cleaning their fire sticks. There also aren't bloodthirsty grizzly bears behind every tree in Alaska, either.  

2. Those who went out into hostile territory (Indian or otherwise), rarely did so alone.

Mario

[Stormrider51]

Something that we often overlook in this day of wonder lubes and special cleaning solutions is that black powder fouling dissolves in water.  Make that water hot and it dissolves all the faster.  Remove the lock and clean it in hot water.  I use an old toothbrush.  Plug the vent or nipple, and carefully pour the bore full of hot water.  Let sit for a minute or two.  Pour it out and swab the bore with wet patches.  Fill the bore again, let sit, and swab.  I rarely have to repeat more than once.  Oil the bore and lock and put the whole shebang back together.  My cleaning time seldom exceeds 15 minutes not counting the time it takes for the water to heat.

Storm

[Stormrider51]

I would also like to know how one dealt with weapon maintenance in the field at a time when your gun was by far your most expensive possession.

Answered above.

Also at this time one was living with the fact that having an unloaded weapon for any length of time could contribute to a sudden violent death.

1. There weren't Indians skulking around everywhere, at every time of day, on every day of the year waiting to pounce on silly White men cleaning their fire sticks. There also aren't bloodthirsty grizzly bears behind every tree in Alaska, either.  

2. Those who went out into hostile territory (Indian or otherwise), rarely did so alone.

Mario

Excellent insight.  I'd like to add that a muzzleloading firearm was pretty much a one-shot deal.  After that it was knife, tomahawk, war club, or the firearm itself was used as a club.  A trained British soldier could sometimes get off three shots a minute and that was using paper cartridges where the powder and ball was in one package.  Try doing that yourself.  Now try getting off three aimed shots.  British troops were discouraged from aiming because it slowed the rate of fire.

Dr. Walter Prescott Webb documented in his history of the Texas Rangers that, prior to the advent of the repeating firearms, the Rangers were not especially successful in fighting the Comanche and their Kiowa allies.  As a matter of fact, they usually got their backsides kicked.  The Indians would wait until the Rangers had discharged their single-shot muzzleloaders and then charge.  An Indian could put a dozen or more arrows into the air before a Ranger could reload and the knife/tomahawk/warclub never needed reloading.

Storm

[RobD]

cleaning the muzzleloader - yeah, hot water will rather quickly dissolve black powder residue.  this is a time honored method of black powder cleaning for many reasons, mostly by happen stance and not choice since water was the most readily available cleaning solution in those by-gone days.  however, there are those who say that the use of hot water forces said water molecules into the steel, no matter how well the attempt to wipe or dry out the water, and then a subsequent layer of oil seals in those water molecules and thusly a rusting process has been created.  i did the hot water clean then oil method on a pedersoli kentucky and the barrel always exhibited rust a day, week, month later.  there is NO question to me that "seasoning" a barrel with a near waterless solution, and continuing its use, is BY FAR the the better "solution" = no rusting, not ever, in the tube of my tip curtis carolina flinter.  sometimes the ancient ways can be bettered, here in our modern days.

muzzle loader rate of fire - using my longbow, i can empty my full quiver of arrows quite accurately at 20 to 40 yards shooting distance faster than a brit could fire and reload a brown bess (and not so accurately, too).  the firestick of the 14th to 17th centuries was more of a fearful devil's contraption than effective rate of fire weapon.  however, it was at long distances that it's usage really shined.  this rate of fire got a bit better with the advent of metallic cartridge black powder (the sharps and springfield rifles of general custer, et al).  but it was the rapid fire of the lever rifles and revolvers that won the west and put the bow and arrow to rest as a war weapon.

[1Poet]

Seasoning is what makes cast iron cookware so prized for cooking. What is the best way to season a barrel on a flinter? And, can a barrel that has been cleaned by water, etc., be seasoned somehow?