Traditional Muzzleloading Association
Shooting Traditional Firearms and Weapons => General Interest => Topic started by: Salty on January 13, 2026, 08:28:07 AM
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I have retired my old Lee 10 pound pot and ordered a new 20 pounder which I am excitedly expecting delivery today. Hope USPS keeps to their estimate.
How about you all? What did you do today?
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Thanx be to God I awoke this morning with a pulse and a purpose, amen to that!
Today I'll carve out a bit of time to cast some .690, .600, .530, and .440 balls. The .600 balls are for the 16ga Kibler fowler, and they're for making paper cartridges. The rest of the balls will be used for making gunpowder.
:*:
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Rob, that's interesting on the .600 r/b. Is the paper really that thick that a .600 r/b would fit well in a 16 ga gun? Or is Kibler's barrel dimensions a bit smaller?
When we were making 16 bore sporting rifles, we used a .648 ball, IIRC. I believe at the time we got our barrels from Moody's Barrel Works. Sadly, I think Bill is working at the great machine shop in the sky now. He made a nice barrel.
After a brief hiatus of a few months, I started working on two powder horns yesterday afternoon. Small progress but I did cut the tips, drilled the tips and squared the ends of the horns. Maybe this afternoon, I will make the baseplugs for them, else it sounds like a good project for tomorrow. And yes, when I install them, I will pin them in place, probably with 1/8" dowel although I did score some nice brass nails from Amazon a while ago.
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Rob, that's interesting on the .600 r/b. Is the paper really that thick that a .600 r/b would fit well in a 16 ga gun? Or is Kibler's barrel dimensions a bit smaller?
When we were making 16 bore sporting rifles, we used a .648 ball, IIRC. I believe at the time we got our barrels from Moody's Barrel Works. Sadly, I think Bill is working at the great machine shop in the sky now. He made a nice barrel.
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The Kibler 16ga fowler bore is .662" and for a patched ball I find that .650" works well but will require some measure of fouling control. Military paper cartridges intentionally have looser fitting paper patching for ease of loading. Is that cartridge accuracy not as good as lubed patched balls. IME, yes - not as consistent.
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Rob making powder , right on.
I have moved on to using brass balls for the mill, supposed to be cleaner powder but couldn't prove it by me.
I've recently sold a few plains style quivers so order new moose leather to make a few more.
Got my patch box repair kit from TOTW yesterday, so this weekend I'll be fixing the box on my new / old .45 from the past auction.
Then it'll be time to see how she shoots
As far as ML stuff today, just checking in here since I'm at work 😁
Kevin
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Rob making powder , right on.
I have moved on to using brass balls for the mill, supposed to be cleaner powder but couldn't prove it by me.
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It's the opposite for me - using brass and would like to give lead balls a try.
However, for me and making the holy black might be a moot thing as I may have access to a large stash of metal can Goex "Cartridge" (2F) powder from the '90s.
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I guess this would count. After hunting deer with the TC Hawken today, I now have to clean it.
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Rob making powder , right on.
I have moved on to using brass balls for the mill, supposed to be cleaner powder but couldn't prove it by me.
....
It's the opposite for me - using brass and would like to give lead balls a try.
However, for me and making the holy black might be a moot thing as I may have access to a large stash of metal can Goex "Cartridge" (2F) powder from the '90s.
Back in the 90's, I discovered GOEX Cartridge powder. For me, it was the go to powder for everything. Rifles, pistols, smoothbores, heck, I even primed with it when I shot my flinters. Love that stuff!!! I still have a couple of cans of it.
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Moved everything around in the shop, well not everything,
BUT
the router table went where the 2x48 belt sander was,
the belt sander went where the shop vac was,
the shop vac went where the router table was,
the polisher went next to where the shop vac is
and the cyclone just kinda fit in there too.
Strangely enough the Shopsmith, the workbench with the band saw and drill press and the Jet wood lathe stayed where they were. That's a lot of stuff in a 10x10' square area.
Had to lose 25 pounds last year so I could fit. :luff:
Heated up the bases of two horns and pounded in a couple of forming plugs to get them nice and round.
Had to take a break after that.
And here I am, wondering why it isn't cocktail hour yet.
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John, after reading that, I'm confused and tired too. 😂 I wouldn't know where anything is now.
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Tom, fortunately it is a small space and everything is in plain sight. Only the small stuff can get lost.
And it does with regularity.
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Rob making powder , right on.
I have moved on to using brass balls for the mill, supposed to be cleaner powder but couldn't prove it by me.
....
It's the opposite for me - using brass and would like to give lead balls a try.
However, for me and making the holy black might be a moot thing as I may have access to a large stash of metal can Goex "Cartridge" (2F) powder from the '90s.
Metal cans are cool, this is my current collection.
All from auctions by the way and all full of the holy black
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My favorite so far with a 1$ price on it from sometime in the past
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Kevin
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ALL of these MAY be coming home with me .... all 22 cans are full, too.
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Do you use the powder? I would think it will work just fine. The cans would make a really neat display on a shelf, but they could be refilled with corn meal or sawdust or something.
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I?ll bet those vintage cans are more valuable than the powder even at today prices.
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Received my brand spankin new Lee 20# pot and started casting. So smooth. Casted about 50 RBs. Takes a little longer to get to temp to cast consistent weights. But 48 out of 50 dropped with +/- .5 grains. Nice!
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Looking at eBay, it appears that the old DuPont cans really demand a premium.
The newer GOEX cans are anywhere from 6.95 to 20.00 or so. Plus postage.
Maybe I am going to have to dig out what's left of my collection.
John
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Thanks John,
I'll have to look into cans collectability (sp?)
Kevin