My first blackpowder! Now what?

I'm not familiar with under hammers.

But I can say you'll need 2 or 3F powder, percussion caps, an adjustable powder measure, a powder flask, a .45 cal rifle cleaning jag, bore mop, and ball puller.

Do you know if it's meant for patched round ball (PRB) or conicals? If it's a slow twist 1:70 something to 1:48" you'll use patched round balls. If it's 1:48 to 1:20" you'll want conicals/saboted bullets.

You'll also want something like Ballistol for lubrication. Lubricants for smokeless guns is petroleum based and not good for black powder. I like Ballistol as I know it mixes with water, and after the water evaporates it will leave just the oil behind.

How to measure rate of twist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdoCNZBlRGQ

I suggest 3F powder as I hear it is less fouling. It is a little more powerful, and so in theory one could use a little less powder with similar results, therefor saving powder.

I use 3F in my .50 cal, but I also have a .44 and .45 cal pistol, and prefer to carry/stock just one powder. Keeps it simple.

I have no idea if you over paid or not but I can say those don't come up every day. So given that you didn't pay a vast fortune for it and how much fun it will be I'd say you did just fine.

I'd go 3F on the powder since it's under .50. And you'll want to pick up a box of .440 balls and possibly a box of .445 balls and some patching material. I recently found a bag of 1000 100% cotton twill patches for cleaning that I'm hoping will do double duty as patches for the round ball. For that use I'll likely cut the corners off to turn them into octagonals. But hey! The price was good!

There's a number of potions you can use for lubricating the patch around the ball to reduce or avoid bad fouling. My own favourite is Ballistol mixed with water about 1:5. This makes a white milk like mix. I apply it by starting the patch and ball into the muzzle with the short starter. This leaves me with a frill of patch at the crown. I dribble on about 5 to 6 drops worth of the Ballistol milk then use the other end of the short starter to seat the ball a little deeper. The ram rod is then used to push the ball down and firmly tamp it against the powder.

NO AIR GAPS ALLOWED! ! ! ! So be sure it's all the way down and on the powder. Air gaps leads to detonation and big peaks in the pressure instead of a progressive burn with more of a push to the charge going off.

Cap shooters also remove the cap and clean out the flash path with pipe cleaners or the like. So get yourself a suitable nipple wrench while you're stocking up.

It all sounds like a lot of work when you read our replies. But it's really not as bad as it sounds.

Here's a list of things you need for the first range trip;

• A powder horn or powder flask to hold the powder.
• A measure to use for measuring the powder and transfering it to the barrel.
• .440 round ball
• Cotton patches for black powder shooting or some cotton twill pillow case ticking that is around .012 thick. (just buy the patches for now).
• Ballistol Universal oil for lubricating, protecting and mixing up the patch lube.
• A ball starter.
• Proper size percussion caps to fit your gun's nipple.

For cleaning at home get yourself a shot gun cleaning rod kit that has a "T" handle. Add to that a .45 caliber brush. Why the shotgun rod? That's so when you get the brush to the bottom of the bore you can give the handle a bit of a clockwise twist while pulling back. This will twist the bristles and let you draw the brush back. Otherwise they get stuck in the bore like a Chinese finger puzzle and you're left wondering what to do. With the shotgun rod you just give it a bit of a twist and pull back easily.

If your barrel has a reduced size powder chamber at the breech you'll want to find out what size it is and use the proper size brush for that. I've been wrapping a pipe cleaner around the end of pistol size brushes to convert the brush into an end and side cleaning brush instead of just a side cleaning style. Adapting stuff like this is just part of the fun of shooting blind ended bores like us BP folk do.

At first it'll seem like a lot of work. But with a few tricks like I've mentioned and what the others have suggested you'll have the end of day cleaning down to around 15 to 20 minutes from filthy to slicked up with fresh oil and ready to put to bed.

Good looking rifle. I'll give you $271 for it! Seriously, while there is a learning curve for BP firearms, it's one of the most fun learning curves around.

While most of us here (me included) will recommend using genuine BP, don't be ashamed to use a sub. They are much easier to find in most parts of the country. But don't be fooled by "easier cleanup" claims. All powder suitable for muzzle loaders will foul and will require cleaning.

Give us a range report as soon as possible.

I bought an instructional CD from Cabelas but it turned out to be for modern inlines.
This http://materials.nrahq.org/go/product.aspx?productid=EZ 14290 I found to be a good resource.

I'm glad you got it! I think that's a very nice price for those, assuming the bore's OK.

I had thought a .50 cal would be something like a 20 or 12 ga pump, and had read of people complaining about recoil with conicals so I bought a Lyman's Deerstalker which comes with a recoil pad and wasn't as light as my other options.

The recoil using 70 grns of 3F powder with a ball or a 320 grn REAL is nothing really. Even 90 grns and a ball wasn't much. More than a 30-30 but less than a .270 Win.

You mentioned hoping to find someone who shoots BP. Where are you?

The beauty of black powder muzzle loaders is that you have total control over the charge and the kick. If you start out with around a 40gn charge with a patched ball I think you'll be surprised at how soft it is. You can even start with 30 grains if you really want to start off soft.

As your shoulder gets better play with the charge between around 30 to 50 or even 60 to find the charge that makes it group the best.

It will kick depending on how you charge it. My Thompson .50 1/66 works best with 140 grains and a oxyoke and roundball.

On the other hand I've been target shooting my Lyman GPR in .50Cal with 40 to 50 gns. I still need to play with it to find the best amount but 50 was giving me and my lousy eyes 3 to 4 inch groups at 100 yards. And I blame much of that on my eyes.

Pizzapinochle said:

Unfortunately, it will be a bit before a range report. I am still recovering from shoulder surgery. Sonce I can't shoot, I have just been buying guns. Have about 4 new rifles and shotguns i have not put a round through yet.

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Shoot it left-handed (or with the side opposite the surgery).

I think that's a cool little gun you got there. Good luck with it and enjoy it. It looks like a blast.

The mechanism is extremely simple. If there's a clear path from the nipple to the main powder it should go bang.

As noted, if you're concerned about recoil just go light on the load. Just to give some idea of the spread possible - I've let kids shoot my .54 rifle with a 30 grain load and they have a ball. (I target shoot it at 70, a hunting load would be 100+).

I have one in .58, with Malcolm mounts and a loooong brass Tasco scope. I'd recomend trying 40 grains of 3F Goex, or Triple Seven, in your .45. There will be very little kick, if any. Remember with BP or subs, no air gap. Seat the ball firmly on the powder charge. You don't need to ''ram'' it down so hard you reinjure yourself, or break the ramrod, just a slow firm push until everything is seated, then one more push to tamp it down, and you're good.

the h&a underhammer 45's had tight bores and it may be a palm bruiser to load patched .440 balls. You may want to try .433's.

I have the 45 caliber target model and it shoots 5 shot groups under an inch at 100 yds with Lyman peep sights. My load is 75 grains of 3fg and a thin cotton flannel patch with a .440 ball. (still stiff to start the ball)

There is no reason to load over 80 grains under a 45 ball. The round ball is so inefficient against air resistance that it loses over half it's muzzle energy at 100 yards. And a 45 caliber is just so light that wind pushes it all over the place.

I posted in your other thread, but now saw this one.

Anyway, I use .440 balls in my H&A Heritage Model .45, with pillow ticking patches. In my rifle this combination isn't hard to load. Use 3Fg powder, from 40 to 50 grains for 50 yard paper punching. It's accurate and has mild recoil.

Congrats! Nice rifle, I've never shot an under-hammer model before.

I shoot my .50 muzzleloader with Swiss 1 1/2 FG powder. I use both round balls (with 70 gr. of powder) and Thompson 275gr Maxi-Hunters (with 60gr. of powder). The recoil is mild, performance is great in my rifle - tight groups at 100 yards. For .45 cal, I agree with the others, 3 Fg is probably the best powder but I would encourage you to experiment to find what works in your rifle. The guy who made my rifle used 70 gr. of 2 Fg Schuetzen and never grouped better than 4" at 100 yards, my groups are often almost MOA with the 1 1/2 Fg Swiss. I use Crisco for lube.

One trick to make sure the ball is seated all the way: After a thorough cleaning, I put the ramrod in the barrel and marked it with a little knife cut - this is the "unloaded" mark. I then loaded the gun and marked the ramrod again with the ball fully seated - the "loaded" mark. Loading gets harder after a few shots due to fouling (good idea to brush and swab occasionally - some do this after each shot, I do it after every three or four, you can tell when it is needed by the difficulty in seating the ball). With the ramrod marks I can tell at a glance if the ball is seated all the way, or I can double check to make sure the rifle is unloaded after it sets for several months.

You may find that black powder shooting grows on you. I shot BP a lot as a teen and have come back around to it because it gives me more of a challenge than smokeless: I can put bullets through the x-ring all day long with my scoped .270 Winchester deer rifle at 100 yards but doing the same with BP and open sights is not nearly as easy. There is now much better quality and more brands of black powder than back when I was a teen.