Black powder?

[tws3b2]

Around 2000 I was given a Muzzleloading Armoury Plainsman rifle, 50 caliber. It's a surprisingly accurate, fun shooting gun. I shot it a good bit at first but it kind of worked it's way to the back of the gun cabinet. Only to be brought out for cleaning. Now, 2021 and ammo hard to find I'm thinking bring it back out instead of paying the high prices of ammo. I used FFg black powder and round balls before. I do have a can of black powder left from before but it's 10- 15 years old. I went out today to find some fresh but none to be found near me. And, no balls. All I found was sabot bullets?? And preformed pellets?? I thought to myself this oldfart needs some muzzleloader re-education. Do they not use black powder and balls anymore?? Can someone re-educate me on what to use in this gun. I'm not planning on hunting with it right now. Just some fun shooting.

 

[MIOkie]

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Your old powder should still be good, provided it’s been stored properly.

Don’t mean to sound critical, but I assume what is in the old can is what it says on the label. Had to say it... sometimes people re-purpose containers for other things.

So that leaves caps and projectiles.

I have used Thompson Center maxi-balls (bullets) in my TC .50 “Hawken” with good results. I believe they are 320 grain.

Can’t beat a good old .490 patched round ball though, in my opinion.

Good luck rounding up supplies and getting that nice rifle of yours belching smoke again...!

 

[brewer12345]

I would just round up what you used to use: round balls, patches, etc. What worked back then will work fine now. If you don't have caps, they are hard to come by. Powder shows up intermittently. I saw Swiss brand 2f and 3f of Grafs website this morning. Balls you might find from someone who casts or maybe Track of the Wolf.

 

[arcticap]

Now days folks need to buy supplies where they can find them.
Shipping seems expensive but can be cheaper than driving all over the place.
You can try calling every gun shop in your county before ordering online.
Not many places have everything in stock that you may need.

Powder Valley has BP: --->>> https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/product-category/reloading-supplies/powder/black-powder-substitutes/
Graf's has .490 balls: --->>> https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/6832
Back Creek Gun Shop "has" powder and caps: --->>> https://blackpowderva.com
Eastern Maine Shooting Supplies has patches, lube, wads and accessories: --->>> https://www.emshootingsupplies.com/#/

Maybe you can find some Pyrodex P, caps and balls sold locally.

 

[arcticap]

Around 2000 I was given a Muzzleloading Armoury Plainsman rifle, 50 caliber. It's a surprisingly accurate, fun shooting gun. I shot it a good bit at first but it kind of worked it's way to the back of the gun cabinet. Only to be brought out for cleaning. Now, 2021 and ammo hard to find I'm thinking bring it back out instead of paying the high prices of ammo. I used FFg black powder and round balls before. I do have a can of black powder left from before but it's 10- 15 years old. I went out today to find some fresh but none to be found near me. And, no balls. All I found was sabot bullets?? And preformed pellets?? I thought to myself this oldfart needs some muzzleloader re-education. Do they not use black powder and balls anymore?? Can someone re-educate me on what to use in this gun. I'm not planning on hunting with it right now. Just some fun shooting.View attachment 981885

There are Hornady .490 round balls in stock at the Ashville, NC Sportsman's Warehouse.
Buy them online and pick them up in the store on March 3. --->>> https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting...-lead-round-ball-black-powder-bullets/p/p2186

There's also a Cabela's located in Greenville, SC, 61 miles away from Ashville.
Call them and see if they have caps or any other supplies in stock that you need such as patches, Pyrodex P, or 777 powder.

Cabela's
Greenville, SC · In the Magnolia Park Town Center
Opens 9AM Wed ·
(864) 516-8100

Sportsman's Warehouse
Address: 800 Brevard Rd Ste 901, Asheville, NC 28806
Phone: (828) 633-3182

There's also a Bass Pro 133 miles away down the Interstate from Ashville outside of Charlotte.
They may still be selling black powder but you would need to ask the manager of the gun dept. to get it out of the locked powder magazine.
You should probably call first and be sure to ask for the gun dept. manager or supervisor.
He may be the only one with a key.
If you can't speak with him, speak with the store manager because most all of the Bass Pro stores used to sell it.

Bass Pro Shops
8181 Concord Mills Blvd
Concord, NC 28027
(704) 979-2200

 

[ThomasT]

You gotta give Arcticap credit. If somebody needs something that man knows where to find it.

 

[tws3b2]

There are Hornady .490 round balls in stock at the Ashville, NC Sportsman's Warehouse.
Buy them online and pick them up in the store on March 3. --->>> https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting...-lead-round-ball-black-powder-bullets/p/p2186

There's also a Cabela's located in Greenville, SC, 61 miles away from Ashville.
Call them and see if they have caps or any other supplies in stock that you need such as patches, Pyrodex P, or 777 powder.

Cabela's
Greenville, SC · In the Magnolia Park Town Center
Opens 9AM Wed ·
(864) 516-8100

Sportsman's Warehouse
Address: 800 Brevard Rd Ste 901, Asheville, NC 28806
Phone: (828) 633-3182

There's also a Bass Pro 133 miles away down the Interstate from Ashville outside of Charlotte.
They may still be selling black powder but you would need to ask the manager of the gun dept. to get it out of the locked powder magazine.
You should probably call first and be sure to ask for the gun dept. manager or supervisor.
He may be the only one with a key.
If you can't speak with him, speak with the store manager because most all of the Bass Pro stores used to sell it.

Bass Pro Shops
8181 Concord Mills Blvd
Concord, NC 28027
(704) 979-2200

Not in Ashville. Asheboro. You would be surprised how often that happens. Anyway, Thanks for the tips.

 

[arcticap]

Not in Ashville. Asheboro. You would be surprised how often that happens. Anyway, Thanks for the tips.

Please accept my apology.
But Ashboro is close to another Sportsman's Warehouse in Greensboro, NC which is only 27 miles away from you on Interstate 70.
They have Hornady .490 balls in stock for pick up today. --->>> https://www.sportsmans.com/shooting...-lead-round-ball-black-powder-bullets/p/p2186

Sportsman's Warehouse | Greensboro, NC
1305 BRIDFORD PARKWAY GREENSBORO, NC
(336) 419-1016
In Stock
In Greensboro, NC
--------------------------------------------
There's a Cabela's in Garner, NC which is 74 miles from Ashboro.

Address: 201 Cabela Dr, Garner, NC 27529
Phone: (984) 204-2200
-------------------------------------------
There's a Bass Pro Shop in Cary, NC which is located 62 miles from Ashboro.

Address: 801 Bass Pro Ln, Cary, NC 27513
Phone: (919) 677-5100
----------------------------------------
Greensboro has some gun shops including Cherry's Fine Guns!
I would call them to see if they sell any black powder or percussion caps just out of curioisity.
They're not much of a retailer, but it's worth a try.
If they don't sell it, they may know where you can find some in the area.
They're a huge Pedersoli distributor and also have a gun shop.
There's a bell to ring to be let in to the place.

Cherry's Fine Guns
Address: 3408 W Wendover Ave N, Greensboro, NC 27407
Phone: (336) 854-4182
Hours:
Open ⋅ Closes 4:50PM
Phone: (336) 854-4182
http://cherrys.com
-----------------------------------------
It seems like there's some gun shops in your vicinity to call to check for black powder supplies and caps.
Thee's also a lot a Academy Sporting Goods Shops with not any useful inventory listed.

https://www.yellowpages.com/asheboro-nc/gun-shops

https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Guns & Ammo&find_loc=Asheboro, NC&start=0

 

[paul harm]

TC has a 1 in 48 twist about 4 to .005 deep rifling. It was designed for patched round balls or their Maxie ball. I'm not sure what his rifle is, but he did say it shot RBs just fine so I'd stick with them. The old BP is fine if it was kept sealed up.
My granddaughter's step dad had to buy her a compound Bow and inline muzzle loader for hunting. She won't use either. I had already given her a TC Renegade and she always borrows my Brian Ferguson long bow. She's shot deer with the patched RB and the bow with homemade ceder arrows with flint broad heads. I've since given her the bow seeing how I don't hunt anymore.
All I've ever used for close to 50 years are patched RBs in my homemade pistols, rifles, and smoothbores. They still work just fine like they have for over 200 years.

 

[tws3b2]

Well, Digging down deep into the bottom of the old gun cabinet I found a few ball's, a few pre lubed bullets ( so old the lube is not lube anymore ), a whole card of sabot bullet's that I don't even remember buying or why, and about a half tin of #11 caps. Tried out a couple caps and still go bang. No pre lubed patches. Looked around the internet and found I could find some patches over there on that site, balls over there and maybe some caps over there. I guess if I keep looking I may be able find what I need all in one place. But, I'm so fed up with this ammo junk and now it seems it's going to be the same with Muzzleloading. Think I'll just give up and start throwing rocks.

 

[arcticap]

I guess if I keep looking I may be able find what I need all in one place. But, I'm so fed up with this ammo junk and now it seems it's going to be the same with Muzzleloading. Think I'll just give up and start throwing rocks.

Local gun shops buy from regional distributors.
If you call or walk into a local gun shop, they can often check inventory availability online for the items you need.
If they need to place a minimum order before they can submit the order, then they can put your items on a list.
It depends on who they order from.
But they usually order weekly, especially if they are ordering guns.

The large chains may have most of it in stock, or it can be picked up in one trip if you're already on the road.
That's why by calling a place like Cherry's that sells flintlocks, they may know where to buy black powder locally.
That's better than not having a clue who sells it.
Where did you last buy the black powder that you have, or was it given to you when you received the gun?

Pyrodex is the closet to black powder that can be sold without needing a special license, and Pyrodex P is preferred because it's a finer granulation like 3F black powder.
Black powder dealers need a special license, that's why not very many places sell it.

Some folks have been able to find percussion caps for sale at Walmart, especially those with a better hunting dept.
But I'll bet that some of the shops have some, just call around.
Even cotton patch material can often be purchased at a Walmart fabric dept. or at a fabric shop.

 

[gtrgy888]

Well, Digging down deep into the bottom of the old gun cabinet I found a few ball's, a few pre lubed bullets ( so old the lube is not lube anymore ), a whole card of sabot bullet's that I don't even remember buying or why, and about a half tin of #11 caps. Tried out a couple caps and still go bang. No pre lubed patches. Looked around the internet and found I could find some patches over there on that site, balls over there and maybe some caps over there. I guess if I keep looking I may be able find what I need all in one place. But, I'm so fed up with this ammo junk and now it seems it's going to be the same with Muzzleloading. Think I'll just give up and start throwing rocks.

Don’t lose hope. I was able to order a pound of Old Eynsford 3f from Powder Valley yesterday during the 5 minutes it was probably in stock.

 

[ThomasT]

Our local WM used to have a very large sewing dept. and thats where I bought all my patch material. They did have .018 Pillow Ticking with the stripes in it and also had linen that makes excellent patch material. I take my calipers in with me and measure the material. The linen I bought measured .012 thick and is perfect for my CVA Kentucky pistol with .440 ball.

Making patch lube is as easy as buying a small can of Crisco. Fill a small container with it and lube your patches as you need them. Some like to melt the Crisco and dip precut patches in it and set them on paper towels to absorb the extra grease. And patches that are precut square instead of round work perfectly. They are all I have ever used. I precut a small Ziplock baggie full when I start running low. And no old Tee-Shirts do NOT make good ball patches. But they work fine for cleaning patches.

 

[tws3b2]

Local gun shops buy from regional distributors.
If you call or walk into a local gun shop, they can often check inventory availability online for the items you need.
If they need to place a minimum order before they can submit the order, then they can put your items on a list.
It depends on who they order from.
But they usually order weekly, especially if they are ordering guns.

The large chains may have most of it in stock, or it can be picked up in one trip if you're already on the road.
That's why by calling a place like Cherry's that sells flintlocks, they may know where to buy black powder locally.
That's better than not having a clue who sells it.
Where did you last buy the black powder that you have, or was it given to you when you received the gun?

Pyrodex is the closet to black powder that can be sold without needing a special license, and Pyrodex P is preferred because it's a finer granulation like 3F black powder.
Black powder dealers need a special license, that's why not very many places sell it.

Some folks have been able to find percussion caps for sale at Walmart, especially those with a better hunting dept.
But I'll bet that some of the shops have some, just call around.
Even cotton patch material can often be purchased at a Walmart fabric dept. or at a fabric shop.

Thanks Arcticap.
The Walmart near me is not much at keeping inventory up especially in the gun supplies department.
There is a Dunham's near me. They do have a Muzzleloading isle but right now not what I'm looking for. I will keep an eye on them, maybe they will get some in soon. And I'll keep checking out the local gun shops. Again, Thanks.

 

[ThomasT]

If you are still semi new to the black powder game this is the book I recommend to anyone who will listen. Its the book that kept me from giving up on shooting black powder. Its well worth the asking price. Maybe I should buy it. My copy is about to come apart I have read it so much.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/THE-COMPLE...198885?hash=item25f3ceafe5:g:NAwAAOSwjS9a1iVb

 

[J-Bar]

Buy some pillow ticking at a fabric store, cut some 1.5 inch wide strips and spray them with PAM from your kitchen shelf. Put the PAM lubed strips in a sandwich bag. Cover the ball with the end of a strip, push the ball into the muzzle and trim the excess cloth flush with the muzzle with your pocketknife. You will do fine without commercial patches.

 

[Ifishsum]

If you're going to load and immediately shoot the rifle a patch dampened with moose milk, TC#13 or another BP-friendly cleaner works great for me. I can shoot our club's typical 25-round or so course that way, without doing any cleaning patches during the course since the next seated ball basically does that for me.

 

[ThomasT]

If you're going to load and immediately shoot the rifle a patch dampened with moose milk, TC#13 or another BP-friendly cleaner works great for me. I can shoot our club's typical 25-round or so course that way, without doing any cleaning patches during the course since the next seated ball basically does that for me.

The Moose Milk is my most used patch lube. But I make mine buy just buying a one gallon can of water soluble oil like we used for coolant in my dads machine shop. Its the same stuff and a gallon will make a lifetime supply of it. It says mix 20 to 1 but I make mine 12 to 1 and can shoot all day without having to wipe out the bore. At the start of the day I put about 20 precut patches in one of those plastic snuff boxes and then squirt the milk on them to soak and I'm good to go. A gallon from the tool store cost me $18 IIRC but that was over 20 years ago. I still have well over half a gallon left.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

I use Pinesol for patch lube, it's in a bottle with a dropper squirt thingy in the cap. I use a few drops on my patches at loading. Works good for me.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I thought to myself this oldfart needs some muzzleloader re-education. Do they not use black powder and balls anymore?? Can someone re-educate me on what to use in this gun. I'm not planning on hunting with it right now. Just some fun shooting.

Nope, you don't need any additional education.
Especially if what you want to do is plink at some targets.

YES,
Round ball and real black powder are still used, and they still work.



LD

 

[dave951]

Around 2000 I was given a Muzzleloading Armoury Plainsman rifle, 50 caliber. It's a surprisingly accurate, fun shooting gun. I shot it a good bit at first but it kind of worked it's way to the back of the gun cabinet. Only to be brought out for cleaning. Now, 2021 and ammo hard to find I'm thinking bring it back out instead of paying the high prices of ammo. I used FFg black powder and round balls before. I do have a can of black powder left from before but it's 10- 15 years old. I went out today to find some fresh but none to be found near me. And, no balls. All I found was sabot bullets?? And preformed pellets?? I thought to myself this oldfart needs some muzzleloader re-education. Do they not use black powder and balls anymore?? Can someone re-educate me on what to use in this gun. I'm not planning on hunting with it right now. Just some fun shooting.View attachment 981885

You'd probably find the best load is with 3f. If at all possible, I'd stick with the real deal. It can be had but probably not locally. I'm also in NC and I compete with muzzleloaders. I don't buy my powder locally. I get mine when I go to our Nationals competition in VA and I'll get 15 or so lb and enough caps to carry me through at least 6 months of practice and competition till the next National shoot.

Since you're in NC, why not come on over to Statesville to our next regional shoot on Mar 20. We shoot at Allison Woods Outdoor Learning Center on Hwy 21 just north of Statesville.

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

Powder Inc and several places have black powder in stock. Your old powder should be fine if it's been kept dry. It's not like black powder expires or anything.

 

[whughett]

Well, Digging down deep into the bottom of the old gun cabinet I found a few ball's, a few pre lubed bullets ( so old the lube is not lube anymore ), a whole card of sabot bullet's that I don't even remember buying or why, and about a half tin of #11 caps. Tried out a couple caps and still go bang. No pre lubed patches. Looked around the internet and found I could find some patches over there on that site, balls over there and maybe some caps over there. I guess if I keep looking I may be able find what I need all in one place. But, I'm so fed up with this ammo junk and now it seems it's going to be the same with Muzzleloading. Think I'll just give up and start throwing rocks.

I shoot patched round balls thru my TC Patriot pistol. My patches are simply discarded cotton tee shirts cut in to strips and soaked with 50/50 crisco beeswax. The strip is placed over the muzzle a ball short started and the patch cut free with a patch knife. I recently saw an article on patching round balls. Patches cut at the muzzle are more accurate than round or square pre-cut patches.

 

[Ephraim Kibbey]

So the FBI just announced that the DC Jan. 6th bomber made his/her pipe bombs with black powder!!!

 

[gtrgy888]

So the FBI just announced that the DC Jan. 6th bomber made his/her pipe bombs with black powder!!!

Great, I wonder if they also planted lead round balls and caps just so the Feds could push for even more restrictions and get maximal use from this obviously set up nonbombing.