Another new TC New Englander, my first muzzle loader.
I just picked up my first muzzle loader, a TC new englander. Mine is right handed, but I shoot southpaw, so we'll see how things go. The bore on mine was fairly bad looking as well, as was the lock mechanism. I wandered into the LGS and saw it on the used rack priced at $70.00, so I decided to give it the once over. The bore was quite bad looking, and it only went into half-cock and full-cock if held horizontally. The outside looked just fine. So, I went home and called the folkes at TC and asked them a few questions (great folks, by the way). They answered a bunch of my questions, and with that and the TC reputation in mind, I went back to make a purchase.
Since my wife and I are graduates of Dave Ramsey's "Financial Peace University" (something I recomend to just about everyone), I was not quite willing to pay the asking price for something that might not work out too well. I went up to one of the guys that I regularly deal with there, and I brought the gun home for $50.00 plus tax.
When I took the lock plate off, I found that the only piece of the mechanism that I couldn't remove or get to with a screwdriver, was the spring that allowed for engagement of the sear mechanism. The little piston on it did not want to budge, period. After soaking it with WD-40, it started to move a little, and I wound up shoving the thing all the way up into the spring housing. After repeated applications and some constant tinkering, the piston finally popped out today (about a 2 day wait).
As for the barrel, that's a different story. The shop was out of .50 cal. boar brushes (with some deer hunting still going on in this area, I wasn't too suprised at this), I went over to Bass Pro to pick up a few things to help with the cleanup. A TC cleaning kit and a new nipple latter, I was on my way (I'm not real thrilled with Bass pro, they do not have anything other than nipples for percussion cap muzzle loaders; no caps, no nipple wrenches, nothing. Everything is for 209 primed guns.) I soaked the boar of the rifle with WD-40, let it sit for about a half hour, and then went to work. Man did the boar brush look nasty when I ran it up and down the barrel a few times.
After getting some of the rust loose, put the breach in a bucket of hot, soapy water, and started cleaning. The good news is that the nipple that is on the gun was not clogged (I was shocked to find this out). I ran several patches on the jag up and down the barrel, and felt as though I got most of the crud out, got a second bucket of water, and cleaned it up a little more. Since I don't have any caps yet, I went back after it with some more WD-40, until the patches were mostly clean (I'm going to repeat the process again when I finally get a nipple wrench, hopefully then I'll get the last little bit of rust out).
Taking a look at the barrel now, it doesn't look great, but not too bad either. It is a little pitted, and some of the rifleing is warn at the muzzle, but all in all, I think I got a fairly good deal. Several friends of mine are quite anxious to shoot it, as am I.
Now for my question. Since I'm new to this (sort of, I shot a muzzle loader when I was a kid out at Philmont Scout Ranch), aside from powder (and measure), shot, patches and caps, is there anything else that I need?
Thanks,
D
