Busyhands94
Member
i realize that ammunition and such is getting expensive nowadays. however, i know i could shoot my muzzleloader for incredibly cheap. owning a flintlock .50 caliber i feel that i can hunt almost anything i want to aside from water foul. i can shoot rabbits with 10 grains, or go with a full load and shoot big game. I'm sure with proper shot placement and a 360 grain Minnie ball i could knock down a moose or Griz.
I can scrounge up materials to fire my gun. sulfur i can get cheap from a garden store. saltpeter i can get from a pharmacy. charcoal, well i can just make a fire and put some wood in a pot and seal it until i have good charcoal and then grind it up and use in my powder, and stale urine to mix it with, well that's easy.
flint... i live near a creek that was cut really deep from erosion. i always find artifacts such as arrowheads left from the Native Americans that once roamed the forests. there is a deposit of good flint and other sparking rocks down there. that is where i get my flints! i just find a decent chunk and chip it into pieces of suitable size, then sharpen them. and as a bonus i get to go run around the woods to get my shooting supplies! how fun is that! if i spend a half an hour i can usually find a good amount, usually a few big chunks. so my flints are free.
for bullets and balls i have two Lee molds. one cast a single 360 grain improved Minnie ball, and another casts two round balls. lead is easy to find. old fishing sinkers, used lead bullets, and stuff like that is where i get my lead and it seems to work quite well. i am sure that i could ask one car mechanic friends and get a huge amount of lead from them, maybe trade something for it. also i know several plumbers, i could probably get some babbits from them to melt down into lead bullets. that should work nicely. lead pipes are common, i can use them as well!
for patches, i did a little experiment yesterday. i was making some bullet lube out of beeswax and Crisco. while it was a liquid i had a mighty fine idea! i got some cotton fabric from my mom's scrap bin, cut a couple circles of cotton fabric, stuck them in a bag, and poured a bit of my liquid lube in there. then, i "massaged" the bag to get the patches well lubed. it seemed to work well! i also greased up some Minnie balls as well. it'll probably make them even easier to load in a fouled barrel and will lubricate and protect my bore.
well that's about it! i am thinking about making my own "tap-o-cap" with a lathe and using that to make percussion caps. i can use toy caps as the priming stuff. i am thinking about how i can make a mold for my NAA blackpowder revolvers. i have experience in making bullet molds before, i have made a .17 caliber one for my Remington Rider derringer. it's mighty fine and does it's job well. so for my NAA pistols i will try and make a boring bit that will cut a semi wadcutter cavity so i can shoot semi wadcutters with the companions. i might make it two cavity though, i could maybe cast both a round nosed bullet mold and a semi wadcutter.
anyway, i hope you all enjoyed reading this. what are YOUR techniques to save money or be self reliant?
Sincerely, Levi Hawken Dabney
I can scrounge up materials to fire my gun. sulfur i can get cheap from a garden store. saltpeter i can get from a pharmacy. charcoal, well i can just make a fire and put some wood in a pot and seal it until i have good charcoal and then grind it up and use in my powder, and stale urine to mix it with, well that's easy.
flint... i live near a creek that was cut really deep from erosion. i always find artifacts such as arrowheads left from the Native Americans that once roamed the forests. there is a deposit of good flint and other sparking rocks down there. that is where i get my flints! i just find a decent chunk and chip it into pieces of suitable size, then sharpen them. and as a bonus i get to go run around the woods to get my shooting supplies! how fun is that! if i spend a half an hour i can usually find a good amount, usually a few big chunks. so my flints are free.
for bullets and balls i have two Lee molds. one cast a single 360 grain improved Minnie ball, and another casts two round balls. lead is easy to find. old fishing sinkers, used lead bullets, and stuff like that is where i get my lead and it seems to work quite well. i am sure that i could ask one car mechanic friends and get a huge amount of lead from them, maybe trade something for it. also i know several plumbers, i could probably get some babbits from them to melt down into lead bullets. that should work nicely. lead pipes are common, i can use them as well!
for patches, i did a little experiment yesterday. i was making some bullet lube out of beeswax and Crisco. while it was a liquid i had a mighty fine idea! i got some cotton fabric from my mom's scrap bin, cut a couple circles of cotton fabric, stuck them in a bag, and poured a bit of my liquid lube in there. then, i "massaged" the bag to get the patches well lubed. it seemed to work well! i also greased up some Minnie balls as well. it'll probably make them even easier to load in a fouled barrel and will lubricate and protect my bore.
well that's about it! i am thinking about making my own "tap-o-cap" with a lathe and using that to make percussion caps. i can use toy caps as the priming stuff. i am thinking about how i can make a mold for my NAA blackpowder revolvers. i have experience in making bullet molds before, i have made a .17 caliber one for my Remington Rider derringer. it's mighty fine and does it's job well. so for my NAA pistols i will try and make a boring bit that will cut a semi wadcutter cavity so i can shoot semi wadcutters with the companions. i might make it two cavity though, i could maybe cast both a round nosed bullet mold and a semi wadcutter.
anyway, i hope you all enjoyed reading this. what are YOUR techniques to save money or be self reliant?
Sincerely, Levi Hawken Dabney