two totally unrelated questions

[coondogger]

Question 1: I found an old box of TC maxi balls with dried out and flaking
bore butter in the lubricating grooves. Can I simply re-line the grooves with more bore butter?

Question 2: A friend of mine routinely blows on the nipple of his percussion muzzleloader after firing a round. He says this is to blow away any possible bits of hot ash or live sparks before re-loading. I can't say I saw anything wrong with this. Any thoughts on this?

Question 3: I know I said two questions, but this one occurred to me while typing. Has anyone out there used Powerbelt aerotips in a TC hawken (50cal), and how did they work compared to the maxi-balls?

And I apologize in advance if these are the kinds of questions that try more experienced blackpowder shooters' patience.

 

[DoubleDeuce 1]

Just grease up the maxi ball before you load it. Nothing special about doing that, be sure to fill the grooves/ rings around the bullet.

As for blowing down the nipple of the rifle... some people blow down the barrel. That has been a topic discussed at length. Some folks do it and others don't. I don't see any value in it myself, and never had a problem with any sparks or embers.

 

[rdstrain49]

I tried the power belt. Had some problem with the belt separating from the slug (that was some time ago). Accuracy was fair to poor. I went back to ball and patch.

 

[Omnivore]

Blowing through the bore traditionally has nothing to do with embers. It was and is done with metal BP cartridges too. You see Quigley blowing through his Sharps 45-110 after shooting in the movie Quigley Down Under, which, despite a few glitches, is one of the most accurate depictions of guns and shooting in the movies. It's supposedly to soften the fouling in the bore-- with humidity in the breath. Nowadays they use a tube to keep the mouth parts away from possible lead contamination (the priming compound we use in caps today consists of a lead compound, so the nipple area will definitely have lead around it). See here;
http://www.midwayusa.com/Product/110033/buffalo-arms-black-powder-blow-tube-40-70-sharps-straight

The instructions for your rifle probably say something about leaving the hammer down on the spent cap to prevent ventilation that might keep an ember going. Mine do. Mainly you want to keep the muzzle pointed away from you as you charge a recently fired gun, and don't charge directly from a flask but use a separate measure.

 

[coondogger]

I spoke with TC and they said that there should be complete combustion in the cap following a discharge and blowing on it should be unnecessary. I guess it just makes this guy feel safer before reloading. I'm going to try a few of the Powerbelts this weekend. I'll let you know how they do out of the Hawken rifel. Thanks for the comments and answers to my questions.

 

[rdstrain49]

Awaiting the range report. Remember, without pictures it never happened.

 

[[email protected]]

Can anybody use this? Make me a good offer

 

[mykeal]

I offer to dig a hole and blow it all up in one fell swoop, and video the results for you.

 

[col.lemat]

give it to someone you dont like very much

 

[arcticap]

Question 1: I found an old box of TC maxi balls with dried out and flaking
bore butter in the lubricating grooves. Can I simply re-line the grooves with more bore butter?

I used the citrus solvent "Goo Gone" and a rag to help dissolve and rub off the old dried out Bore Butter.
But since I don't want to go through that all over again, I wait to relube them until I'm ready to use them.

 

[coondogger]

This group is at 100 yards, iron sights, with the maxi-balls (re-lubed). The Powerbelt sabots didn't do nearly as well.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I spoke with TC and they said that there should be complete combustion in the cap following a discharge and blowing on it should be unnecessary.

Folks don't blow on the nipple because of embers from the cap, it's due to possible smouldering embers in the interior of the barrel, and is probably a cross technique from some flintlock shooters, who do it to extinguish barrel embers before reloading.

As for barrel fouling, well I have been told that, but with grease based lubes that really isn't a factor. It just moistens the fouling which creates acid in the bore that much faster. Now for a spit patched round ball, yes it could, but for cartridges and muzzleloaded projectiles with grease, not so much.

LD

 

[DrLaw]

And yet

Nobody noticed what a fraud this thread was. "TWO TOTALLY UNRELATED QUESTIONS".


There were THREE questions! For Shame!


The Doc is out now.


PS, I had nothing to add, everybody else here answered it already.