What you will need, will depend upon how you intend to load and use your rifle. If you use the 50 grain pellets, instead of loose powder, and load your gun with either 50, 100 or 150 grains with the pellets, then, you won't be needing a powder horn or powder measure. If however, you wish to custom tailor your loads with a precise powder load, say, 85 grains, or 110 grains, then you will need a powder measure to measure your poweder with, preferably one with a swivel funnel attached. You will also need, some sort of a reserve for your bulk powder, like a large powder flask or powder horn, that you pour powder from, into the powder measure. If you are only going to shoot hollow based Minnie Balls, (pronounced "Mihn-Nay"), and not patched round balls, then you will not need a ball starter, a small leather mallet, patches, or a palm saver. Since the Minnie Balls are generally pre-lubed with the lube pressure fitted into the lubrication grooves on the side of the conical bullet, you really don't need to be carrying a tube of bullet lube around with you either. If however you are going to be loading your rifle with round balls, then, you will need to remember that the round balls are patched, and therefore slightly undersized from the barrel just a tad. In your case, your 50 Caliber rifle will be needing either a .490" or a .495" round ball. You will also need a supply of bullet patches, either pre-lubed, or unlubed. If using the un-lubed variety then you will need to lube the patch yourself before you ram the bullet down the barrel and seat it.
The process of loading a patched round ball is basically this. If using an unlubed patch, then take a small amount of bullet lube, and place it on inside edge of the barrel bore. Center and place the pre-cut round bullet patch over the bore of the rifle. Take a round ball, and either place the ball sprue down, or sprue up, whichever you choose, just be consistant, and load your ball the same way every time, so that you will have consistant performance with every shot. Now, take your bullet starter, and using the very short nub, place the short nub over the center of the bullet, and using you small leather mallet, tap the ball down so the half of the ball is lodged in the barrel, and the other have is protruding out of the end of the barrel. With the bullet half in and half out of the bore, take a small, but very sharp knife, known by us as a "patch" knife, and trim off the excess patch material. (An inexpensive pocket knife will do.) Now, using the bullet starter again, using the long end of the bullet starter, in conjunction with the leather mallet, tap the bullet down the barrel the length that the long rod on the bullet starter will allow. Remove the bullet starter, and place your bullet starter and your mallet to the side. Draw out your ramrod from the stock of the rifle, and guide the ramrod down to where it meets the bullet lodged just a few inches down. Take your palm saver, and put it over the end of the ramrod. Using firm, steady pressure, push the bullet down the rest of the way down the barrel. DON'T pound on the bullet with the ramrod, like a jack hammer, just PUSH it down, in a nice, steady, but firm motion. When you feel the bullet seat down onto the powder charge, then give the ramrod one more little push, to seat it firmly and compact the powder down just a tad. Remove the ramrod from the barrel of the rifle. Using a square patch or another round one, lube up the patch just a bit, with bullet lube, and run the patch up and down the barrel a few times, lubing up the barrel just a tad. Remove the ramrod, with the lubing patch, toss the patch, wipe down the ramrod with a rag you WILL be carrying around with you, and re-seat the ramrod into the guns stock.
Obviously, as you can see, this is a bit of a process, and does take some getting used to a bit before you get really proficient and consistant with this. Minnie balls are alot less bothersome in this department, they are pre-lubed, and are precisely sized to the barrel caliber exactly, so you can run the bullet down the barrel with only the rifles ramrod, and not have to use a bullet starter at all.
Now that your rifle has a powder charge in the breech, and a bullet of some type properly loaded and seated on top of that charge, Now you need to press the release on the breech lock of the rifle, break open the barrel, to expose the priming area of the breech. In the case of this rifle, you will need to prime the breech with a standard #209 shot gun primer.
Close the breech, and gather up all your stuff, which we all call our "possibles", because, without all this stuff, it's NOT POSSIBLE to properly load your gun. Nearly all Black Powder (BP) shooters carry a bag around with them, to keep all their possibles crap in, and it is called, guess what??? A Possibles bag !!! (Original aren't we !!! LOL !!!)
Now, depending upon how the gun is set up, and I am not exactly familiar with the particular model you mentioned, you may or may not need to cock the rifle before firing.
Now, after you have acutally fired your gun, and you are standing there in absolute amazement at the billows of smoke, the large orange flame that shot out like a cannon from the barrel, and the very pleasing healthy BOOM from a blast of real gun powder as used by Daniel Boone, and every other fronteersman... Standing there, breathing in that intoxicating smell of spend BP... becoming enamored, steeped, in the romance of it all.... You need to do a bit of "after shot" maintenance on your rifle right away too. You need to swap your just fired barrel with some sort of barrel swabbing solution. You can buy commercial ones, or, you can just mix up a batch of diluted rubbing alcohol mixed with plain water, and kept in either something like a squeeze bottle or an old small sprayer bottle, like a small windex spray bottle. Now, take out a patch, and wet it down so it's good and wet, but not so wet that it's dripping. Run the wetted patch up and down the barrel a few times, then toss the patch. I would recommend doing this after EVERY SINGLE SHOT. Black Powder (The real thing) AND, BP Substitutes, all leave alot of residue in the barrel, despite what manufacturers of BP substitute may claim, your barrel will start to foul in 2 to 5 shots if you don't swab your barrel, even with the substitutes. There are TWO REASONS for swabbing your barrel after every shot, it's NOT JUST to keep the fouling down to manageable, it is ALSO to make sure there are no little embers down in the barrel or breech, smoldering away, that could accidentally ignite your next load of powder... THIS IS IMPORTANT !!!... You don't want a 100 or 150 grain load of powder going off on you while you are trying to seat a bullet down the barrel !!!... Really, NOT FUN !!!
So, the long and the short of it is...
Long List...
Possibles Bag
Powder horn or flask
Powder measure
Bullet pouch or bag
Bullet starter
Small Leather Mallet
A pouch or tin for your #209 primers
A supply of patches, either lubed or un-lubed
a small tube of bullet lube
Palm Saver
Barrel Swabbing Solution
nipple pick
small, sharp patch knife
bullet worm or auger (For removing a bullet if stuck, or if the powder won't fire for one reason or another)
some hand rags to clean your ramrod, wipe down your gun, and keep your hands clean.
A supply of Black Powder, Black Powder substitute, or Powder pellets.
A supply of #209 Shotgun Primers
Optionally, you may wish to opt for some ear plugs or muffs as well.
Well, that's about it really,
Have FUN WITH IT !!!
Sincerely,
ElvinWarrior... aka... David, "EW"
Black Powder
Bullet Starter
Bullet Holder (Belt Model)
Powder Measure, with attached funnel
Patch Knife
