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  1. #1
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    Jul 2008
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    near Warragul, Victoria
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    Default Gunsmithing skills on display 1969


  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Adelaide
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    Just shows how things have changed and how it is possible to make do with just simple basic and often home made tools to turn out a quality item. I have to admit seeing the guy in the opening scenes push the ram rod with the palm of his hand did make me cringe, black powder may be low power but it can be unforgiving.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
    Location
    Athelstone, SA 5076
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    4,255

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    Quote Originally Posted by familyguy View Post
    seeing the guy in the opening scenes push the ram rod with the palm of his hand did make me cringe, black powder may be low power but it can be unforgiving.
    how else are you supposed to do it on a rifle...and some black powder hand guns?

    The rod of course must be of a material that cannot produce a spark....else there is a real possibility there will be problems

  4. #4
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    Dec 2007
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    Adelaide
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    Pushing the ram rod with the palm of the hand ? - I've seen others do it many times with no issues - I've had 2 BP guns (still have one) and I could seat the ball on both by pushing the ramrod between thumb and forefinger, probably I'm a bit paranoid due to an incident many years ago - as a high school teenager I found a Harpers Ferry flintlock pistol at the local rubbish tip while scavenging for old radios - fast forward around 15 yrs and I wanted to see how it shot, the first shot fired ok, the second though flashed in the pan but the main charge failed to ignite, all of the things I had read (no internet then) about flintlocks and miss-fires said put the gun down on the ground pointed down range and wait 30 min before picking it up - OK - I put it down and counted slowly to 100 - surely it must be safe now I thought - as I picked it up and started to swing it around to examine things the main charge went off, my nephew was close by and while he was not in the firing line he caught some minor powder burns on the side of his face - things could have ended up much worse. I no longer have it - swapped it at a gun show some yrs later for a really nice mint 1956 made Brno Model 2.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Mackay North Qld
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    6,446

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    Quote Originally Posted by eskimo View Post
    how else are you supposed to do it on a rifle...and some black powder hand guns?

    The rod of course must be of a material that cannot produce a spark....else there is a real possibility there will be problems
    Hi eskimo

    I can tell you from 30 years of experience that ramming the powder is quite safe. I have shot beside black powder muzzleloader shooters and have seen multiple thousands of the ramming operations almost without incident. The almost was a friend ramming with the original wooden ramrod and it split and pierced the web of his thumb and forefinger. We normally ram with steel of plastic type rods.

    I can genuinely understand that a persons unfamiliar with our ML process may have a concern about the black powder exploding from the ramrod impacts.
    To give you an idea black powder is consider by those who set international standards that the safety rating is the same as petrol for car.Look at the red diamond on the back of a fuel truck- it reads 1.1 the same as the whats on the original manufactures container of black powder.

    It is temperature that ignites the powder and quite a bit of it,too. Ignition comes by way of flint spark or percussion cap ( there are others but we will stick with the most common) . Different systems, but both require a good of ignition heat volume. I have witnessed the experiment down with a spark plug fired in a teaspoon full of black powder. No ignition after multiple attempts.

    When ignited with the proper heat source there is no explosion per se, rather a very,very hot flash,like petrol catching on fire then immediately followed by the voluminous bluish -white smoke. That is why we M/loaders wear the specs to protect the eyes form the flash and sometimes bits of flaking flint or fragments of the fired primer cap.

    The ball, patch and powder require ramming as load shoots much better when all components are compressed.

    The fit of the patch around the ball and ball sizing is crucial and has to be just right to allow ease of the patched ball to be pushed down the barrel.

    If you are in the fabric shop with the Mrs and see a man measuring a bolt of duck material with a micrometer it is probably a muzzle loader enthusiast shopping for correct thickness patch material- far cheaper this way than buying patches pre made.

    There is some danger in that glowing embers from the previous shot could ignite the fresh powder charge.

    Daniel Boone probably blew down the barrel as there wasn't a a range officer there to tell him he wasn't allowed to do it. We lesser mortals either use a slightly spit
    damped patch or blow through the percussion nipple with a small diameter rubber hose. I also containerize my individual powder shots in small glass vials so a stray spark can't ignite my powder.

    I do hope that you mind is now eased on that score.

    Cheers
    Grahame

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Mackay North Qld
    Posts
    6,446

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    Quote Originally Posted by familyguy View Post
    Pushing the ram rod with the palm of the hand ? - I've seen others do it many times with no issues - I've had 2 BP guns (still have one) and I could seat the ball on both by pushing the ramrod between thumb and forefinger, probably I'm a bit paranoid due to an incident many years ago - as a high school teenager I found a Harpers Ferry flintlock pistol at the local rubbish tip while scavenging for old radios - fast forward around 15 yrs and I wanted to see how it shot, the first shot fired ok, the second though flashed in the pan but the main charge failed to ignite, all of the things I had read (no internet then) about flintlocks and miss-fires said put the gun down on the ground pointed down range and wait 30 min before picking it up - OK - I put it down and counted slowly to 100 - surely it must be safe now I thought - as I picked it up and started to swing it around to examine things the main charge went off, my nephew was close by and while he was not in the firing line he caught some minor powder burns on the side of his face - things could have ended up much worse. I no longer have it - swapped it at a gun show some yrs later for a really nice mint 1956 made Brno Model 2.

    I can sympathise with you.Flint locks are for masochists. Not many own them ,mostly for the reasons you described.
    Undoubtedly a smoking ember through the flash channel from pan to chamber.

    These days a misfire must be communicated to the RO and the muzzle pointed strictly down range.

    The cleaning has to spotless otherwise the B******s give trouble.There are more variables to be observed in keeping them in tune.

    Grahame

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2019
    Location
    Revesby - Sydney Australia
    Age
    56
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    1,183

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    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    If you are in the fabric shop with the Mrs and see a man measuring a bolt of duck material with a micrometer it is probably a muzzle loader enthusiast


    Heh. Haven't seen that one yet !

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Mackay North Qld
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    6,446

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    Quote Originally Posted by nigelpearson View Post

    Heh. Haven't seen that one yet !
    I am not at all adverse to looking out of place to save myself some dollars.

    I shoot .54 cal round ball which uses a 37 mm diam patch. Gun Shop plastic bag pack price is $18

    https://www.rebelgunworks.com.au/col...-patches-100pk

    A metre x 1200mm duck sheet which I paid $8 something yields about 1120 patches. That gives me a patch which is the right thread count (density ) and measures around the .012" that I need to jam down the front stuffer to give me accuracy.

    I cut strips and roll them flat around a flat former( then removed) and stack cut them with a round punch.
    If I have not boogered up the math that's .89C/100. The saved money goes towards powder and lead.

    Grahame

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Wodonga Vic
    Age
    38
    Posts
    633

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    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    I am not at all adverse to looking out of place to save myself some dollars.

    I shoot .54 cal round ball which uses a 37 mm diam patch. Gun Shop plastic bag pack price is $18

    https://www.rebelgunworks.com.au/col...-patches-100pk

    A metre x 1200mm duck sheet which I paid $8 something yields about 1120 patches. That gives me a patch which is the right thread count (density ) and measures around the .012" that I need to jam down the front stuffer to give me accuracy.

    I cut strips and roll them flat around a flat former( then removed) and stack cut them with a round punch.
    If I have not boogered up the math that's .89C/100. The saved money goes towards powder and lead.

    Grahame
    So.. you're the guy walking around Spotlight with a micrometer in hand

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