Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Muzzleloaders Am I The Only One Who Has This Experience?

When I'm shooting black powder, whether it's a Kentucky Long Rifle, or a cap and ball revolver, all the troubles of the world seem to melt away for that hour or so. To some extent that's true of all shooting, but it's much more noticeable to me when shooting black powder.

I only shoot old style black powder, so I'm not talking about in-lines and things like that, which I have no experience with.

I like shooting front stuffers a lot. I have gotten where my bursitis really gives me a hard time cleaning up after regular Black powder though so I shoot more of the substitutes. But yes I look forward to shooting them very much. In lines in reality are not that much different other than it is easier to mount a scope and use primers instead of caps though I have two old style in lines that use musket caps. This year I am going to do all my hunting with my muzzleloaders. Hog hunting excepted.

Lately I've been hunting with a flintlock. On the piece of land where I hunt stands a red brick house built in 1700 - the Richard Wood Mansion. Dr. Wood rests in a small burial plot behind the house. Although I don't go the full buckskin route, I feel completely immersed in the history of the place. The modern world melts away for a short time. And that's never a bad thing.

Lord Black soothes the soul.

Something about that deep, throaty boom and cloud of aromatic smoke is quite pleasurable.

And the whole ritual of all the steps involved is relaxing. It slows your pace, and requires your full concentration on something that's fun. It's like a meditative discipline, akin to the Japanese tea ceremony.

i shoot one 10 shot loading paddle and when done feel more refreshed then a nights sleep. i set up into the wind just so i get to smell the smell. no smell like it.

Maybe relaxing while shooting but the cleaning anxiety starts quickly on the way home lol

It’s not that bad cleaning them. It’s another ritual.

I just have always seemed to get a little rust somewhere and then play catch up forever.

Rust is sneaky.

Ballistol and bronze wool are your friends. Even if you get a bit of powdery brown in your barrel, that combo will clean it up. Keep an eye on it, wipe it out periodically, and don’t obsess. Do you think Davey Crockett and D. Boon (of Kilt a bar on this tree fame) stayed up nights worrying about a bit of rust? Rust builds character.😛

True. Just remove it when you see it, and keep Ballistol on all metal surfaces. Moose Milk is your friend for cleaning muzzle loaders and keeping rust at bay.

Cleaning? I find cleaning my ML faster and less hassle than cleaning the copper out of a centerfire that fouls a bit. Nothing fancy, just boiling water, #13 solvent, and "bore butter". Plus, of course, patches and a rod.

Yes, it's the salt residue that causes rust, which is why hot water is so effective. Of course after the hot water, all metal surfaces need to be coated with a preservative of some kind. Bore butter will work for that.

Lots of detergents/soaps have salt in them. I use simple Green, it does not have salt. Sulfur in the BP gets some hydrogen from the air/water and turns to sulfuric acid.
So the salt free soap gets that H2SO4 out, and you are pretty good to go. I also follow up with Ballistrol because is is slightly PH basic, so it will neutralize any residual acid.
Personally I do a flush and decent quick swab with Simple Green and water at the range. Moose milk at home get the residual carbon/sulfur, dry, then a swab of pure Balistrol. Works for me. Really simple and easy.
Moose milk alone is pretty good, but the other steps are quick, and give me piece of mind.
If my rifles are going to sit a while I run a patch of Barricade.

Good muzzleloader seems to be an honest rig to me. Meaning I can take the same load year after year, load one up, and get same point of impact and accuracy. Kind of like a nicely bedded rifle in a Mcmillan with good optics kind of thing. But how much fun is sitting or stalking with one of the old rigs. I do love that hunt a lot and I find I am a better hunter on my blackpowder hunts, maybe just more focused. Got 2 or 3 hunts with the 58 Hawken lined up this fall. Depends on the draws. Wish I had a few more pounds of Swiss, but got enough for a couple of years anyway.

It's difficult to focus on your troubles and worries when you are too busy concentrating on loading and constantly wiping greasy lubricant and fouling off your hands.



Hot water with a bit of soap is all that you need to clean out the black powder fouling from your long gun or revolver.

Follow that up with some Hoppe's #9 or other kerosene-based bore cleaner and a bronze brush to dissolve any stubborn hard greasy deposits in the bore,

Wipe dry and oil and you are done.

Ballistol, moose milk, bore butter, and *magic solvents* not required.

I do love the process of loading, firing, loading. I need a flintlock…

Takes all of 15 minutes to clean my Hawken. Revolvers are another story.