Doc Dutch (02-02-2023)
I’m working up a load for a muzzleloader I have acquired. It’s a Traditions Buckskinner in 50 caliber, manufactured in the early 2000’s. This gun was given to me and I’m planning to squirrel hunt with it. If it is accurate enough, I’ll deer hunt with it when the season rolls around.
“50 cal is a little overkill,” you say? Well, you’d be right. But I’m at that point in my life where I hunt more for fun and nostalgia more than for food, although I do enjoy the food. I enjoy taking my dogs to woods the most. And think about it, not many of our ancestors had different caliber weapons for different game. They loaded and shot accordingly.
I shot some bullets from a mold I have had for several years out of the gun today with 30 grains of Triple 7. It was pretty good from 30 yards, but not good enough. I have ordered a round ball mold in the proper caliber and am hoping that a patched round ball gets me to squirrel head sized groups.
I’ll post a picture of the little gun in the comments.
Doc Dutch (02-02-2023)
Doc Dutch (02-02-2023)
Nice Boomstick!
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but rather we have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
- -- Aristotle
Believe nothing on the faith of traditions, even though they have been held in honor for many generations and in diverse places. Do not believe a thing because many people speak of it. Do not believe on the faith of the sages of the past. Do not believe what you yourself have imagined, persuading yourself that a God inspires you. Believe nothing on the sole authority of your masters and priests. After examination, believe what you yourself have tested and found to be reasonable, and conform your conduct thereto.
- -- The Buddha
It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
- -- Aristotle
Great looking rifle!
This is my CVA Wolf .50 and a Walker Colt .44. Sadly, I haven't fired either one yet. The smaller pistol is also a .44 and that one has been part of several holiday celebrations (no bullets LOL)....the number of chambers loaded had an inverse correlation to how much alcohol was in the shooter.
I have a scope for the Wolf but won't mount it until I take it to the range.
"Hatred is a failure of imagination" - Graham Greene, "The Power and the Glory"
Great looking guns. I had a couple of black powder pistols years ago when I shot more recreationally. Lots of fun.
Percussion caps are hard to come by here. I’ve bought a kit to make them from a pop can. Just have to borrow some of the wife’s fingernail polish remover.
Counting this one I now have 5 black powder rifles. Two of them use the 209 shotgun primers and three use no. 11 percussion caps. I have a conversion kit for one of the guns to allow it to take the 209 primers but I haven’t put in on yet.
Doc Dutch (02-03-2023)
Matt Dillon (03-01-2023)
Wow. I looked at mail-order and the prices are outrageous. Obviously there's a shortage. https://www.midwayusa.com/percussion...s/br?cid=23215
I priced my CVA Wolf too and it's almost doubled in price.
I haven't heard about making the percussion caps but will look it up. I have a couple of tins of caps in storage.
"Hatred is a failure of imagination" - Graham Greene, "The Power and the Glory"
If I ever bought either a cap & ball pistol or rifle, I would buy a relic, flintlock and powder horn and all!
I've always wanted one of those Hawken rifles used in the movies Jeremiah Johnson and Mountain Men.
This is a percussion replica model, and I would settle for it, as I doubt now I could ever afford an original as they are collected now and expensive.
These are all original.
Last edited by Geeko Sportivo; 02-03-2023 at 08:26 PM.
Doc Dutch (02-03-2023)
Doc Dutch (02-03-2023), Geeko Sportivo (02-03-2023)
NOT taken with a 50 cal muzzleloader, just a 410 with #5 shot. Swamp rabbit…about 1/3 larger than cottontails with a different diet. Great eating. That little beagle is the only one left from the pack I had. The other three got killed by a hog about 3 years ago. I haven’t really hunted rabbits since but decided to take her out today. She doesn’t move a track too well by herself and will give up after about 20 minutes but she moved this one long enough for me to get it.
But I predict that next year I’ll be using the 50 caliber with patched round balls and a greatly reduced powder load to take some small game.
Doc Dutch (02-03-2023), Geeko Sportivo (02-03-2023)
That is a mighty fine thing to hang over the fireplace!
And use for hunting, of course.
Looks like a relic!
I don't deer hunt anymore, although I still go and usually end up the camp cook by default.
I usually take pictures of deer that come within distance of the camp, when my friends that go out to the blinds, sometimes say they didn't even see a deer!
This week would have been a great week to deer hunt! In this ice storm, those deer were up and moving around to stay warm and having to look for food.
Last edited by Geeko Sportivo; 02-03-2023 at 09:47 PM.
If it's rifled, use a Minie ball. I'd suggest a three grease groove with a semi-spitzer ogive. For 50 cal, go with about a 450 to 475 grain round. Don't bother with patch and ball. Use a paper hardboard patch with it and go with about 60 grains of FF.
Common sense is not a gift, it's a punishment because you have to deal with everyone who doesn't have it.
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