Goex Update

Yesterday I got an email from Maine Powder House stating the following:

Yes, in case you have not heard, GOEX production date was pushed back again.

GOEX dealers were informed the new projected production date is end of June. If they are able to make this happen, this means they will not start shipping product out to dealers until earliest August. GOEX has also informed us prices will be going up, but they have yet to give us a new price list.

Schuetzen and Swiss containers are here in the US, however their prices have gone up 17% and 22% respectively. This price increase was a surprise to all of us...including the distributor. Current prices listed as of the date of this email DO NOT reflect the 17% & 22% increases.

Maine Powder House current inventory on black powder is very low. I will be working with the Schuetzen/Swiss distributor on a new order, however it will be a limited order due to the anticipation of GOEX getting back in business sometime this fall.

Check the website for details as I will keep that up-to-date for everyone.

Sigh.

My $0.02:

With Goex availability pushed back yet again, if you need black powder I recommend buying Scheutzen, Swiss, or Graf's house brand (made by Scheutzen) from MPH, Powder Inc., Grafs, or whoever else might have it in stock. If you shoot a gun that works reliably with it, don't turn your nose up at Pyrodex or Triple 7, either.

Weird Stuck Ball

Today I had an weird experience with a stuck ball in my plains rifle.

I went to one of my clubs to shoot their woods walk course. I used my normal target load: 55 grains of Goex FFFg black powder, .490 round balls wrapped in .020" patches lubed with Mr. Flintlock, and a CCI No.11 cap. Normally this would allow me to shoot at least 25 rounds with no bore swabbing.

But after about 12 - 15 shots I went to reload and could not get the ball to go more than about 8" down the bore no matter how hard I tried. It simply would not go any further down.

If I didn't have the correct tools to pull the ball that would've been the end of my day. However, I had a ball screw and a T-handle that screws into the other end of my ramrod.

I recommend the collared ball pullers sold by Track of the Wolf. They are sharp and will easily screw into the soft lead of the projectiles used in muzzleloaders. The brass collar around the screw keeps it centered in the bore. See here: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/574/1

The other accessory that makes it possible to more easily pull a ball by yourself is a T-handle that screws into the other end of your ramrod. Of course, this requires your ramrod to have threaded fittings on both ends.

Once again, Track has what you need: https://www.trackofthewolf.com/List/Item.aspx/586/1

I keep one of the aluminum T-handles in the back part of my shooting pouch.

To pull the ball today I attached the screw and handle, screwed into the ball, then inverted the rifle and held the T-handle down with my feet. I then gave the rifle a tug upwards and it popped the ball free.

If the bore is really crusty you may want to swab it before trying to pull the ball. Also, if it is really stuck, pouring some oil down on top of it may ease extracting it.

This is another reason to make sure that the threaded ferrules on the end of your ramrod are pinned in place. Without a cross pin there's a high likelihood you'll pull it right off the rod.

Anyway, I got back to shooting after I ran a couple cleaning patches wet with Mr. Flintlock down the barrel, followed by a dry patch. Since swabbing can force wet fouling into the flash channel, I popped a cap before loading, to ensure it was clear.

Made a Couple of Brass Drifts

This afternoon I went out to the shop and made a couple drifts from some square brass stock, for use with Colt-style percussion revolvers and also rifles on which the barrel is held on with a key or keys.

Naturally, I could have made these with a file but a milling machine, even a small one like my Grizzly G8689 makes it a lot easier. Don't ever let anyone tell you the table top machines are useless.

 

Pietta 1860 Army Sheriff Range Report, and Two Useful Accessories

Last night I took a new Pietta 1860 Army Sheriff's Model percussion revolver to the range. Overall, I am quite pleased with the gun. Timing and lockup are tight, wood-to-metal fit is excellent, and overall it's a fine looking and shooting piece.

The session was not without it's difficulties, however. A couple years ago I'd made up 50 paper cartridges loaded with a Hornady .454 ball on top of 25 grains of 3Fg Hodgdon Triple 7 black powder substitute, and had half of them left. The T7 came from a bottle that I bought several years ago. I've read that once you break the seal it begins to deteriorate, but up until now I haven't noticed any problems with it.

I loaded the first cylinder with the paper cartridges and I could only get two to go off, even with recapping. So, I pulled the cylinder out, removed the cones on the unfired chambers, and put about three grains of black powder in each using the flintlock pan primer I keep in my BP revolver shooting box in case I dry ball.

Previously, none of the paper cartridges I've made have had ignition problems, no matter if they were loaded with Triple 7 or black powder.

After reassembling the gun and recapping the chambers, all of them went off.

I have 19 of those cartridges left along with a flask full of the remaining Triple 7. The next time I shoot the gun I'll try them with a black powder initiator charge in the bottom of the chambers. I hate to waste powder.

After I switched over to loose ball and Scheutzen 3Fg black powder and a felt wad lubed with pure neatsfoot oil, the gun gave me no more issues. I fired 5 or 6 cylinders full, with all my shots going into one hole at 7 yards. Elevation was dead on but I was shooting a little to the right, which was probably me pushing the trigger a little.

The cylinder arbor was lubed with Lucas white lithium grease. I've found this to be an excellent lubricant for that purpose. After 30 to 36 shots the cylinder was still turning freely.

The other accessory worth mentioning was a slip-on handle for the loading lever that I made from a short section of PVC pipe a little longer than the lever. The short levers on the "sherriff's model" percussion revolvers make seating the required oversized ball somewhat difficult. The short section of PVC made it a lot easier.

Like my 1851 Navy Sheriff, the 1860 Army Sheriff is a fantasy gun. Colt never made such a piece although it's possible that guns could have been so modified by users or gunsmiths. Porter Rockwell, the Mormon Avenger was known to carry a Colt cut down to snubbie length with the loading lever removed and a new front sight fitted.

Regardless of whether short percussion revolvers are historically correct, they are fun to shoot and easier to carry afield than their full length cousins.

Installing a New Front Sight on a Pietta 1851 Navy

Several years ago I bought a Pietta 1851 Navy Sheriff's Model .44 caliber percussion revolver. It's strictly a fantasy gun in that Colt never made an 1851 Navy with this short a barrel, nor did they make them in .44. All real Colt Navy revolvers are .36s, with the exception of a very few experimental .40 caliber guns. Regardless, it's a fun little gun but severely handicapped by the factory front sight, which is a miniscule brass cone that's both hard to see and too short, resulting in the gun shooting very high at pistol ranges.

So today, I fixed that by cutting a dovetail in the barrel and installing a taller blade front sight that I'll be able to actually see and also can file to zero the piece.

Here's what the factory front sight looked like, along with the rifle front sight I modified to use:

I have a Grizzly G8689 mini mill. I first used it with a 1/8" end mill to cut the old sight flush with the barrel. Then I cut a slot a bit less than the width of the top of the front sight base. I cut the slot 0.07" deep to match the thickness of the front sight. (The mill has digital readouts fitted to allow me to make precise cuts.)

Then I used a 3/8" dovetail end mill to turn it into a dovetail. You can see the factory hole for the original front sight in the dovetail.

Using a couple files and trial and error, I fit the new sight to the barrel.

I left it extra tall so that I can use a file to raise the point of impact to the point of aim. I'll probably zero it with a load of a .454 ball on top of 30 grains of 3Fg black powder. After it's zeroed I will shape the front of the blade and cold blue it.

Aside from the front sight I plan to slightly enlarge the rear sight notch in the hammer nose, and replace the factory nipples with Tresos that have small flash holes for less blow back and cap fragmenting. An accessory I plan to make is an extension to slip over the loading rod for better leverage. That's not needed on the full length guns but this will benefit from that. Those without machine tools can purchase one from Slix Shot.

Update on Percussion Cap Availability

Here's a video update on the availability of percussion caps, from the NRA convention.

Key points:

• Per Ethan, CCI produces caps in seasonal runs. Next run is in June, reaching shelves in July/August.
• No real updates on Remington or RWS caps.

My $0.02 is that I recommended stocking up after they become available this summer.

ATF Day

Last week my membership to Boulder Valley Sportsman's Association was approved. Today I went there and shot the woods walk course. While the camaderie of the matches held there is great, sometimes it's nice to have the range to yourself, as I did today.

This is the first station, with a turkey head and a metal strap to shoot at. Today I took two shots and the turkey and manage to miss both. At the last match I shot at the strap and hit it, which earned me a Mulligan.

The rock in the foreground is where you shot from.

Here are a few other stations, zoomed in so you can see the targets.

The round target with the cross cutout in the center is the one I missed at the last match. I banged it good today.

I forgot to take a picture of the last station, which has the longest target. It's a rectangular steel gong set out at 82 yards.

And a couple pics of the Slotter rifle* in its natural environment, my shooting pouch, and powder horn.

One thing I noticed today is that I definitely spill more powder with the horn than when I use my Peace flask with a Treso free flow spout. This is a mid-19th Century type rifle so a flask is suitable, anyway.

Today I tried out some .480 balls in .020 patches lubed with Mr. Flintlock. I've had the balls for a while so they're a bit crusty but they shot fine.

Accuracy with the .480 balls was good enough so that out of the 25 shots I fired, 22 were hits. Loading was really easy. The muzzle of my rifle is coned and I'm able to seat them below flush with just my thumb. I did not need to use my short starter all day.

After I got home and finished cleaning the rifle I relaxed out back with some Wild Turkey 101 and a Baccarat cigar.

Sure beats working!

* I bought the rifle from Track of the Wolf, who advertised it as a "California" rifle. It's actually a pretty good replica of rifles made for the California trade by Slotter of Philadelphia, PA.

Ball Starter Holders on Shooting Pouch Straps

When loading and shooting a muzzleloader from a shooting pouch, the less stuff in the pouch the better. The more stuff that's in the bag, the more you have to rummage through when reloading. Many shooters who use a ball or short starter store it on the bag strap when not in use.

The shooting pouch I have from The Leatherman came with such a holder sewn to the jute strap. However, as a lefty, it's on the wrong side of the strap because I have the bag slung across my right shoulder, hanging on my left hip. The October Country bag I've been using with my halfstock percussion rifle didn't have anything on the strap. I fixed up both bags today.

This is the short starter holder that came on the Leatherman bag:

And here are the holders I added to both bags today:

They are simply pieces of 1-1/4" wide leather strap folder over and held in place with Chicago screws. Rivets would work just as well. On the Leatherman bag, I used one of the existing holes in the strap while I punched a hole in the October Country bag strab. A drop of blue thread locker on each Chicago screw ensures that they will stay together.

The leather I used is fairly thick and rigid, so the holders stay open when the starter is removed, and they don't flop around when inserted. I made them snug enough so that I don't need to worry about losing the starter but it's still easy to remove.

Alpineaire Black Bart Chili Review

Back in the fall I bought two packages of Alpineaire Black Bart Chili from Amazon Prime. Today I decided to try one for lunch.

To prepared it, pour two cups of boiling water into the bag, mix, and then let sit for 10 - 12 minutes. Then mix it again before eating.

I let it sit for at least 12 minutes, mixed it up, and it looked like this:

It came out a bit soupier than I'd like. The texture was typical for reconstituted freeze dried meals. It was fairly spicy.

Because it was so soupy, after I ate half I tried adding some parched corn flour to it to thicken it a bit. Not recommended. I didn't care for the resulting texture.

Overall, I'd recommend it and will probably buy some more for my camping/emergency prep food stash.

Made a new short starter today

I have been wanting to try a short starter that has a flat head, which should carry better in my shooting pouch than those with a ball head. So, today I made one today from oak, a hardwood dowel, brass tubing, and brass rod. I used Fiebing’s medium brown leather dye for stain and finished it with Watco Danish oil. Tomorrow I’ll rub in some Sno-Seal.

All joints are glued and pinned, so it's not coming apart anytime soon.

Shot Another Woods Walk Yesterday

Due to popular demand, another woods walk was added yesterday to the season at Boulder Valley Sportsmen's Association. Since I've been enjoying them so much I made sure to attend. I shot my California rifle again. It's turning into my favorite muzzleloader.

This time the organizer mixed it up a little. At previous shoots, the first target was a gong shaped like a turkey head, out at about 15 - 20 yards. It's pretty challenging and I missed it last month. Yesterday he added an option to shoot at a steel strap about 1.5" wide by about a foot long, at the same distance. If you chose to shoot at the strap and hit it, your first miss on the rest of the course was scored as a hit. I.e., it got you a Mulligan. I decided to shoot at the strap and I hit it.

Yesterday I was in the groove and wound up missing only one target -- a large disc with most of the center cut out in a cross shape. I'm pretty sure I shot through the middle of it. Since I hit the strap I used this as my Mulligan, and wound up with a score of 20 to take first place.

The annual membership fee at BVSA is reasonable and it's only about a half hour away so I've submitted a membership application. It needs to be approved by the board of directors and then I'll need to attend a meeting, get a range tours, and then I should get my membership card. I'm looking forward to having another place to shoot.

Enhancing my ramrod and short starter

The Delrin ramrod I put together for my California half stock rifle only had one threaded end on it. If I'm ever out in the field with the rifle and need to pull a ball that would be a problem, so today I added a tapered steel ferrule to the other end. It's threaded 8-32 to accept accessories, including this T-handle I have.

The T-handle also provides a better grip if I'm cleaning, the patch is too tight, and it gets stuck down at the breech.

While I was at it I also drilled a 5/16" hole about 1/2" deep in my short starter, so I can use it as a palm saver if it gets difficult to fully seat a ball due to fouling.

When adding a ferrule to the end of a ramrod it's very important to not only have a tight fit, but to glue and pin it in place. Otherwise, the odds are good that at some point it will come off, especially if you have a stubborn patch or are trying to pull a ball. I cross drill a hole through both the tip and rod after glueing the ferrule on, chamfer the ends of the hole, put a little glue in the hole, and drive the pin through. Then I cut it a little long and peen over both ends, and finally, file or sand it smooth.

Took the Zouave to the Range Today

Today I took the Zouave to the range to benchrest it at 50 yards. I tried three different loads:

• 10 shots with the .58 service load of a Lyman 575213 Minie on top of 60 grains of FFg Goex BP.
• 3 shots with a .570 ball, .018 patch, and 80 grains of Goex FFFg BP.
• 7 or 8 shots with a .562 ball, .020 patch, and 70 grains of Goex FFFg BP.
• 1 more shot with the service load, offhand at a steel plate, which range nicely.

The Minies were lubed with Track of the Wolf's Mink Oil Tallow, while the patches for the balls were lubed with October Country Bumblin Bear Grease. I did not need to swab the bore between shots.

The Minies mostly shot into one big hole about 3" across and 2" or 3" above the point of aim.

I was underwhelmed with the performance of the round balls. The .570s which were very hard to seat in the muzzle grouped into 4" to 5" and at least 6" high. The .562s on 10 grains less of powder didn't shoot quite as high but the group was at least 6".

As it stands right now if I was to take the gun deer hunting, I'd load it with the service load. However, without a lot more practice with this gun and its stiff trigger, I'll probably use my California / Philadelphia .50 caliber half stock rifle during the early antlerless season. I need to do more load development with that gun as well, since so far I've been mostly shooting it with a relatively light 55 grains of FFFg powder. I want to see what it'll do with 80 grains.

After I finished shooting I tried a new to me way of cleaning. I took a piece of greased leather and placed it over the nipple then lowered the hammer. Then I filled the barrel with some water and let it soak for a few minutes before dumping it out. I repeated that a couple more times then wiped it with a couple dry patches, then a few with Mr. Flintlock on it. This got the bore clean quickly but was a bit of a mess because the leather seal over the nipple leaked. Unless I come up with a water tight cap, the next time I'll just use the flush nipple I bought for the gun, and maybe put a binder clip on the rubber tube.

While I didn't settle on a hunting load for the Zouave, experimenting is a big part of the fun of shooting these things.

Picked up a few things for the Zouave

Last Saturday I ordered a few things for the Zouave from The Possible Shop, and they arrived today.

First off was a lace-on sling made by October Country. It's a simple, two-piece carrying strap that's 1-1/4" wide, which will help distribute the 9 lb. rifle's weight. (Last week I'd bought an 1861 Springfield sling off eBay but it's too long for the shorter Zouave.) Since I am not reenacting this will work just fine and still looks 19th Centuryish.

Along with the sling I got a Treso musket nipple and one to take #11 caps, both made from AMPCO bronze. The musket nipple needs to be turned down slightly to take Scheutzen musket caps but the #11 nipple is actually a little small. CCI #11s are loose and would need to be pinched to stay on. RWS 1075 Plus caps fit snugly, however. The main reason for getting the #11 nipple is in case I ever need to use homemade caps.

Finally, I also got another bottle of Hoppe's No.9 black powder patch lube and solvent, and some bulk pillow ticking and .020" patch material. These of course are not just for the Zouave.

Shot the Zouave Today

I shot it today with .562 and .570 PRBs, and a few .575 Minies. Just some offhand shooting from about 35 yards. The first three shots were on top of 50 grains of Goex FFg but after those I bumped it up to 60 grains. For ignition I used Scheutzen musket caps.

The .562s load easily with a .020" patch while the .570s are a tight fit with the same, but once started seat easily on the powder. The .570s were noticeably easier to load with 0.018" pillow ticking patches.

I lubed the patches with Hoppe's No. Plus and the Minies with Bumblin Bear Grease that I smeared on with my fingers. I didn't need to wipe the bore until after I was done.

The Minies loaded easily as well. They are from Track of the Wolf, were cast in a Lyman 575-213 mold, and should weigh about 510 grains (well over an ounce).

With the 60 grain service charge it's only doing about 950 - 1,000 FPS. On a sunny day you can see them go downrange. However, because of the weight they have a ton of momentum. During the Civil War, if these struck bone in an extremity it meant amputation if the poor guy didn't die from shock. Even with today's medicine the result would often be same. People talk about the "high powered 5.56mm bullet used in AR-15s," but it's nothing compared to a Minie ball.

Recoil of the patched round balls and Minies was pretty mild in the ~9 lb. Zouave. I'll probably just use round balls if I take it hunting but bump the powder charge up to 70 or 80 grains, mainly to flatten the trajectory. At close range even with 60 grains a patched ball would have a good chance of blowing right though a Pennsylvania whitetail, but loading it hotter will make it easier to hit past 50 yards due to less drop.

Incidentally, that's a .45 caliber rifle to the left.

I'm used to shooting rifles with set triggers so the military trigger of the Zouave took some getting used to, but overall I'm really happy with the gun. Offhand accuracy was good but of course I'll both bench it and shoot it offhand at 50 yards to see what it's really capable of. But it's looking promising for use during the early antlerless deer season here in PA.

Borescoped my Zouave Rifle

Tonight I used my cheap USB bore scope to inspect the bore on the Zouave. It's in good shape for a 37 year old muzzleloader

This is the breech. The black spot at about 3:00 is the flash hole.

There is some minor surface rust about 6" above the breech face, but it's not bad.

After scoping the bore I ran some Hoppe's No.9 down and will let it soak until tomorrow.

On a Mac, PhotoBooth works to watch video as the camera goes down the bore and to grab stills. I didn't have to install a driver or any other software.

I bought the scope in 2017 from Amazon. The unit I bought is no longer available but they have an assortment of others. Mine requires the use of a USB A to USB C 3.1 adapter to work with my MacBook Air. It will not work with an Apple 3-in-1 dongle, but it works fine with this Amazon Basics model.

This model of borescope is very similar to mine but the connector is USB C, and it comes with a USB A adapter.

Zouave Maintenance

One of the risks you run when buying a used gun is that it will need mechanical attention. When I got a couple replacement nipples for the Zouave from Track of the Wolf I noticed that the threads on them were the correct pitch (M8-1mm) but the threaded portion was longer than the nipple that came with the gun. When I tried to install one it would not screw all the way in. When I looked inside the bolster it was evident that the threads needed to be chased.

I did not have an M8-1 tap or die so I ordered a set from Amazon Prime and it came today. When I got to working it was apparent that the threads were pretty well boogered but after awhile I was able to clean them up.

Aside from the bolster, the replacement nipples' threads could have been better so I chased them with the die that came in the set. To do so I held each nipple by its square shank in my vise and put the die in the holder from my big Harbor Freight set. Now they both screw in and out easily.

While I was in the bolster I also noticed that there was a crusty buildup in the bottom near the flash channel. That cleaned up using a small twist drill bit turned in my fingers.

Tomorrow I should get to shoot the Zouave. I'm bringing a variety of components: .562, .570, and .575 round balls, .575 Minie balls, and .018" and .020" patch material for the round balls.

Refining my Woods Walk Loadout

Today I shot the woods walk at Boulder Valley with this rifle, getting 18 out of 20 targets. The top three shooters all got 18 but they place shooters based on how early in the course the misses were, so I took 3rd place. I'm extremely happy with how I shot today. I used 55 grains of Goex 3Fg for all targets except for a gong out at 82 yards. I bumped up my powder charge on that one to 70 grains for a flatter trajectory, aimed dead on, and hit it.

Last week I wore partially period correct clothing. I was feeling lazy today and just wore regular clothes. The other guys who normally wear PC clothing didn't today, I guess the laziness is going around.

Each woods walk I shoot in is a shakedown run and I continue to refine my loadout. Today I used my Peace flask with a Treso free flow spout on it. (I bought the spout at Dixon's yesterday.) This was faster and easier to dump powder into my measure compared with my powder horn.

I used the same double bag shooting pouch as last weekend, but this time I had only patches and balls in the front pouch. My cleaning kit and nipple primer were in the rear pouch while my capper and powder measure were in a jacket pocket. If I'd worn PC apparel I would have kept the capper and powder measure in a belt pouch.

Instead of using a ball bag, I dumped the balls into the front pouch. This made them a lot easier to retrieve, instead of fumbling to get into a separate ball bag. I wouldn't do this for hunting or an kept my extended trip in the wilderness, but for a woods walk it works well.

I also got to try out my PCP Pro Polish capper for the first time. This gets two big thumbs up from me. Since it's 3D printed plastic it wouldn't be acceptable at an event requiring everything to be period correct, but it was inexpensive and worked perfectly with CCI No.11 caps.

I ordered two of them on February 27th (one for me, one for my brother) and they arrived on March 10th. Not bad for mail from Poland. The cost was 120 PLN which came out to about $32 and change.

The reason I wanted to try the Polish capper was that the Ted Cash capper shown above was driving me nuts with caps flipping over the last time I used it. I'll have to try it with RWS 1075s but the CCI No.11s were a pain in the neck. I'm perfectly satisfied with the Polish capper.

Today I was really glad that the barrel wedges on my rifle are captive. About halfway through the shoot I noticed the rear wedge hanging all the way out. If it had fallen out it would have surely been lost. The wedge on my Cabela's Hawken is not captive, which I'll fix. Cutting a slot in it will be simple with my milling machine. Then I'll make a pin from a nail and inlet it in the stock behind the escutcheon.

They also announced that they've added another shoot at Boulder Valley on April 2nd, which is great.

Traded Into a Zouave Today

Today I took another trip up to Dixon's and wound up trading my Pedersoli Brown Bess carbine for a Euroarms Remington 1863 Contract Rifle, AKA Zouave. Although about 12,000 of these were made by Remington during the Civil War, it's unlikely that any of them saw service. They are called Zouaves nowadays because somewhere along the line someone thought they were made for Union Zouave units. Regardless of whether they were ever used in service, they are a relatively handy example of a rifle musket.

It goes perfectly with the Zouave flask I just picked up. :)

This one bears a date code of AP, which translates to 1986. The stock shows some dings but the metal is in great shape and the bore is excellent. It's a .58 caliber and was intended to shoot Minie balls on top of 60 grains of powder. Back in the 1970s my father had a Zoli Zouave and got best accuracy with patched round balls. From what I can find, the Euroarms Zouaves have a 1:66 twist so I suspect that it, too will shoot better with a PRB. In any case, I have a couple of suitable ball sizes and some Minies to try.

The front sight appears to be a taller replacement intended for competition use. It'll give me plenty of metal in case I need to file it down to raise the POI.

Something I thought was interesting is that it lists a maximum powder charge on the barrel, but it's in drams. 3-1/2 to be exact. That translates to 95.7 grains, probably more than I'll ever shoot.

The nipple unscrewed easily but the flash hole looks a bit enlarged. I put in an order with Track of the Wolf for 2 spares and few other odds and ends.

The ramrod is made from brass and has male threads on the end. Along with the gun I got a Treso adapter that allows me to use standard 10-32 accessories. Naturally, I found that I already had one when I got home; I'd bought it to use with the Bess I traded in today. Oh well, 2 is 1 and 1 is none.

The stock is one of the blandest pieces of wood I've seen on a gun. I may strip it, stain it darker, and finish it with BLO. I think it has some kind of polyurethane on it now.

Assuming it shoots well it's a definite candidate to use during PA's early muzzleloader antlerless deer season, which allows caplocks. (We have a flintlock-only season after Christmas.) A .562 or .570 patched round ball should be very effective on Pennsylvania whitetail.

Tomorrow I'll be shooting a woods walk and using my plains rifle, so I won't get to shoot this rifle until next week at the earliest.

Peace Flask

In the mid-19th Century powder flasks became popular for carrying gun powder, supplanting the use of powder horns.

I just got this Pedersoli-made Peace flask AKA Zouave flask in from Dixie Gunworks, to go with my plains rifle. Dixie sells the cord separately in 20 foot hanks. I'll use another piece of it on a powder measure. I'm planning to use this at my next woods walk.

These flasks were developed before the Civil War for issue with the M-1841 "Mississippi" rifle. The "Peace" moniker comes from the clasped hands motif. Modern shooters have also called them "Zouave" flasks based on the mistaken belief that they were issued with the Remington M-1863 contract rifles, but none of those actually saw service during the war.

The flask holds about 12 oz. of powder and the spout measures out 60 grains. That works out to about 77 shots per fill. I'll probably cut down the spout to hold 55 grains.

Back in the 19th Century it was common practice to pour the charge into the gun directly from the flask. Nowadays that is frowned upon because if there is a spark remaining in the bore, it can ignite the entire flask right in your face. Doing so at a sanctioned shoot will get you an invitation to leave, AAMOF.

So, when I use this I'll decant the charge into a separate, fixed measure which will then be used to load the rifle. I plan to use a 70 grain measure made from deer antler. That way, if I want to bump my powder charge up a little for long shots on woods walks it's simple enough to do so.

Treso, the maker of powder flask spouts, nipples, and other black powder accessories, makes a short free flow pour spout that screws into powder flask heads. I may eventually get one of those.

Incidentally, when I got the flask today it had what looked like some kitty litter rattling around inside. I'm sure this was left over from the manufacturing process. To get all of it out I had to remove the head which is held on with three set screws. If you ever need to do this you'll need a precision screwdriver and do it over something to catch any screws you drop, which will probably happen due to their tiny size.

Finally, Dixie Gunworks was hit hard by COVID a couple years ago and experienced many shipping delays. They still seem to be having staffing difficulties. With all that, I ordered the flask and cord on Saturday, March 4th, and got it today Friday the 10th. So, they are doing better with speedy shipping.