I have been experimenting with rendered coon fat as a patch lube. It is hitting the same POI as my spit patching I use when target shooting. I will be using the coon fat this year when hunting and when we target shoot in below freezing temps. Frozen spit patches are no good.

Murphys oil soap and water for wiping between shots and patch lube on target shooting.....wax based lube for hunting

Found a couple minutes to swing by an old pit we shoot at some times. Popped off four more shots with my muzzle loader. Decide to try the skunk oil patch on round ball. Threw piece card board out at 50 yards with about 6 inch X on it. Loaded up 70 grains FFG under round ball. Took a knee and let her fly. Guess did get down in sights on first shot. My son was standing behind me said first shot went over card board. He seen it hit high on the berm behind the cardboard. Reloaded got settled in shot again. My son said you be happy with that your just high left. So I shot twice more and ended up like this.


I'm guessing if I sand bagged the gun on a bench I could dial it right in. I think this was pretty good for shooting off hand and no real load work up.. I really wouldn't be afraid to try shooting a deer. I'm pretty sure the gun is more on than Iam.
When I shot the gun years ago with sabots I was pretty dead on at 75 yards. I'm guessing that is the reason I'm high at 50 yards.


Mac

I think that cool and interesting. I shoot a spit pillow ticking patch and round ball, even below freezing and the ole girl has always been dead on. Won a lot of turkey shoots and took quite a few deer. Mac, I would not be happy.

Catch, I've had spit patches freeze so hard that they tore when seating the ball in the barrel. Down to 20 or so spit works fine for me, after that I like an oil patch. I tried countless grease formulas, but found they all fouled too quickly for target shooting. This coon lube sure seems promising. In fact, I just rendered another coffee can full. Opening day gun deer here is forecast to be 10 degrees, should be a good cold weather test.

Skunk oil............. does it have an Oder to it ?

no nessmuck

Hey. Reading this i dont think i heard any mention of tapping your barrel after loading your charge. In both my caps and flints i tap the barrel to make sure the charge finds it way toward the flash/touch hole or the drum. This may be some of the reason for delay. Tap the barrel inverting it and imagine getting the powder all the way to just below the nipple

As for 777 i wouldnt use that in a cap gun. Its not as hot. I tried it years ago thinking it would be cleaner and easier but the ignition was so poor. Black powder goes. If your loading it correctly in a clean gun there is no delay. None. You do need to clean after each shot. I use a solution i made at the bench or spit in the woods. Better to have to clean after a good shot than no cleaning after a hangfire.

Ksnow. I was rendering my bear fat this year wondering if a guy like you ever used any. I bet coon fat would be great and plentiful for patches. Never like spit. Something about a thicker lube that seemed to seal and “lube” better. I use this in my cast irons but has been a good patch lube for me too

your first cold clean bore can be different that the others , probably not that different.

looking decent on 2,3,4, and you think you know why 1 went high

it takes a lot of work but I have heard of people working up longer range Muzzle loader loads , they load at home , go to the range , make sure they have a good rested shot , and fire that 1 round , maybe they fire a second , they clean and load again exactly the same for next time , they keep track of the hits and where it hit and where they called it.

they knew where they hit at 300 yards and could repeat it , not with round balls they were using conicalls

round balls at 250 are do-able just not on game.

K snow, keep us posted on how it goes. Seriously, that is way cool.

Pete, you need to start your own radio show on here lol. People could call in and ask Dr Pete about anything guns. Man, you are like a walking encyclopedia in all things guns and ammo. I sure appreciate ya. I would be willing to split my air time with you and the Pappy O Daniels flour hour.