New guy. No clue.

[edpdx]

Hi everyone. My name is Ed. I'm chimimg in from Oregon in the rainy Pacific Northwest. I recently bought muzzleloader off a guy in a local paper.

I now own a TC Black Mountain Magnum .50 cal. I have never shot a Mloader before and want to go about getting the best info before making the worst kinds of mistakes. I guess the best thing to do would be to seek help at a local shooting range. I can handle that advice. I have been shooting centerfire and rimfire since I was a boy- (I'm 52 this year- you have no idea how much that smarted). I have a couple of questions till I get to the range, hope you folks can lend a hand.

How in the heck do you know if the last time the rifle was loaded, if it was subsequently discharged? I don't know the guy that sold the rifle to me; but it looked gently used and well cared for and stored. The original packaging was all included; but I think the rod is an aftermarket or replacement. It seems to fit smoothly and is even with the muzzle. That's good right?

The booklet that came from TC is included; but it looks a little dated so I am also wondering if there are other powders/loads I should consider since this rifle was manufactured. Anyone have a tried-and-trued load they can recommend for this rifle?

Above all, what should I do to see if there is now a load in the breech?

Help.

Ed

 

[vabowhntr]

The black mountain mag I had shot a 348 gr powerbelt with 85 gr of 777 2f very well. It was a good gun.

 

[sbuff]

I would start by giving it a good cleaning,and in that case the breach plug would need to be taken out.then you would see,better safe then sorry.You sure don't want a double charge in there.

Power belts are good for target,I have had good luck hunting with them while others have not.You might want to try the hornady FPB's,I have had great luck with them

Black horn 209 is the cleanest powder going.but something nice and easy would be Triple 7 pellets, or pyrodex pellets.Just drop down two pellets and your ready to shoot.

Good luck,
Steve

 

[bernieg]

,hi! Ed, you've come to the right place. These members on here are pretty smart. They will help all they can. :wink:

 

[cayuga]

Hi Ed. Welcome to the forum. I own a Black Mountain Magnum also. The breech plug does not come out of this traditional style rifle, so don't try. You will only mess up the hooked breech. You can bucket water clean it. Or you can solvent clean it. What ever you like. Get a couple of cleaning/loading jags and a T-handle short starter. This will help you load the projectiles and can be used to extend the length of your ramrod for cleaning.

Your rifle has a 1-28 twist. So it is made to shoot conical bullets and sabots. Some sabots I have found that shoot well are the .430 diameter 300 grain XTP in a green Harvester Crushed rib sabot with 90 grains of 2f powder. Some other loads that shoot well...

110 grains of Goex 2f and a 250 grain shockwave.
80 grains of Triple Seven 2f and a 460 grain No Excuses Conical Bullet
110 grain of Triple Seven 2f and a 200 grain Shockwave
100 grains of Pyrodex RS and a 250 grain XTP in .452 diameter
110 grains of Triple Seven 2f and a 250 grain Barnes MZ Expander

Your rifle can shoot 150 grains of powder but there really is no need for that. Most of the time the rifle shoots well with 90-120 grains of powder.

 

[sbuff]

My mistake on the breech plug,I was thinking about another gun.Sorry.

With all the knowledge on this forum,your sure to find some good info.

Steve

 

[hawgslayer]

8)

WELCOME to the forum :!: You'll get all your questions answered. All you have to do is ask. Great bunch of guys here with tons of info. Muzzleloaders are nothing to play around with if you don't know anything about black powder shooting........ DANGEROUS BUSINESS........You can get HURT and MAYBE HURT THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU.
Good luck and ask away.

 

[hawgslayer]

8)

WELCOME to the forum :!: You'll get all your questions answered. All you have to do is ask. Great bunch of guys here with tons of info. Muzzleloaders are nothing to play around with if you don't know anything about black powder shooting........ DANGEROUS BUSINESS........You can get HURT and MAYBE HURT THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU.
Good luck and ask away.

 

[Bucker]

book

read it dated or not. The information is invaluable

 

[edpdx]

HOLY SMOKES! Shipped loaded!

OK, so I watched a few videos and ended up getting a starter kit from TC. Another video contained therein said I should get a ball/bullet/wad puller. Did that today. As much as I have been chomping on the bit to buy caps, bullets and powder, I wanted to be sure that I literally did not jump-the-gun. I gingerly rand the puller down and slowly turned it about one rev. It felt like it was cutting lead and sure enough I tipped a bullet out of the barrel!

This gun was shipped to me loaded! What kind of putz does that? Anyway, I stopped there. I figure there is still a plastic sabot and a charge of some kind yet to be pulled.

What do I do first to safely remove what is left?

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Widude]

Sounds like you did well with your puller. If you got a bullet out that is the hardest part. I'd just scratch around some down there with it some more & the rest should loosen up & come out, maybe did already. After that do a little more cleaning & you should be ready to load. My procedure for cleaning if shooting 777, Pyrodex & similar powders is one of the soapy mixtures then a light oil coat for storage, after it's clean. It will take more than a patch or two to get it clean.

Always clean it well the day you shoot it.

 

[cayuga]

You pulled a bullet but not the sabot... there are idiots that ship guns and sell guns all the time loaded. One reason they sell them is they dry ball them and can not figure out how to remove the thing, so they sell it.

When you stick the ramrod for the rifle without attachments down the barrel to the sabot, does it all but disappear, or still stick out the end of the barrel an inch or so? It if all but disappears, that means there is probably no powder under the sabot. (dry balled) It it sticks out a little that means there is powder under that sabot.


The easy way of course is to go to a range and shoot the sabot out. Unless you flooded the barrel with water and killed the powder. Or you can keep using that ball puller, which should drill a hole through the plastic and you can then pull that out. If you put a T handle from a short starter on the female end of that ramrod, it will give you more leverage.

They also make a CO2 discharge tool that you place it at the open nipple port, hit the trigger and a blast of CO2 will shoot the powder and sabot out the muzzle of the barrel. If you have a good air compressor, and the good blowing attachment for it, you can sometimes do it with an air compressor. I have an attachment for my air compressor that emits a high pressure blast of air. I put a rubber washer over the small end that seals to the nipple port and you then charge the compressor and hit the trigger and it will blow that high pressure air through the barrel. I was able to dislodge a ball for a kid that dry balled but when I tried to clear a sabot for another person, it would not push it. I ended up shooting it out the barrel for him on my range.

Remember, that sabot is on a powder charge and for that reason is dangerous. A lot of chronograph windows can attest to the power of a sabot at a few yards. So a foot or so would be a deadly combination.

After you get the sabot out, there will still be powder in there. Again, turning the rifle over and tapping the muzzle on say a soft towel, should drop the hard powder out. Sometimes when a rifle is left loaded that powder turns into some hard bore sized shapes and does not always dump out as well as you might think. You might have to reach down there and kind of drill out the powder as best you can with that ball puller. They do make a bore scraper attachment that can reach in there and kind of grind out the powder. That might also help.

The main thing is you have to get that mess out of there, pull that nipple and start flushing that barrel with water. After you get as much of it all that you can, flush that barrel real good. I would take it outside, lay the barrel some where and shoot in the barrel with high pressure water off a garden hose or something. When you think you have all of it out, dump some water in the barrel and make sure it runs out the nipple port.

Keep us posted.

 

[SteveH]

What kind of bullet did you pull out? If it was a round ball or conical, it's possible that there is no sabot to pull out. If there is still a sabot in the barrel I would think that the ball puller would work to get that out as well.

I would be a little cautious about trying to shoot out whaterver is still inside. If the guy you brought it from was stupid enough to ship it to you loaded, who knows what else he might have stuffed in there. Keep trying with the ball puller and consider a bore light to see if you can see what, if anything is still left in the barrel.

 

[edpdx]

The bullet removed looks like the Powerbelt AeroTip. There is only a green cup at the base- Do these have to be packed inside of a sabot?

. Some powder came out after the green cap was pulled; but it did not look like much of a charge. I put some together in a little pile; but it did not go off like black powder usually does- real slow to catch.

Used my compressor to blow out the powder after removing the nipple, still not much of a charge, the rest may be caked up in there, so I'll fill a tall pot with hot water and give it a soak, then a brushing and TC #13 when I clean it the first time. Sound good?

Any other first time shooter tips for this rifle?

 

[wallygater]

That bullet does not sit in a sabot what you got is all there is. Now you just have to work on the powder a good soaking in hot soapy water should do it for you then brush and patches until clean and then lightly oil her up or just load and go shoot. Take pictures and let us know how you did.

Wally

 

[cayuga]

It might be that he dry balled it and there is no powder. Take the nipple out of the rifle. When you hit it with an air compressor, did the air move through the rifle? If you heard air move through the rifle at least that means the snail is open. So a water bath would work real good.

 

[antony35]

helo , do what cayuga says , and it make sence & simple .

enjoy black powder shooting they are fun
antony