With September here, you are probably shooting your bow like I am in preparation for the upcoming bow season. But the Muzzleloader season will be here before you know it. This will be a good time to pull out your old (or new) Muzzle loader and get re-acquainted with it now, getting the feel of it again, looking through the scope (maybe you cannot use one in your state),and basically give the old smoke pole a tune up.  Check your supply of powder, bullets and primers…and don’t forget the cleaning patches.  Muzzleloaders are a different animal than centerfire rifles, same but different.

It may have been as long as 9 months since you have touched your muzzleloader. First thing to do is to take it down and clean it. You cleaned it before you put it away for hibernation but now it the time to clean it, swab the grease or oil out of the barrel when you put it up last year. Also a good time to get reacquainted with it.  

I have included some photos of how I do my tune up. Your tune up may be different, but at least it is a tune up. If you notice my Omega has quick release scope rings. This is due to going Elk hunting in Colorado and having to use iron sights for elk. When the law allows you to use scopes then I removed the back sight.

This may sound crazy to most of you, but I take off my scope every year and check the base screws to ensure that somehow the scope base screws have not worked their way loose since last year. Don’t know about you, but I always use Loctite (or equal) on my scope base screws. Before removing your scope, carefully mark the scopes orientation so you can remove it and put it back on at the original spot. I use good old fashion masking tape to mark my orientations (see photo). You will have to mark it for your cross-hairs orientation and for eye relief distance. On some bases, you might have to remove the bottom section of the rings to check the alignment of the rings also. Once you removed the scope, check the base screws and make sure they are snug and tight, don’t over tighten. With Loctite (or equal) the base should not have moved from the last year but better safe than sorry. Now that you have checked the base screws, carefully position your rings and scope back to its original location and tighten down the rings screws to 25 inch pounds. I have done this for years and after remounting the scope, I have never had to adjust the scope cross-hairs more than 1 or 2 clicks. In reality, after I have checked the base screws for a couple of years there is really no need to recheck the base screws every year. The scope bases are in there for good, just like concrete. 

If you live in the South you know all too well about rust. We have hot and humid summers and Muzzleloader season and sometimes we have a very wet season. This is why before you put you muzzle loader up for the season you break it down and do a thorough cleaning before locking it away for a few months. You will find spots on your muzzleloader that will have rust and especially the non-stainless steel parts.  Now is a good time to knock the surface rust off with steel wool and retouch with Oxypho-blue or similar products. And if your Muzzleloaders is as old as mine you will have a few spots of rust here and there. But keep a light coat of oil on these spots as long as you can before taking it to the woods. See photos where some rust spots I have discovered since last season on mine. I quickly got the rust off and coated it with new bluing.

After you have remounted your scope, and satisfied with the results, then remove the breach plug, clean your barrel and breech plug and primer flash hole in the breech plug. When reinstalling the breech plug, be sure to grease the threads with plenty of anti-cease grease compound.  Be sure to check the receiver screws to your stock. Make sure they are good and snug, front screw to be torque between 45 and 50 ft lbs and the rear screws down to 35 to 40 ft lbs. Be sure to check with your owner’s manual, some manufacturers may be higher than the values listed here, most of my centerfire rifle torques run about 10 ft lbs higher.  Make sure the trigger is working well. Clean the lenses on the scope and if you have scope covers make sure they are in good working order as well (see photos).  

Now would be a good time to head out to the range. I go there every week and now is the time of the year when nobody is on the range, you will have it to yourself most of the time. You will have plenty of time to analyze your shots. Take plenty of water with you; it’s going to be hot out there.  It’s your choice to clean after each shot. I personally clean after two shots. I have never shot a deer or elk more than once with a muzzleloader. I have never seen a show on TV that someone has shot 3 times. A few have shot twice but even that is rare.  Something I do at least one time a year with my Muzzle Loader that I have never seen anyone else do. I will sight my Muzzle loader in at 100 yards like most folk.  I will put up three targets, one at 50 yards, another at 100 yards, the last one at 150 or 200 yards. I will fire shot #1 at the 100 yard target first, then the 50 yard target second and then 150 or 200 yard target last.  You obviously will be high at 50 and low at 150 or 200 yards. This will give you a good indicator how your muzzle loader shoots at those distances or anywhere in between. I do not clean between shots; this will simulate conditions in the field. But will be the first thing I do when I get home.

While you are at the range, now would be a good time to test new loads, bullets, etc.  If you were smart you have saved previous targets and wrote down the load on the target. So you know what works but is there a load out there that gives you tighter groups. Only one way to find out…but if you are happy with your results stick with it. But save your targets, date them and put down the load and bullet you used. Also you need to buy an extra breech plugs for your muzzle loader. I have always done this, sometimes more than one. After I clean it one last time before putting it up for the year I will remove the breech plug and store it in my muzzle loader specific box. I also have a tool box for each muzzle loader (see photo). Each box contains primers, speed loaders, bullets and tools it takes to load and maintain the muzzle loader.

As of this writing I am in the experimental stages of testing some new loads of Blackhorn 209 for the Omega. If I cannot find a good load using Blackhorn this year, I can always go back to my “go to” load of Triple 7.

When you load your muzzle loader with the bullet be sure to maintain the same seating pressure on your ramrod. This is very important. If one shot you put a lot of packing pressure on your ramrod and the next one little packing pressure you will definitely notice this in your groups. This is why feel is very important when loading your muzzleloader.  It’s only human nature if the bullet slides in smoothly not to pack it with the same pressure if one goes in hard. Consistency is the key.

Whether you clean it after every shot or after you get home from the range the choice is yours, but clean it when you get home for sure and make sure your firearm is unloaded before you come into the house. Don’t leave Muzzle loaders loaded, it is so easy to forget. After the season is over and you ready to put the smoke pole away for another year, go ahead and give it one more good cleaning. This time use a 12 gauge brush and use a good solvent to clean out the barrel of any residue from either the primer or sabots.  Before putting it away for the year the final thing I will do with my muzzle loaders will be to swab the barrel with a bore butter or heavy oil. When you take it out next year give it another good cleaning.   

See you at the range.



By Bo Lester

In 1960 Bo’s Dad was invited to go deer hunting with a co-worker and that ignited a lifelong passion in Bo for the outdoors, hunting and shooting that continues today. Bo started reloading his own ammo in 1971 and has been a NRA life member since 1983, Endowment since 1994 and became a Parton member in 2000. He is also a Life Member of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation since 2004 and Lifetime Buckmaster Member and active NWTF, SCI and DU memberships.

Bo started going on Elk hunts using Archery, Black Powder and Rifle Hunts in Colorado in 1987 through 2006, Numerous Mule Deer hunts,  Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep hunt, Antelope and Groundhog hunt and finally his first but not last Safari in 2009. On his bucket list are Canada, Alaska and New Zealand hunts.  In the past, Bo has hunted Deer and Turkey in Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, Wyoming and Colorado. 

As an Atlanta native he has worked in the Power Plant Engineering field worked for the Georgia Power Company and worked with an Engineering Firm in Norcross, GA for 26 years before moving to East Tennessee working for a local Engineering firm.
Having a love of shooting has driven him to love anything that deals with ballistics, sciences and physics.  He was a member of River Bend Gun Club in Norcross, Georgia for many years and was also a member at Knob Creek Rifle Range in Kentucky for 4 years and now in Tennessee, a long time member of Oak Ridge Sportsman Association and a member of Norris Watershed Range. 

Bo looks forward to sharing all the knowledge he has acquired over 40 years of reloading, personally customizing rifles, hunting ballistics and shooting with the TalkHunting readers. 

Comments(1):

1. great read buudy!

   Wednesday, September 01, 2010 Kevin