Blackpowder, Rifle and Shotgun Gear
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Blackpowder, Rifle and Shotgun Gear:
Blackpowder gear breaks down into Bullets and conicals, Powder, Loading Accessories, Patches, Solvents and Cleaning, Cases and Sleeves, and a few others, which we won’t get into yet.
The muzzleloading hunter has a variety of projectiles to choose from, from roundballs to conicals and sabots. Bullets mass is traditionally measured by grain. Bullets are measured in increments of one grain, while gunpowder in increments of 0.1 grains. Bullet is derived from the French word "Boulette" which roughly means "little ball". The original musket bullet(round ball) was roughly a sphelical ball two sizes smaller than the bore. Bullets for black powder, or muzzle loading firearms, were originally pure lead, and are in fact still used to date. Conicals, because of their shape, mass can easily be added by making them longer, and in comparison to a round ball, the only way to increase the size of the bullet used, caliber would have to be enlarged. The choices are from mini, which generally are smaller than the caliber size, with the advantage of being loaded easily even in a fouled bore and with exceptional power abling to take down even big game as bear, to the maxi with a flat base rather than hollow for mini, and these are closer to the bore size and while it’s rammed down the barrel, it cuts into the rifling to form a light gas seal, which during a shot this helps promote quite excellent accuracy downrange. Sabots are also a great substitute for original bullets, with advantages such as better accuracy, consistency, and ease of use.
Powder comes in many forms, from the original black powder to more friendly and safer substitutes. Black powder substitutes offer a number of advantages such as reduces sensitivity, reduced fouling, and increased efficiency. Best known choice is Pyrodex which is considered by many hunters as the most accurate powder available, the other great substitute is Triple Seven. Pyrodex can infact be used in almost all calibers of percussion muzzleloading rifles and also shotguns. The other important fact is that Pyrodex or any other substitues are not measures in the same manner as black powder, but rather by a volumetric measure equivalent to an equal grains of mass of blackpowder, and are typically measured with a scale.
Loading accessories come in a wide variety of choices. You can go with the traditional powder horns and funnels, to a more modern choice of powder flasks, powder measures, wads and speedloaders. Choices are endless, but a good starting point would be to acquire more modern as these systems assist and teach more more and are quicker, whereas traditional accessories are more for the "experiences hunter".
Solvents, Cleaning and Patches is a very critical group of gear that every hunter should have, especially muzzleloading or blackpowder hunters. It is necessary to have ramrods and attachments for ease of cleaning, cleaning patches and/or brushes, cleaners and lube protectants, and solvents for blackpowder. But for the begginer, it is recommended to acquire a complete kit, as they are readily available from many vendors.
Again, travelling from and to your hunting destination, or whether just going for some target practice, it is recommended to have a case for your rifle, or other blackpowder firearm, and some sort of either a pouch or bag to store your bullets, loading accessories, and cleaning equipment. Remember, it is very crucial that you clean your firearm as soon as possible, especially if choosing to use blackpowder, otherwise you will be struggling quite a lot to fix all the rust if left alone too long.
Rifle and Shotgun Gear is somewhat limited to your projectiles, shot and slugs, sights which we will get into later, and cleaning and storing.
Rifle projectiles/cartridges tend to have a wide spectrum of selection, and we will not get into this too much in depth. There are 3 main groups as mentioned in the hunting rilfes page, and these are rimfire, centerfire and metric. Rimfire are directed towards the smaller caliber, usually a 22, and are quite popular for small game. Centerfire and higher up the ladder metric are widely used for warfare, target practice and hunting. The types of bullets are hollow point, soft point, full metal jacket, and ballistic tip.
- Hollow point bullet has a pit or hollowed out shape in its tip, mainly so that upon inpact, the bullet will expand decreasing penetration while distrupting more tissue. As a side affect, these types of bullets, due to shifting the center of gravity rearwards, can drastically increase the bullets accuracy. The other type of hollow point bullet is a jacketed type, which is covered with a harder coating to increase its strenght, and protect the barrel from fouling by stripped lead from bullet.
- Soft point bullet, also known as a soft-nosed bullet consists of an open tip. Soft point are less common than hollow point due to the increased penetration and decreased expansion upon impact. Although less common, often these are the preffered projectile due to their advantage in more penetration.
- Full metal jacket bullets consist of a soft core (usually lead) encased in a hardened shell. These bullets allow for higher muzzle velocities, and their appearance is quite distinctive between hollow point and soft point. Since these bullets do not expand, they are much more effecting in piercing through. Some locations prohibit the use of full metal jacket rounds, due to their perceived limited stopping power and capability to ricochet. A good example of these bullets would be the .280 Ross and .303 British.
- Ballistic Tip ammunition is a form of a plastic tip bullet, and is a registered trademark of Nosler.
Shot or Slug selection can get quite overwhelming just as rifle bullet selection. Slug are commonly used for hunting large game. Modern slugs are moderately accurate, especially when fired from special rifled slug barrels. Shotshells are grouped into two types, as mentioned in the hunting shotgun page, which are birdshot and buckshot.
- Birdshot is usually a large number of small pellets (from dozens to hundreds) meant to create a wide kill zone, and are primarly used for hunting waterfowl in flight.
- Buckshot is somewhat similar to birdshot with the exception of being quite larger, and was originally intended to hunting large game, for example deer, thus the name. Due to the increase of more accurate technologies for slugs, buckshot is becoming less popular.
Cleaning and storing of rifles or shotguns is as important as blackpowder, or any other firearm. Cleaning is not as critical as blackpowder, but it most be carried out consistently and after every use/storage. From carbon fibre cleaning rods with pads, jags and brushes, to anti-seize lube, blue and rust remover, gun oil/oil wipes and conditioners, a hunter needs to become familiar with what is required to keep his type of firearm clean, safe and protective, because a firearm should be an investment that lasts. Last but not least, it is imparative that if you choose to invest into any sort of firearm, and invest into all other gadgets that are needed with it, you should invest a small amount in comparison for a safe storage when traveling from and to a hunting site, especially since you can pick up a rifle or shotgun case for as little as $30.