friday aug 14th at o5:09 am


black powder hunting is also called muzzle loading or flintlocking. i prefer

to hunt with my percussion ball and cap sidelock rifle , a fifty caliber rifle

using a patched .489 round ball . it is the bare essence of hunting and it has

put a lot of good meat on my table . i tried the plastic sabot method of this

type of hunting, but the plastic does a bad number on the rifling of the gun,

so i've gone back to the cloth patch and beeswax method.

my recipe is this:

1 5 oz bar of beeswax

2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil or olive oil

1 ounce of lanolin


when melted down i can lubricate my patches and bullets


also its a good idea to heat the oil first to boil off any water that might be in it.

i carry my patches, pre lubed in a tin taken from altoids. the mints i eat to disguise

my breath and they sub for a smoke ,,,



i measure out my 80 grains of pyrodex, and pour it in the barrel . then i put a moistened lubed patch

over the muzzle and place the bullet on top and seat it in the muzzle and then ram it home, with even

pressure until the ball and patch are seated atop the powder in the bottom of the barrel. then i cock it

and place the percussion cap onto the nipple and slowly let it down to half cock position and im ready

to cock it and fire it at a moments notice when a deer walks by me . i use the iron sights to aim and aim

just behind the notch in the shoulder behind it and up an inch and slowly pressure the trigger until it

drops onto the cap and the gun goes boom. usually the buck jumps and runs a few feet and drops down

onto the ground and kicks as it tries to get to it's feet but cant . then it twitches and kicks for a bit and

then it's all over for him.