Selfmade starter

[Rado]

Just finished an antler, brass & curly maple starter.
I copied what I saw on this forum and in youtube videos (from probably members of this forum). Is this actually a historic design or contemporary with traditional materials?

[WadePatton]

Looks pretty good, but you've neglected the hole for final compression of the load. Consistent compression of the load is very important to accuracy and if you look at Darryl's again, you'll see that small hole for capturing the end of your packing stick and applying that last bit of pressure to the load column.

As to when where who used starters--some say yea, some say nay.  I've seen folks quote info from late period evidence, but I never paid much attention to the arguments or documentation, because I use a starter and have no intention of not using a starter for shooting.

You'll get a mixed lot of answers to the question, it has been discussed a time or two before. It can be like a "best lube" or "cleaning methods" thread, eternal.

[Rado]

Thank You WadePatton!
I didnt even notice that hole for the ramrod. But I will add it when I got the rifle and know the exact required size.
It seems like they must have had something to push the ball into the muzzle and a little bit further. I cant imagine doing it with a ramrod alone.
Capandball (the famous youtube channel) once used a wooden hammer in one of his videos. But I think this is not the best method because its a great way to deform your projectile and make it less accurate, not to mention the weight and size of the tool.

[Clark Badgett]

From prior discussions on this subject, it seems that those who have studied many an original barrel have revealed that a fairly high percentage of originals had what we refer to now as coned muzzles. They probably didn’t use the tightest of patching either.

[Rado]

Hm...interesting. I was already wondering why I ve never seen an original starter, only contemporary ones. But I have never put much effort to find one.

[Daryl]

Some must have used what we now call short starters. Baker Rifle corps, were issued loading "pegs" of iron or steel. Also every "other" rifleman was issued
a loading mallet, which had a small diameter shaft as a handle. Read about this somewhere.
Those, btw, are quite nice, Rado. I've not seen any with maple shafts. Just be careful when seating a ball with them, that they don't break and spear you.
We mostly use hickory for the shafts and Wade is correct, we drill a hole to place on the rod's end for the last little push or smack with the palm of the hand
to make sure the ball is on the powder. I did a test with my .40 cal. barrel, chronographing the loads if "just' seated on the powder and with a sharp smack
with my palm on the starter's knob to get a "little" compression of the powder. The difference was 100fps and consistency with the smack, as opposed to a
wide range of velocities if "just pushing" the ball onto the powder - firmly.  BP Ctg. competition shooters, when loading ammo give a slightly compression of the
powder - for consistency in ignition and powder burning. We should emulate this. They do not do this because it doesn't work.
The short stud, if to put the ball into the muzzle squarely. If simply pounded in, it is possible to have more weight on one side of the ball that the other. Accurcy
is all about consistency.

[smylee grouch]

There is documentation of the use of a bulger ( AKA short starter ) during the time period of the western rendezvous by actual attendees of the event. When the prior use of a bulger started I don't know. 

[Rado]

100fps...wow thats significant.
For the danger of impaling my hand...I hope the oversized antler will protect me from that.
I have some hickory for bowmaking but found it to look a little less interesting and didnt think about the fact that maple is a rather crispy wood.
I could have used Osage Orange. Looks interesting and is springy like Hickory. But now its too late. If it breaks I will replace it with some proper bow wood.
Thank you guys for the infos.
Please keep them coming.

[Daryl]

Osage makes a GREAT ram rod, and thus would also make a GREAT short starter shaft.
The original Hickory rod, I had stained dark, decades ago and resides outside the rifle in the pic.
To protect the muzzle from the horn, I have places a leather disk, which is impaled by the shaft of the starter and remains in place.
The "roset" of the antlers I've used, is VERT hard. While damage is unlikely, I still like to have the leather there - it reduces the noise I guess.

[MuskratMike]

I too like short starters. For the barn guns and Soddy-Daisy I like simple ones like the matching two on the left. For larger bores and rifles I like to use Mule Deer or elk antler for the top.

[Rado]

Osage makes a GREAT ram rod, and thus would also make a GREAT short starter shaft.

Looks very nice! I totally love this wood. If it just wasnt so expensive over here.

One question about the brass knob. Is there a certain lenght you would suggest?
Mine is 11mm, minus 2mm of cavity means the ball will be pushed 9mm deep into the muzzle. Is there such thing as ´too much patch cloth around the ball´?

@MuskratMike
Also very cool starters. I have some antler pieces looking like your third and fourth on the picture, with way too much and too soft porous material inside. Straight pipes.
And at first I thought about soaking such a piece with animal glue to make it stronger because otherwise I have no use for it.Or couldnt think of one yet.
But then I decided to go with the strong piece closest to the skull,  because I didnt want to waste the curly maple (that I cut from a board and made round in a drilling machine).

[Daryl]

The 2nd and 4th are a little long, but I don't cut at the muzzle very much, preferring pre-lubed pre-cut patches. If I do cut at the muzzle, I don't put the ball in the full depth of those two "pegs".
If I was cutting at the muzzle routinely, the peg would only be long enough to put the ball down so the sprue was even with the end of the barrel.

[TDM]

I’ve made a few short starters, the newest is one I made for my .45 SMR. I had a nice length of hickory left over after trimming the ram rod and I cut a section of antler from sheds I keep on hand to make it. I used some empty brass to make the tip collars.

[Rado]

Also nice. So I see there are no concerns about the lenght of the brass muzzle pusher. Because I was thinking all day how I will shorten mine even further so it wont push the ball deeper than 2mm or so.
I have an endless supply of is Black Locust.
Its an invasive species over here and I have several quarter trunk staves for bow making. 
With the right finish its hardwood  looks almost as good as Osage Orange. I guess it would also make for a good ramrod and starter-rod.
Its elastic and springy. I remember a flight( biggest distance) shooting tournament here in Hamburg which was won by a Black Locust longbow against the classics such as Osage and Yew.
That stuff is good.

[WadePatton]

Yes, there's really nothing Osage can do that black locust cannot do, but what I love about them both the most is their rot resistance and how they'll cure out nearly perfectly in the log where it fell or got pushed out to. I collected some Osage recently from a log that had zero bark left on it, it looks about 30 years dead. Good wood. Black Locust tends to have some bad spots and doesn't get sawed out much, but it grows much straighter and is more plentiful on the Highland Rim. It's great for round wood construction too, or just posts.

Handled one rifle with a Black Locust stock--it was a 3/4 gun for a kid or small person--wasn't too heavy in a small gun, but could easily be too much in big one.