Powder and Primers and Balls... ARGHHHHHH!!!

[Leatherbelly]

 You gents south of the 49th are very fortunate to be able to purchase Goex for cheap! One of our members,Roundball can buy it for around 10 bucks a pound! My last case (25 lb.) cost me $550.00 here in the Great White North.That's in bulk, no cans.
  So here's what I would do in your case. Buy a case of powder,1000 caps and make your own RB's from a Lyman mold and handles. This will keep you shooting for cheap for about a year or better.( except for the caps),but before long you'll be switching to a flinter anyways! That's if you stick around with us no good lowlife bunch of...
   Good luck with your quest, Mr.T!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

[longrifle54]

550$ a case WOW.  I just ordered a case from Jacks powder keg, 315.00 shipped, included hazmat fee, and shipping.  What is the 25.00$ hazmat fee? We ship UPS out at work and the hazmat fee is only 20.00$per UPS, others must charge a "little" extra.

  I did get the last case shipped to work though, last year the UPS guy was a little leary leaving the case of powder with my neighbor and ME not signing for it. My neighbor assured him it was legit, and he did leave it, but he didnt like it. Less hassle at work, since we deal in Haz material anyways.

[Daryl]

Currently we're paying $550.00 for a 25 pound bag. We're told the price is going up.

Locally, in town, it's $1050.00 for 25 cans.  They don't sell much.

[markwi]

Mr. T. you should drive over to the Turkey and Deer  Expo at Alliant Energy Center and talk with the people at the Wisconsin Muzzleloaders booth. It is 9th -11th. Help Will be in sight.  I will be at a skeet shoot at McFarland on June 6th.  Mark

[Leatherbelly]

WOW is right! I wonder what makes powder sold in Canada worth 10 bucks a pound more? And that's if you know someone! Sounds like a little gouging going on.

[markwi]

Leatherbelly, are there more fee or taxes on the powder? May be an import tax? Is it like oil, everone pays the same for a barrel, but by the time it gets to the user it is way up. I do not know.  I also know that we buy  powder from a powder dealer get it for what the gun shop pays  and than grip because the gun shop wants to make some money selling it.  I grip about it to, everthing is going up except my wages. Mark

[Daryl]

 At $23.00 a pound, we're fairly happy, just the same.   We have super big restrictions, Federally about who can ship explosives & how they're shipped.  That costs a lot or can.

[Dphariss]

Use the #10 caps.  

Then ask to speak with the store owner/manager about piggy-backing an order for #11 caps.

I picked up a tin of #10 caps accidentally and I found the only difference was the #10 was a little longer.  It was not long enough to cause any problem fitting our #11 nipples, in fact on some it seemed to fit better.  

Other options might be to convert to flintlock - so far they have not required a HazMat fee for shipping rocks even sharp ones.  But if you switch to flintlock then you're stuck shooting black powder.

Hmmmm...   a #10 cap will fit? That's good to know! 

I wandered around the Net looking for mechanical specs and dimensions on various caps and didn't find anything.

Re. converting to flintlock; for me, it's a bit premature for that; I'm a beginner with his first used (and abused) BP rifle. I wanna get that working well first.

The main goal in mind right now is to head out this coming deer hunting season with something other than a .30-06 or a .44 magnum single action revolver.

BTW...  on the subject of hunting...  I've already submitted an application for the Black Powder Hunt at the Fort McCoy Army installation (over by Sparta, Wisconsin) this fall (talk about taking premature actions!  ).  If I'm not lucky enough to get one of those permits, there's an excellent chance that I'll be foresaking my smokeless engines of destruction for BP in my usual hunting grounds up north (the White River area up near Ashland, next to the Bad River Reservation).

In the meantime...  this summer is gonna be all about becoming proficient with the BP rifle.


Mr. T.

#10s should not fit easily on a #11 size nipple.  But the tolerances for nipples may not be all that tight.
If they don't fit the nipple can be carefully chucked in a drill and polished down with some 320 grit wet or dry. But then #11s may fall off. The tight fit makes an almost perfect water barrier if the gun is not fouled. So the nipple fit is important. A cap that is not properly seated can cause a misfire or hangfire.

Find a good hunting load, usually this will be about 1/2 ball weight of powder in a 50-54. This gives good accuracy and trajectory in most barrels. In the west I sight my hunting rifles for 110-130 yards and this gives a point blank on deer to 120-140. The velocity needs to be in the 1750-1900 range for this to work with  50-54.
Dan

[gdk]

I hear your frustration. I live in northern Alberta Canada and getting anything blackpowder related is not much fun. If you are interested I do have a kit for making your own #11 caps. You use pop cans and roll caps for a kids cap gun. It was given to me by a friend who said it works fine. I have gotten into the flint game and have not tried it. PM me off line with your address and I will send it to you. No charge.
Gary

[Leatherbelly]

   Mark,
     Good to hear from you. Maybe we got to call Hogdon and see what gives? I have an idea that our Gov't imposes a tax or fee somewhere,not sure.

[Daryl]

I hear your frustration. I live in northern Alberta Canada and getting anything blackpowder related is not much fun. If you are interested I do have a kit for making your own #11 caps. You use pop cans and roll caps for a kids cap gun. It was given to me by a friend who said it works fine. I have gotten into the flint game and have not tried it. PM me off line with your address and I will send it to you. No charge.
Gary

Forester's "tap-o-cap" works quite well for emergencies. It uses a normal ctg. loading press for holding the die and plunger. I made well over 1,000 caps using mine, when living in an area that was 'cap-free'.  Of coruse, as Gary found, stitching to flint alleviates that problem.