Tutorial for getting started?

[Dwshotwell]

I had found Graf's site in a search earlier, but they are currently out of stock on all black powder. I'll keep checking back. There was at least one other that shipped direct, but they were out of stock as well.

Kudu, in "normal" times I end up driving past Bay City once a month or so. I'll check them out. Thank you.

[oldhunter1954]

Nice. I built a Kibler Colonial in 54 caliber about a month ago. I am using.530 round balls and 10 oz 100% cotton denim for patch material. I started with 70 grains of Goex 2f. . I use Mr. Flintlock lube and can shoot again and again no swabbing between shots. Working on load development at this time.

[Daryl]

Sounds like great combinations, oldhunter1954.  I find 10 ounce works in every one of my rifles, depending on ball diameter.
I usually use balls only .005" smaller than the bore, as in my .50, but the .36 gets a .350" ball and the .69 uses a .682" ball with
the 10 ounce.  I also use .675" and .662's in that rifle with thicker, .030" and .034" patches (12 and 14ounce denim)

[satwel]

If you can find a copy, this book should be a great resource for you. I haven't seen a copy myself, but I've had the pleasure of shooting along side Eric Bye for years at NMLRA regional matches in New England.

https://www.nmlra.org/store/flintlocks-a-practical-guide-for-their-use-and-appreciation

[dogcatcher]

I would try some of the other muzzleloader forums.  More membership, and you can probably find someone locally that will mentor you.  Lot of members are watchers that rarely post on forums, but are willing to help someone if they ask. 

[Darkhorse]

Thanks everyone for the great comments and advice. I should have mentioned that I built a percussion CVA Hawken 30 years ago and shot and hunted with it for a long time, so I'm not completely new black powder, but back then we just grabbed whatever pyrodex was at the sporting goods store and didn't think too much about it.

I hope you've got all that pyrodex mess out of your system. The flash point is too low to work in flintlock rifles, real blackpowder is what works, don't waste your time with the other stuff.
There are more than just a couple of vendors that will ship BP to your door so keep looking. Last time I bought any you had to get 25 pounds, now I think some places will ship just a few cans.
I just did a Google search for (Black rifle powder) and got so many hits I got tired of reading them. There are several types of black powder sold such as Goex, Swiss, etc. Some are faster than others such as Swiss, others are slower. But let me make a recommendation to a new shooter, start out with Goex black rifle powder. It's all I shoot and if it works for me it will work for you. Later on, once you've worked out all the bugs in your flintlock shooting you may want to try something else and that's fine but for now I'd keep things as simple as possible.

[Steve Milbocker]

If you find yourself in sw Michigan you http://gvcnb.org/index.htm may want to look these guys up. There are some great shooters and builders there. One in particular is Dennis Priddy. I’ve had two of his scratch built flintlocks and they are superb. He is an accuracy finatic and is very generous with his time as are many others at the club.

http://gvcnb.org/index.htm