Bullet board or cut patches?

[eagle24]

When you are hunting, do most of you use a bullet board, precut patches, or carry patch material and cut them at the muzzle.  Just wondering what you have found to work best or which method you prefer.  I'm still trying to get my act together hunting with a flintlock and can't seem to come up with a setup I like very much.  If I have things hanging from my bag strap (measure, bullet board, etc) I feel like everything is swinging all over the place and getting all tangled up when I am in the woods.  Seems like everytime I need something from my hunting bag it is always at the bottom.  I'm not very smooth with my reloading process in the woods.

[axelp]

a bullet board is the fastest for me... you could keep it in the bag instead of hanging and swinging all over... I hunt a lot with my smoothbore with shot... now that is a slow process. I have been left behind many times as I reload my gun...

[roundball]

Pre-cut / Pre-lubed patches for me.
Speaking only for myself...my interest is mainly "using" the Flintlock and patched ball to hunt with...not so much interested in little activities like cutting at the muzzle, etc...a few powder charges, patches, and balls in my pocket and I'm good.

[Ben I. Voss]

For deer hunting I use a loading block and pre-measured charges (paper cartridges with just the powder). I carry that with a short starter,  primer, screwdriver, spare flints etc in the pocket of my hunting coat. Much easier than a bag and horn! I've never had to shoot more than twice when deer hunting and I'm normally no more than half a mile or so from my truck and shooting box, so don't feel the need to carry much with me.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I load out of my pouch and horn no matter what the activity.  I use precut patches liquid lubed and placed in a tin when on a trail walk.  When hunting or in a load fast and furious shoot like the fort shoot, I use a bullet board and precut/prelubed grease patches.  My bullet board is on a leather thong but in my bag, laying along the front seam.  It comes out automatically without me having to look.  My hunting board carries only four rounds.  The thing about hunting is to be instinctive with your loading.  If you have to stop to look or think, you'll lose a second shot opportunity if one exists.

[northmn]

I used to carry a bullet board but no longer use one, even for squirrel hunting.  The more experience I get carrying a ML hunting the less I feel a need for "fast" loading.  The bullet board is efficient in that you can carry the days supply of ball, but I just carry lubed precuts and about 4-5 ball in a small pouch.    When I shoot I like to use a more accurate load.  Bullet boards tend to be a looser patch ball combo than I like.  I carry powder in a 32 pistol flask and have a very small priming horn.  You can carry everything you need in a pocket of a good hunting coat.   Extra stuff beside powder patch and ball should include a vent pick, spare flint and leather, I like  to carry a short starter, possibly a ball/patch puller and I carry a Swiss army knife that even has a blade to gut with as you do not need that big of knife to gut a deer.  I have also carried presoaked cleaning patches as I ahve cleaned the rifle out in the woods after a shot.  I personally think we may get too ambitious to get on the trail after shooting. A handy little gizmo is a vent pick holder inletted under th echeek piece on the rifle.  They were not uncommon.

DP

[wvmtnman]

Over the past couple years of hunting only with a muzzleloader, I too have learned much.  For squirrel hunting I use both a bullet board and a strip of pillow ticking.  I cut a strip of ticking, lube it and sew it to the hemp strap on my pouch.  I also cut a few patches, from the same material, and put in my board.  My board holds 5.  When I shoot, and have no need for a quick second shot, I cut at the muzzle.  If I miss, or see a couple squirrels together, I have the quick load option.  When squirrel hunting, I have shot as many as 12 shots in one day.  I also prime from my horn and only change it when necessary.
For deer hunting, I only use a bullet board.  I have never seen the need to shoot more than what my bullet board holds.  For deer hunting, I use priming powder and change it often.  I treat squirrel hunting  very differently than deer hunting.  I use much more care when in the deer woods.  I would hate for a big one to get away becasue of carelessness.
As I stated before, this is what I do now.  After a couple more seasons I may see a need to do something else.  I would suggest loading for bear the first season then adjusting as you see fit.
                                                                                                         Brian

[Roger Fisher]

In my case, a 4 ball board round my neck tucked in between the buttons on my shirt, premeasured powder in friction lidded cylinders and primer in another pocket, no pouch no horn.  That is if I decide to take the rifle for a walk. The deer herd went to $#*! around here. btw I know of a hunting club of hundreds of acres with clear cuts and food plots and in 2 wks that club harvested zero bucks..   Our club of 1100 acres bucks only club got 9 buck in those 2 weeks. 

[Daryl]

I have a bullet board that holds 3 pre-lubricated patched balls.  I load the first one with a loose ball and patch before I head out.  I carry several paper ctgs., with powder and ball in my pocket.  I carry a flask with an English measure on top.  Doubling the 3 dram setting gives me my moose load, the same that is in the paper ctgs with the 'harder' balls

What I see as required for re-loading after the frist shot, dictates if I load a paper ctg. which has a WW alloy ball (fast), or a loose powder and a patched pure lead ball from the block, which is much slower loading.

This is all for the 14 bore rifle. A non-practised (haven't done this for a while) re-load is still less than a 10 second load if using a paper ctg. Paper ctgs. work in calibres as small as .54, cording to a member here - although I've only tried them in the 14bore, (.690") & Dan, in his 15 bore (.675").  Bruce S. also uses paper ctgs. in his 12 bore (.73") but I intend to try them in the .58 soon. I've a buddy here who uses paper ctgs. for his second shot in his 11 bore - (.75") with good results as well.  For me, they shoot with the same accuracy and to the same point of impact as a cloth patched ball.

My caps are on a disk of leather, doubled which holds 24 caps. I keep it full, so I don't have to look at the bottom to find a cap - there is always one 'there' for the re-load.  Re-loading the caplock is a bit faster than a flinter due to not having to prime - capping is a bit quicker, but not by much.

[George Sutton]

I do as Taylor does. Whatever the activity, I load from the bag. I always use a spit patch cut on the muzzle unless I'm hunting. While hunting I use a pre-lubed, pre-cut patches which I carry in a small tin in my bag. I don't use a bullet board.

I have my bags set up so that I can just reach in the bag and take out what I want. No fumbling around. Patches in one pocket, balls in another, etc. The only thing that hangs off the bag is the powder measure but I can tuck it up behind the bag while hunting to keep it from snagging on brush. I can load in the dark as easily as in daylight.

I have a shooting box loaded with stuff that I take to paper or line shoots but I still load from the bag.

Centershot

[northmn]

I have switched to carrying small bags, or fanny packs (I just got a couple at Wally World for $4.00 each)  While not period authentic they do permit some organization of loading gear as they have 2-3 pouches.  I used to keep everything in my hunting coat but sometimes the weather changes or I may choose a different rifle.

DP

[Eric Krewson]

I keep both loose loading materials and a loading block and premeasured powder in my possible bag. Usually one shot is all I need but occasionally I need a quick follow up shot, hence the loading block.

If time is not an issue I load with loose materials and cut my patch at the muzzle.

Put anything in the freezer with you new gun Greg?

 I could have killed a big doe yesterday evening but heard some chasing and wanted to see what was behind her. When the deer came out following her the light was fading, although I thought I saw antlers it was too dark to ethically take a shot.

[eagle24]

Eric,

I haven't killed anything with my rifle yet.  Missed a doe at 50 yards the last Saturday in November.  Thought my rifle was shooting a few inches high at 50 yards, found out it was shooting several inches higher than I thought.  I have it sighted in now and know where it is hitting out to 50 yards.  Assuming I can hit a deer at 12-15 yards, I could have killed 2 does in the last couple of weeks and another back in November.  Passed on them because I didn't have the "want to" to drag them out and deal with them those evenings.  Guess I'm gonna have to shoot one soon, down to a pack of tenderloin and a pack of ground venison in the freezer now.  I'm trying to get my act together hunting with a flinter.  I feel lost as to where anything is when I need to load in the woods.  It's all a reflex when I'm bowhunting.......grab pack, grab bow, and go!

[Black Jaque Janaviac]

GHall,

I'm finally getting things down to where I like it. 

Both my powder measure and my ball block ride in my shootin' bag but are tethered to the outside edge of the bag.  The measure is tied to the forward end, the block is tied to the rearward end.  If you can imagine just tying the tethers to the base of the shoulder straps you'll get the idea. 

My ball block holds 6 prepatched balls + a compass inlayed into it.  The balls are .54 caliber and the block is made from 3/4" cherry.  The block almost works like a false muzzle, in that to load it I push the ball & patch into the hole in the block and then cut the patch flush with the block.  Once the block is full, I flip it over and fill the back cavities with tallow lube.

November can get chilly in Wisconsin.  My setup allows me to shoot and reload without ever taking my insulated gloves off.  I even sewed a holder for my vent pick so that can be accessed with gloves.

My bag looks like an ordinary hunting bag, with two leather lace-loops hanging from both sides.  To reload, I do not need to "find" my measure in my bag, nor my block, I simply grab the appropriate lace and pull the measure out of the bag.  Same with the block.  The laces are just long enough to reach the muzzle in a comfortable loading stance, about 2 1/2 feet. 

To load with my block I push down on the ball until a little bit of the tallow "cookie" protrudes from the backside of the block.  I use this "cookie" to align the ball over the muzzle.  I push the ball onto the muzzle with the ramrod, pull the ramrod back and let the block fall.  Then I finish pushing the ball to seat, put the block back in the bag, prime and go.

Oh I prime with 2F also. 

Very simple easy to use method.  The grease cookies enable me to shoot indefinitely without swabbing, however they do necessitate shooting a number of shots to properly dress the bore.  A few days before season I run a 1/6 dozen or more shots through it and don't clean it until after season.

The only method that has me interested in trying is paper cartouches.  My son uses premeasured charges wrapped in paper.  We both had some success with paper patched balls.  So this year I think we'll be putting some paper cartouches through the paces.

Just bite off one end, dump powder down, ram the whole rest of the paper cartridge down on top of the powder.  Prime, and fire.  Can't get much simpler than that. 

[Daryl]

[eagle24]

Daryl,  You said above that paper ctgs work in as small as .54 caliber.  What is the problem in smaller calibers with using paper ctgs?

[BJH]

I carry a bullet board and paper cartriges filled with powder only.  After pouring powder. I start the firstball and leave the short starter in the board, then it goes back in the bag as one hand full.  If needed again it comes out in one hand full. Works just fine for me.  I use a compact pouch as I hunt from a climbing treestand a lot and compact size is important if you are a pluss sized fella like me

[Dr. Tim-Boone]

What Centershot said. I always load the same way whether hunting or on the range...from the bag. One little pocket for balls and one for the prelubed patches in a tin.

[Candle Snuffer]

I use bullet boards pretty much all the time now and charge from one small horn.  I just like that setup.

[Dphariss]

I don't like shooting dirt through my bore so I quit using bullet boards when I was a teenager.

Dan

[eagle24]

I don't like shooting dirt through my bore so I quit using bullet boards when I was a teenager.

 

[Dphariss]

I don't like shooting dirt through my bore so I quit using bullet boards when I was a teenager.

 

How do you keep the patches clean in a bullet board?
Might not be  a problem on some range some place but hunting is another matter.
I have been known the low crawl for 50-60 yards sometimes trying to get a shot. Where i hunt this is often in sparse grass with disrt dust etc.


Dan

[Candle Snuffer]

Just carry your bullet board around your neck and inside your clothing.  Easy enough to get to.

[Eric Krewson]

I was deer hunting yesterday evening and took an offhand shot at a coyote about 100yds away,mmmissed.  Because it was prime time for deer movement, I reloaded quickly with my loading block. The problem was I had lubed the patches in my block with Hoppe#9 plus a week ago, my first time using this lube in a loading block. The lube had dried out and loading was like trying to ram a dry patched ball down a dirty barrel.  

I need a lube that will stay viscous over time. I have always used maxi lube in the past but it does gunk up a barrel after a few shots. It does keep its lubrication properties after an extended time in the block.

[Daryl]

Mink oil works fine for that, or neetsfoot oil. Like Dan said, they do pick up dirt without care to their handling and storage. Dry paper ctgs. work exceptionally well in larger bores and can ride in a coat pocket all season without any damage.  Thgis is very close to the method I use, except I use a tapered dowel form as you can see by the picture of paper ctgs. in the above post.  I use elmer's white glue, or a glue stick to stick the seams of the paper together. Fast and easy. Elmer's makes them tough too, and like I said- you can carry them all season in a pocket without damage and they shoot the same place and with the same accuracy the next year.  Mine are made with lrge enough balls and thick .003" to .004" paper so the paper actually engraves slightly on the lands.   the length of paper pushed down between the ball and the powder insulates the ball from the flame and seals to the bottom of the grooves. They are not loose like the 18th and 19th century military ctgs. they work best in shallo0w .012" and shallower rifling, but guys have had good luck with even deep grooved barrels, however they do shoot dirtier in those.