Bought a muzzleloader... new to the type, can anyone offer advice/hints?

[vellnueve]

I bought a CVA "Kodiak Magnum" muzzleloader after seeing solid reviews on it. It was $149 from Dick's (Bass Pro had some nice ones, but either too expensive or too cheap looking)

I'm planning to use irons although I may mount a base on it.

I've never used a muzzleloader before. I picked up a box of Pyrodex pellets, 20 Knight .50 cal sabot JHPs, a bore brush and mop, a can of BP cleaning spray. Anything else I'm missing?

Can anyone offer any sort of random newb advice? How do you clean these things? I understand that residue is not only corrosive, but prevents you from fully seating each charge.

 

[appraiser]

my advice? Hearing and eye protection, and get your teeth whitened so people can see your nice white teeth when you are grinning ear to ear

 

[buffermop]

primer caps ???????

 

[rep308]

Cleaning Rod:

Put it in your empty gun and mark the rod at the muzzle, this way you can check if it is loaded.

After you load your gun, mark it again so that you know how far you have to push the load in, it can get quite difficult to push after a couple of shots.

Don't shoot the cleaning rod out of your gun. This may sound stupid, but it is a somewhat common event. I've seen people load the gun, forget the rod and aim and fire.

Get a bore snake and #13 Bore Cleaner from Thomson/Contender. I don't think pyrodex is corrosive.

I'm not sure of the design of your smoke pole, my Thompson has a breech plug that needs to be well lubricated on the threads to make sure it doesn't stick. I use spark plug anti seize, but any heavy grease should do. When you store your gun, remove and clean the breech plug and just put it in loosely. I've seen too many seized breech plugs from people who store it dirty.

 

[vellnueve]

my advice? Hearing and eye protection, and get your teeth whitened so people can see your nice white teeth when you are grinning ear to ear

I get free whitening so I'll be sure to do that

primer caps ???????

Yeah, I have a bunch of 209 primers (Remington clean-bore primers)

Cleaning Rod:

Put it in your empty gun and mark the rod at the muzzle, this way you can check if it is loaded.

After you load your gun, mark it again so that you know how far you have to push the load in, it can get quite difficult to push after a couple of shots.

Don't shoot the cleaning rod out of your gun. This may sound stupid, but it is a somewhat common event. I've seen people load the gun, forget the rod and aim and fire.

Get a bore snake and #13 Bore Cleaner from Thomson/Contender. I don't think pyrodex is corrosive.

I'm not sure of the design of your smoke pole, my Thompson has a breech plug that needs to be well lubricated on the threads to make sure it doesn't stick. I use spark plug anti seize, but any heavy grease should do. When you store your gun, remove and clean the breech plug and just put it in loosely. I've seen too many seized breech plugs from people who store it dirty.

All great advice. What brand of spark plug grease do you use?

Do they make a bore snake for .50 cal muzzleloaders?

 

[rep308]

any spark plug anti seize stuff will do, I've used Vaseline in a pinch. Just remember to take out the breach plug and lube it before putting it away. Stuck plugs are a bitch. If you decide to go hunting out in the field a spare breech plug for $20 is a good idea.

50 cal boresnakes at Midway:

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=156214

remember to load the pyrdex pellets black side DOWN facing the primer. You probably will try 3 pellets because you can but I get 1800 fps from a 240 gn 45 cal saboted round with two and 2000 from three. The smoke and pain are not worth the other 200 fps

 

[vellnueve]

I was planning to stick with two pellets.