jinksto

Hi All,
I bought my first Blackpowder rifle today. Not being sure how I would like it I bought a cheap starter gun that seemed to have pretty good reviews. I bought the CVA Wolf 209 and was wondering if folks could point me in the right direction for figuring this thing out.

I've always been interested in blackpowder so I was pretty excited to be bringing one home (I made the wife drive and read the manual on the way). When we got home I broke the gun down, cleaned it from end to end and then put it back together. I fired four or five caps through it (recommend in the manual to burn any left over shipping grease out) and then loaded and fired it. The gun worked like a charm and I was able to hit a coke can (standing, offhand) from 10 yards so should be able to get it on the paper when I sight it in tomorrow.

Since I only bought the gun (no kit) I'm using iron sites and my ammunition is just whatever the Gander Mountain clerk recommended. The primary use will be hunting whitetails.

Here's what I"m shooting:
2 x 50gr Pyrodex Pellets
Remington Kleanbore 209 primers
200 gr ShockWave bullets (in mag express sabots)

I also bought a TC cleaning kit that has Bore butter, Super Lube, TC No 13 bore cleaner and 2 1/2" patches.

So, my questions:
1) is there a "blackpowder bible" or something along those lines? A good starter site on the internet to read through? A stupid questions for newbies post on the forum somewhere?

2) Is the ammunition good? 200gr seems a little light to me for a .50cal but... like I said, I have no idea.

3) When loading the Sabot/Bullet what's the best way to do it? Do you put them in separately and then use the ramrod to push it all tight, or just fit them together loosely and put them in or push them together tight and then put them in? I went with the second method and things went down the barrel a LOT easier than I thought they would/should but, again, I have no idea.

4) Is there anything else that I need to take care of this thing? I've hunted all of my life so I have all of the standard cleaning kits (mostly with Hopps #9).

5) I've seen a few posts here that claim "NO OIL" but I don't understand the reasoning for that. Is it a hard rule or personal preference? When I cleaned it after firing I used bore butter in places that I would normally put oil (exterior of the barrel, etc.).

6) Powder vs Pellets?

7) I get the "try different bullets until you find what the gun likes" thing but have you seen the number of bullets available? Any favorites that I should play with? At $14-$20 a pop experimentation could get expensive... yeah?

8) How clean is clean enough? I must have used a dozen patches cleaning the barrel and bore plug when I cleaned it. I'm good with that if it's required but don't want to be wasting them.

9) My other hobby is woodworking and I've always wanted to build a gun. I like the historic/classic style of blackpowder rifles so assuming things go well will probably start working on one in the spring. Does anyone have good resources (websites and such) for that?

10) Any "gotchas" or huge safety concerns that people commonly get caught out on? The manual said "don't use smokeless powder" about 25 times so I won't be trying that. Anything else? (Interesting note: The manual actually said "WILL result in injury or death" rather than the usual "MAY result in..." I can take a hint :)

Thanks in advance for your time. Any help that you can provide is greatly appreciated.

-- Jinksto