The first time i ever shot a muzzle loader was several years ago now, but i remember that first experience like it was recent. The rifle was a brand new Omega. There was a few bullets included in the box with the rifle. Shopped all over town for powder; the only thing i could find was a package of 777 pellets. The only primers i could find were the W209 primers. The package said the pellets were 30 grain each. So i loaded three of them, and pushed a bullet down the barrel till it hit the powder. Put the primer in the socket there, and aimed; pulled the trigger, and
BOOM. That was fun!! Plenty of recoil, but fun. Did it again, and another
BOOM, and more fun!!
Then, loading the third bullet was quite difficult, but got it done. One more time,
BOOM, wow more fun!!. When i went to load the rifle again one of the pellets split in two. It was then i discovered i was loading double pellets. Whoops! Whoops, i had loaded 180 grain of powder those first shots. Well, i never made that mistake again, but now i couldn't get the bullet down to the powder. To get the bullet down to the powder i had to swing the rifle/ramrod into a tree.
Bang goes the rifle/ramrod against the tree, and again
Bang. A few hits against the tree, and things were ready for another shot. A lot less recoil there was.
Next time out i swabbed between shots. Then i found one should use a special primer. Then i found it may be better to use small rifle primers in a special adapter. Then i found some loose 777. After jumping through all these hoops i was able to settle in and burn 777 powder just fine.
When Blackhorn became available, i got me a bottle. Doing nothing special, i loaded, and shot, and loaded, and shot, and loaded, and shot....... No longer did i need a special primer, W209 worked good. Nor was it necessary to swab between shots. Used the same bullets/sabot. Used the same loading technique, nothing special. All was well; no longer did i put up with the headaches of burning 777. life is good............
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