I love the day before pay day. I had an employee call me to ask if I wanted to buy a muzzleloader. Why not, I gave em 20 bucks for it. It looks like a CVA Hawkins but says "Investarms" 50 cal made in spain. Looks great. Anyone know anything about it, rate of twist ect...

That is made in Italy by Investarms, the same people that make Lyman and Cabela's Hawkins. It looks like a fancyCabela's Hawkins so I would guess it has a 1-48 twist. It should be a real good shooting rifle. And you should go check yourself into the local jail as you stole that thing for $20.00 bucks.

Dang, Wish I could find deals like that........

Cayugad, the only problem is the area around the nipple is marred up, the blueing is gone and it's pitted. Can I do anything about this. Also, I need a new nipple for it. Also, I want to shoot round balls through it. Where do I get the balls and patches? Thanks for any information that you can give me.

DANG!

Use boiling water to clean the whole barrel on the outside - that will remove all the oils - then while the barrel is warm apply cold blue - use a very fine steel wool and rub itin - usecircular motions - let itdry then clean it off with a lightly oiled rag to remove the excess bluing - repeat the process to get a deeper blue...

Here are a couple cold blued barrels I did way back when...

Track of the Wolf will have spare nipples.

Bigtimer, it's probably not worth the effort. My check for $40 is on the way just to save you the grief and disappointment (and double your money). Please ship ASAP so I can dispose of it for you.

You lucky dog!!!

Sabotloader was telling you about a product called "Cold Blue". I know nothing about it, but if Mike says it works, it works. There are also blue pens made by Birchwood Casey you can buy to touch up small spots. As for roundball, it will like a .490 or .495. Investarms are normally larger bore so the bigger ball will work, but I get better accuracy with the smaller ball and a thicker patch. A good lube is bore butter for patches and conicals, or you can make your own lube. I think you will be surprised with the accuracy. 90 grains of powder and a patched roundball and you can really give a whitetail a very bad day.

RMC sports sells stainless steel nipples for the rifle, roundball, patches, and get a multi purpose nipple/wedge puller tool. It will pull the wedge pin for you and take the nipple out of the bolster for you. Also it helps put the wedge back in nice. Just lay a patch over the wedge and tap it back in place.

cayugad& Bigtimer

This is the stuff i use most often... if I am just working on a spot I will use the tube of paste but when I am doing a lot I do use the liquid.... remember the suface needs to be really - really clean - no oils at all. I even heat the liquid a bit as well as the barrel -open the pores ant let the material work on the metal - like I said I let it dry on the barrel - looks awful until you remove the excess and then polish thebarrel.... it will not last as long as hot blue but it will get you through a season......