Beware Of That Old Muzzleloader!

Just because it has been hanging over the mantlepiece for as long as you can remember does not mean it is safe! We all know that the first thing we must do when we pick up any firearm is to personally check that it is unloaded. In most cases that is easy enough. You just open the action and verify that the chamber is empty and that the hole goes all the way through to the muzzle with no obstructions. However, that doesn’t work so well with muzzleloaders.

Because they are slow to load many originals were loaded and kept by the back door just needing to be primed or capped in order to be ready to shoot. As these have passed from generation to generation, owners of many of these old guns have never checked to see if they are still loaded. A ramrod with a wad puller attached is used to remove the overshot wadding. A sheet of wax paper was used as wadding and here it is being drawn from the barrel.

I recently ran into this very situation with an old flintlock musket I purchased. The easiest and fastest way to determine if a muzzleloader is loaded is to drop the ramrod down the barrel and hope to hear a metallic clank as the tip of the ramrod impacts the breech face. You can then mark the point where the ramrod exits the muzzle, remove the ramrod, and lay it alongside the barrel.

The ramrod should extend along the barrel all the way to where the breech plug is located just behind the flash hole or, in the case of a percussion firearm, the drum. If there is no metallic clang and the ramrod laid alongside the barrel stops several inches ahead of the flash hole or drum, you are the "lucky" owner of a firearm that may have been loaded many years ago and is patiently waiting for the opportunity to go off! The muzzleloader I purchased had been loaded and left that way for years.

When I dropped the ramrod down the bore, rather than a metallic clank the ramrod landed with a soft thump. When laid alongside the barrel it showed the rod had stopped four inches ahead of the breechplug. Since this was a musket, I assumed what I had hit was an overshot wad. I attempted to remove whatever it was using a wad puller on the end of my ramrod. I found and removed a crumpled up sheet of wax paper used as the overshot wad.

A charge of shot and then another wax paper wad was between the shot and the powder. This lead me to research the age of wax paper to see if that could help me determine how long the gun has been sitting around loaded. Wax paper in one form or another has been around since the Middle Ages. It was widely used in the 19th century but before 1926 it was only available in cut sheets from the

Wax paper was used as both over shot and over powder wadding along with a load of mixed size shot and a charge of blackpowder. This gun had been loaded almost 100 years ago and has changed hands any number of times without its owners being aware of its being loaded. butcher shop. Then in 1926, Cut- Rite Wax Paper was introduced in rolls with the metal cutting edge on the box and it became available in stores.

Since the wax paper used as wadding in this gun has straight cut edges rather than the serrated type of edge used on the cutting strip used on the boxes, it is reasonable to conclude that this gun was loaded before 1926. So, it has been passed around from owner to owner for nearly 100 years loaded and fully capable of going off, just needing a spark introduced to the powder. Could it really go off? After nearly 100 years in unknown conditions, was the powder still viable?

I didn’t think that was a question I would Removed from the stock the lock is ready to be disassembled and cleaned. be able to answer because after pulling the load I had to break up the powder that had been compressed into a solid mass. After removing as much as I could I sprayed oil down the barrel to kill whatever residue remained. I thought that was the end of it but while trying to pull the breachplug and being unable to unscrew it, I resorted to heating it with a propane torch.

The oil left in the barrel eventually boiled away and, much to my surprise, the powder residue ignited. It was little more than a puff of smoke and a poof from the flash hole but even after 100 years and a soaking in oil the powder still was able to teach this old hand a lesson on the durability of blackpowder. With the barrel cleared it was time to start restoring this old musket. In this case, as with all antique firearms, care should be taken with any restoration work done.

The idea is to remove surface dirt and rust, not to refinish the gun to look like new. Such a gun is apiece of history with a story to tell and the bumps and bruises of several lifetimes of honest use. We don’t want to erase those features, we just want to stop any further deterioration of the wood and metal. Disassembly showed a lot of dirt and oil accumulated under the barrel and in the mortise for the lock as well as a few cracks in the wood.

The stock was washed in hot water and Dawn detergent to remove the old dirt and oil from the surface. After giving it 24 hours to dry, a waterproof wood glue was used to mend the cracks. The barrel was scrubbed with oil and steel wool on the outside to remove the surface rust. The bore was scrubbed with Brownells Rust Preventative No. 2 and a shotgun bore brush driven by an electric drill and worked up and down the bore. An old T-shirt provided large patches to remove the oil and rust residue.

The final part to be worked on was the lock itself. It is a large old musket lock that reminds me of the locks on European muskets, however, the lock is unmarked, there are no sling swivels on the gun, and the side plates are typical of what are called "New England Militia

The lock is totally disassembled and carefully cleaned by hand with Brownells Rust Preventative No. 2, steel wool, and wire brushes. The only markings on the gun are the initials "HW" on the stock and a number "7" stamped on the underside of the barrel. Muskets". There are no markings on the gun except for a small "HW" stamped in the grip area of the stock and a number "7" stamped on the underside of the barrel. These features would suggest the gun was made circa 1820s.

The lock was disassembled so the surface rust could be removed using oil and steel wool and carefully reassembled. I was surprised to find that the pan was made of brass. I had never seen this feature before. The brass With the surface rust removed and a light coat of boiled linseed oil on the stock the musket is clean, unloaded, and restored to shootable condition.

Brass inlays under the lock screws give this old musket a touch of class. trigger guard and buttplate were not cleaned or polished as the patina accumulated over the years cannot be easily duplicated. The stock then got a thin coat of boiled linseed oil cut in a one to one ratio with turpentine to accelerate drying. The rear barrel loop was missing so I fabricated one to fit the dovetail in the barrel.

When reassembled it will be interesting to see how well we can make it shoot with around ball and a light charge of blackpowder. Collectors will bemoan any work done on the gun as they insist that it lowers the value. I have been told to simply leave an antique firearm as found. However, the firearm in question was not in a condition that any serious collector would want it. I have a simple rule of thumb: If I can afford it, it has little to no collector interest.

True collectibles in good condition are simply way out of my price range. Since retiring, I buy derelict firearms with the intention of stopping further deterioration, repairing them, and bring them back into shootable condition. I enjoy the challenge and find great satisfaction in bringing a small piece of history back to life so it can share its story and be enjoyed by future generations of shooters. AG