MAX Muzzleloader

The Thompson Center Encore Pro Hunter Review

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 17:06:00 +0000

I had really started to doubt whether or not we would get this last data book complete and ready for sale, but we did! Almost all of the loads were done in the spring, it was just the chronograph part that seemed to drag on and on (and on).

But here it is, ready to go. This will be the last of the data books for this year and it has been a much bigger undertaking than either Kathy or I ever expected, a lot of work to say the least. We have now completed 5 data books, it has taken just short of three years. Thanks to you all for your support in buying our products, MAX is growing and it’s due to your support and the common bond we have, the great sport of muzzleloading.

This is the my review of the TC Pro Hunter that is in the book, and as you see, I love me some Encore and always have. This book has 34 outstanding loads for the long barreled Pro Hunter that is fitted with the Speed Breech XT.

Without a doubt, Thompson Center Arms has always been one step ahead of the competition when it comes to muzzleloaders . They’ve also been trend-setters of design and quality for others to look up to and be forced follow. Thompson Center’s unique ideas and designs have always been able to pull us in for a closer look and many, like myself, have purchased several TC products. But in any case, if you’re a hunter, you’ve wanted a TC product even if you’ve never bought one.

I purchased my first Encore Pro Hunter in 2009. As with all TC products, it was built with unsurpassed quality. I liked the idea of having an extra 2” of barrel to help add a little extra velocity to my loads. At first I was a little concerned about the Speed Breech XT, mainly because of its extra length, meaning the extra distance the fire from the primer had to travel. I could really care less about being able to remove my breech plug by hand or quickly but this is the only option to be able to get the extra barrel length. (The original style plug was fine, so why fix it?) But in the end, the Speed Breech XT proved reliable in igniting the market’s most popular powders.

As with the original Encore, just because the Pro Hunter CAN shoot a 150 grain MAGNUM load doesn’t mean it can do it accurately. So if accuracy is a must, it isn’t going to happen with a 150 grain MAGNUM load, not with anybody’s rifle. And loose powder will always outperform pellets, always. I did however do three things to this rifle before shooting it for groups and they were: 1) I broke the new barrel in by firing about 30 shots using a solid copper bullet using a controlled process; 2) I did a trigger job on the rifle; and 3) I replaced the factory hinge pin with an aftermarket pin that tightened the barrel to frame fit-up a bit. These three things are easy to do and well worth the expense and effort.

To say the Encore is versatile would be an understatement compared to others. With a frame and butt stock, a few forearms and barrels, you’re hunting almost anything in the world! The quality of TC products, outside of some custom stuff, is un-surpassed. There is nothing like the fit, finish and feel of a TC rifle. If you have ever owned one, you probably still own it and most likely own more than just one.

Thompson Center Arms products have become a part of our hunting and shooting heritage and they earned it by building high quality products. TC products aren’t cheap, but no truly reliable and quality rifles are. With the right fine tuning, good loading and cleaning techniques and load components, the Encore Pro Hunter will serve you well both on the range and in the field.

Thompson Center has done it again with the Pro Hunter, it’s a great rifle with multiple options at a more than fair and reasonable price and will be money well spent.

Russell Lynch

As always, thanks for your business. Russell and Kathy

7 Basic Marksmanship Fundamentals

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 16:35:00 +0000

MAX Fall Shooting School- Part 1

The key to becoming a better shooter is more than going to the range with good intentions.
Quality practice is the key to becoming shooter. Simply spending a lot of time and shooting rounds down range is just not going to cut it.   This is however a good plan if your intention is to expect as much from yourself as you expect from your rifle.

However, knowing what to practice and how to practice is not only the best place to start, it’s the only place.

So, I want to start with the “what” part first: that being the “7 basic fundamentals”.

These 7 fundamentals are inherent with all shooting disciplines, no matter the shooter, no matter the weapon. There are also Marksmanship Traits, but these basic fundamentals are a must.

The big 7 are as follows:

• Support (position)
• Stock Weld & Grip
• Sight Alignment
• Sight Picture
• Natural Point of Aim
• Breath Control
• Trigger Control

I’m going to add one that’s really a Trait, but it’s a must:

•    Follow Through

They all work together and a couple are more forgiving than others, but be no mistake about it, each one plays its role in getting a well-aimed, well-placed shot on target. The ability of a shooter to master and have control of them, on a consistent basis, is what makes them accurate and deadly, every time. It is what separates some from others. The best part is that you don’t have to buy it, and the fact is, all the money in the world can’t buy it even if you had it.

The best way for everyone understand and learn them is to break them down into groups. They’re pretty much in the order in which we need to start each shot so we’re going to start at the top and work our way down, in these groups.

Group 1
•    Support (position)
•    Stock Weld & Grip

Group 2
•    Sight Alignment
•    Sight Picture
•    Natural Point of Aim

Group 3
•    Breath Control
•    Trigger Control

Each fundamental is used in getting each shot down range. If you’re thinking that it’s just too much to keep up with and do for each shot, just wait and see how it all comes together. When learned and practiced in groups, all of the groups will then be combined into a process. When practiced properly, the process becomes second nature, and before you know it, you’re getting well placed shots off in mere seconds.

When this process becomes a regular part of your range practice routine, you and your rifle will soon become a well-oiled, finely tuned, death-from-afar, big game killing machine. Just the way we should like it!!

In the next artical,  I will talk each group and how to put them into a deadly process.

Muzzleloader Triggers: It's NOT Clean 'Till You Get Behind It's Ears!

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 00:44:00 +0000

I find very few topics where I can let pictures do most of the talking, but today after Church I found a good one. I went to my office, put in a good deer hunting video, got my trigger job stuff out and settled down to knock out a few trigger job’s I’d been putting off for a few days.

Now I’m not going to say the name of the customer of who’s rifle I was working on, but here’s what I found just under the surface of what otherwise “looked” like a clean frame...

This is really pretty common in Encores that are used for muzzleloader hunting or shooting, if not taken apart and cleaned from time to time (I clean all of mine at least twice a year). Not only will this kind of crud cause corrosion (which it has in this case), it will make even the best trigger job become sluggish and hard. Just look at the rust that came off onto my hand!

Whether you ever decide to do your own trigger job or not, learn to take these Encore frames apart for a good end-of-the-season cleaning. Unless this is the sort of thing you want to find at the end of summer as you prepare for the fall hunting season.

If you learn from me or someone else, just learn (I do sell a video.....SuperMAX Your Muzzleloader). Encores have a very simple mechanism to take apart and put back together and no special tools are really needed (there is a set of pliers that makes life simpler, but it can be done without them).

When I was a child I knew when I got out of the bathtub that my Mamaw Hobbs was going to look to see that I had got myself good and clean. It didn’t take long to figure out that the first place she was going to look was behind my ears. It also didn’t take long to figure out that it was a lot less painless for me to do it myself.

So learn how to clean behind you Encore's ears, it will be less painless in the end.

13 Steps to Properly Clean Your Modern Muzzleloader

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 01:30:00 +0000

I’ve worked for years with some of the best people in the world, and a group within that group are Harley riders. They talk about them all the time and over the years I’ve heard them say (among other things) something like this to folks thinking about buying one, “if you don’t know how to use a crescent wrench and a screw driver, you need to learn." I know they mean it from a stand point of things just getting a little loose with a lot of road time.

Along those same lines, I quite often say something like this to people wanting to get started with a new muzzleloader, “if you don’t like cleaning a rifle, you need to get over it”.

Anyone not agree?

Good news is, it’s not that big of a deal and it really doesn't take that long if you know how and you have the right stuff. Once you have the right stuff, it’s then just a matter of getting yourself a good system in place.

If I have a system for anything, it’s cleaning a muzzleloader, and I also happen to know a little something about what products work and which ones to tell you not to bother with.

Here’s what I use and how I do it:

Begin by gathering & preparing your cleaning supplies:

     Patches
     Cleaner
     Wire brush
     Pipe cleaners
     Lewis Lead Remover
     JB Bore Cleaner (Paste)
     TCS Cleaning jag
     Canned air
     A ram rod with a rotating handle or jag*

*Keep in mind, to properly clean or load a muzzleloader, either the jag or the handle of the rod must rotate when a bullet or patch is run down the barrel. This so that one or the other is tracking the barrels' rifling.

I’ve got to where I put a stack of patches in a small re-sealable plastic container and pour enough good cleaner over them to get them good and wet (of course, I recommend MAX Dead On Clean!). Butch's Bore Shine for Black powder would be my second choice. (My container here is one I saved just for this purpose that came from KFC...it came with my baked beans!)

Now you’re ready to start a detailed cleaning.

STEP 1: Take three (3) patches from the bowl and blot them until they are only damp. Using a TCS Cleaning Jag (those rubber O-rings are excellent at forcing the patch deep into the rifling) and the first damp patch, SCRUB the lower 6 to 8 inches (from the breech plug forward) of the barrel 10 to 12 times. This would be to remove the crust ring left behind from shooting Triple-7. Follow with the other 2 damp patches at 7 passes back and forth each.

STEP 2: Now run two (2) dry patches 4 passes back and forth each. This will remove any cleaner from the barrel.

STEP 3: Disassemble the rifle.

STEP 4: Remove & clean the breech plug. See the detailed directions at my previous blog article titled “Breech Plug Cleaning: How I Do It”.

STEP 5: Now take the brass wire brush and wrap a wet patch around it. Twist it into the breech far enough to get past the breech plug threads and rotate it 4 to 5 turns. Repeat with a second wet patch.

Repeat with multiple dry patches until you see they are coming out mostly clean. (Remember that they will never come back out perfectly clean or white since the brush will always have some dirty cleaner in it.)

STEP 6: Now it’s time to use the best muzzleloading barrel cleaning tool in the world, the Lewis Lead Remover. To do this, run your rod up the barrel from the muzzle and out the breech. Attach the Lewis Lead Remover.

Squirt some good bore cleaner (again, we have an excellent one: Dead On Clean) on the L.L.R. and pull it through the barrel and out the muzzle end. Repeat.

Nothing in your barrel can survive what this Lewis Lead Remover has to dish out!

STEP 7: Dry out the threads of the breech end of the rifle with a patch (you can use your finger for this). Now reinsert the thoroughly clean breech plug (don’t forget to lube it first, per my instructions in my breech plug cleaning article).

STEP 8: Using a patch, again with a good conditioner or oil on it, lubricate the entire outside of the barrel that would be under the forearm.

STEP 9: Clean the face of the breech and down inside the frame. Use conditioner and cleaner for this. This is where the pipe cleaners and long handled Q-tips earn their keep. Lubricate this area real well.

STEP 10.   Now reassemble the rifle.

STEP 11:   Using one patch with cleaner on it that has been blotted until it is nearly dry, down the barrel 2 to 3 times to remove anything loosened by the Lewis Lead Remover. Repeat with a dry patch or two.

**One other tip that will help clean and keep your bore smooth and bright, would be to run a patch with some JB Bore Cleaner (Paste) down the barrel every other time you clean rifle. Use one patch with JB, 8 to 10 passes. No more than this, JB is a very light abrasive and a little goes a long way.

STEP 12: Using one patch with some conditioning oil on it, pass it one time down and back through the barrel to protect the metal from rust.

STEP 13: Wipe down all exterior metal parts of your rifle with a good conditioner to protect from rust.

NOW your rifle is CLEAN and ready for storage, or to be reloaded for your next shot!!

New Muzzleloader Barrel Boost: Barrel Shinning

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 02:47:00 +0000

I have a great, easy, low-cost way to shine your muzzleloader barrel, and due to our new video on the Thompson Center Triumph running a little late (been spending all my time completing the 5 Load Data Books ), I wanted to go ahead and share that process with everyone now.

I found this process so helpful with my Triumph, that I now use it on every rifle before I shoot it for the first group. I couldn’t tell you how well that rifle would have shot before this simple lapping process, but I can tell you it’s a tack-driver now and I credit this process to helping with it.

A smooth bore is a fast, accurate and easy-to-clean bore. There’s pretty much only three ways to get a bore smooth:

     1. pay someone to hand-lap it
     2. hand-lap it yourself
     3. cheat (my personal favorite!)

In this article I’m going to tell you how I do a “do-it-yourself” easy cheat job of lapping the barrel of a new muzzleloader.

Please don’t confuse this with a custom, hand-lapped barrel, but as effective method of smoothing out the tooling marks from a new barrel quickly, efficiently and effectively.

We all know that in most all cases, after a center fire rifle has been fired 30 to 50 times it will start grouping a little better. Just from being fired and cleaned, the bore starts to become smooth, and settles down a bit and becomes a more predictable, accurate rifle that is easer to clean.

A rough barrel causes drag (resistance) and gives residue a place to hang it’s dirty head whereas a smooth barrel helps eliminate both of these un-wanted problems.

The problem with a muzzleloader is that it can take a short life-time to smooth a barrel shooting bullets with sabots. So we need to cheat rifle-nature a little by forcing the barrel-aging process a bit.

1) What you need to have:

2- 20 packs of Hornady 350gr FPB bore sized bullets (these big boys have more bearing service on the rifling)

1- bottle of some type of bore cleaner that is made to clean copper fowling from your barrel (I use Montana Extreme Copper Cream)

1- jar of JB Bore Cleaner (paste)

Other cleaning products you would normally have on hand, such as: patches, bore cleaning solvent, a ram rod and a cleaning jag........

2) What you need to do:

Go to the range and shoot 30 (all 40 will be even be better) of the FPB's. Don't worry about trying to group them, just get them down the barrel (you might use this time to practice trigger control). Use 100 grs of powder. Using 100 grains of powder with this heavy bullet helps to ensure that the base of this bullet expands quickly. If you use T-7, or any powder other than BH 209, you’re going to need to clean between each shot. With BH 209, clean after every 5 shots. This is also a good time to burn up old powder.

3) What you need to do next:

So the next step of the process is getting your bore CLEAN.... and then CLEANER.... I mean bare-metal CLEAN!

To do this particular "clean", I do as I normally would do....but twice.

And I use the TCS Cleaning Jag (left) and the Lewis Lead Remover (right) per the manufacturers recommendations & instructions (which in my never-ending quest to find better cleaning materials and tools, I now use, and recommend, over the now-obsolete Chiefs ProClean tools).

Then I go to work with the Montana Extreme Copper Cream. I’ve been running 2 patches with copper cleaner down the barrel 10 passes each.

Next I swab the barrel out with some bore cleaner, then I repeat the copper cream and the bore cleaner each again.

When the above cleaning process is complete, swab the barrel out real good and make sure is good and dry, and by the way, CLEAN.

4) The finishing Touch

Start by stirring the JB Bore Cleaner. Put a thin coat of the bore paste on a patch, cover the patch edge to edge. Work the JB into the patch with your fingers. Then run the patch back and forth the full length of the barrel 10 times, using a cleaning jag (the TCS jag is the best on the market). So you will have made 20 passes with that patch.

The JB becomes very close to resembling mud (it pretty much starts out that way to be honest with you) so you will then need to swab the barrel with bore cleaner. A few wet patches and a dry one will clean well enough to start again. Repeat this process 9 more times. So in the end, you will have made 100 passes with the JB.

Now clean the entire rifle inside and out, just like after any day at the range. You're done and ready to go.

It's a little work, but worth the effort and it's really pretty cheap. I now use the JB 10 passes every other time I clean any of my rifles. It will continue to make a bore smooth and bright, which is what your shooting for. (shooting for...ha)

When done, you're 2 to 3 years ahead of where the rifle would be under normal use.

A rifle is like a fine wine, it gets better with age. But if a muzzleloader were wine, we would be drinking nothing but grape juice for years waiting for it to age....

Muzzleloading Powders: Does Powder Get Too Old?

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 18:29:00 +0000

I know I’ve read articles about people finding some VERY OLD black powder that will still go off but how far should we really trust it? Would you really want to trust something like old gun powder to your hunt? The answer is no of course, but how old is too old?

As you can see by the looks of this can of Pyrodex, it’s been around a while.

I can’t tell you for sure how long, but my Uncle Don passed this one down to me somewhere around 1980, just a few years after I started muzzleloading (around 1977). He said something like, “Try some of this new-fangled stuff. I don’t like it, I’m sticking with my black powder”.

Well he was one of my hunting Heroes and taught me everything I knew at the time, so the can is still pretty much full.

In my opinion, it’s too old for me to trust to a hunt today, but it will probably still go off.

I believe powders today can last several years if stored properly. But if just set on a shelf, moisture can become it’s worse enemy. Age itself can also take its toll on most any black powder substitute.

Moisture is, without a doubt, the biggest problem-causer of all gun powders. In the case of the Hodgdon line of powders it’s the sneaky little moisture called humidity. If you’ve ever picked up the powder you used last year and noticed that it’s in a clump, humidity has taken it's toll.

I use to use a screw driver or a pocket knife to break it up and go on to the range as usual, but not anymore because here’s what happens: the moisture (which is what causes it to stick together) causes the granules to swell, just like moisture does saw dust. So now that the granules are larger, you’re getting less powder in your loads.

Last year I compared some old T-7 against a fresh can and the old powder was consistently 20 +/- fps slower than the fresh stuff. Less powder, less speed.

This however does not seem to be the case with Blackhorn 209. BH209 is just different, you can tell by looking at it and loading it, it’s a very hard powder that I’ve found not to be as prone to becoming contaminated by moisture.

Another selling point as it does cost a little more, but it will last longer on the shelf.

Here’s a few tips to help you with getting a little longer life out of your powder between seasons:

If you use one of the pour spouts that screws on top of the cans like I do, make sure you remove it and screw the factory lid back down tight between trips to the range or between seasons.

If you have a gun safe with a de-humidifier, store your powder there with the cap on tight.

As far as how to stop or slow the aging process, I can’t help you with that any more than I can help stop it for you or me. Black powder substitutes are in their own category; they will age faster than smokeless or even black powder itself. It’s a chemical compound and it will start breaking down at some point, I can’t tell you when, but it will happen.

Another housekeeping matter you may want to think about would be to keep track of when you buy your powder in order to know how old it is. When you get it home, take a sharpie and write the month and year on the can before putting it away.

My recommendations would be to shoot up last years powder before this years season, then practice the last few times before season opens and hunt with this year's fresh powder.

But if stored properly, shoot T-7 2 years and BH209 for 3 years. After that, burn it on the range during practice.

This may sound a little too conservative or maybe even over-kill to some, but as we all know, we can’t always buy ourselves out of problems on a big game hunt, but in this case we can.

And while we are talking about powders, I want to thank the owner of Western Powers (manufacturers of BH209) Doug Phair and Chris Hodgdon of Hodgdon Powders for the support they've shown by providing fresh powder for all of MAX’s Load Data Books.

I wanted fresh, right-out-of-the-factory-door powder for that project and they both jumped on board in a very generous and helpful way. As best I can figure, over 2500 shots were fired to get that data over the past two and half years; both BlackHorn and Hodgdon supplied every last grain. Thanks to you both.

I do know now, from a lot of experience that fresh powder is accurate, reliable and deadly powder, I’m just saying...................

Marksmanship: What it is

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 20:07:00 +0000

One of many things I’ve developed a true passion for in my life is the skill of Marksmanship. I really probably love teaching it as much as I do the trigger-pulling part.

When I produced my very first video MAXimize Your Muzzleloader, I decided that a chapter on marksmanship was a must. The reason was, and still is, is because I know from experience that everyone is not created equal when it comes to shooting; no more than they are at golf, driving a race car, singing............ or anything else.

So knowing this I just didn’t (and still don’t) feel good about selling instructional material on how to get a rifle shooting accurately, knowing that the rifle was only part the equation. I mean I can’t tell by a name and address of someone buying a video who can shoot well and who might need a little help. Without having some basic marksmanship skills, you might not be able to achieve MAXimum potential from your muzzleloader and won't get as much out of my videos. So that’s why I include the Marksmanship chapter. I just felt it necessary to help those that may need what little I could offer in the amount of time I had.

I’ve been teaching Marksmanship for 23+/- years now in the Law Enforcement and Military Professions. The members in these two lines of work need the skill for different reasons than hunters or competitors, but it’s all the same skill. Back several (13) years ago I was the Training Lieutenant at my Sheriff’s Office for several years before taking over a Patrol Shift. Some Deputies shot so poorly, that I talked the administration into more money for ammo in order to implement one day a month for Deputies to come to the range and practice. They could come out and shoot a 100 rounds or so and let the instructors work with them, and improve their skill level.

What I found, in a short amount of time, was that the only Deputies that showed up were the ones that could already shoot well. The reason they shot well is because they practiced. Rarely, if ever did the ones that needed it, show up for additional practice. I got to thinking that one reason may be that some people just don't want to admit that they need help or a little guidance.

Here’s how that little story relates to hunters. To start with, 6 out of 10 men or women who become a cop have little to no experience with firearms before becoming one. So, they have never had any formal firearms training prior to becoming a Cop. But the Law Enforcement agency does train them, just like they do the people in our military. But how many people in the population of this country ever become a Cop or join the Military? These are the main two professions that REQUIRE firearms training as a part of their job. So in the scheme of the hunting world, how many hunters have ever had any formal Marksmanship instruction?

So, all the technical information in the world nor the best equipment money can buy will be of any use without knowing something about the skills needed to produce a well aimed and a well placed shot. Going to the range a few weeks before deer season expecting to have clover leaf groups is not really very realistic. It's just like a Deputy not being able to hit his butt with both hands because they won't practice.

However, some people are just born with a natural ability to shoot... or sing or drive race cars. Others aren’t.

For those of us who weren’t, practice helps us get better at anything we want to be better at. But before practice, we have to know how to practice properly, and that’s what I’m going to be writing about for the next few weeks. As you can see, I’m no more cut out for singing than Morgan is for driving.

I looked for a good definition of Marksmanship before starting this series of articles, but just couldn’t find one that I liked, so here’s what I think:

“Marksmanship” is having the needed skills to shoot a firearm safely and accurately.

The word “Marksman” is often referred to as person who is skilled at shooting a firearm. That may be true, but then again, the Army, Marine Corps, NRA and other competitive shooting groups see it as the very lowest skill level one can have. Hmmmmm. I still go with my definition. And I believe it's the practicing of "marksmanship skills" that can earn you the competitive shooting title of "Expert".

So now we've defined what Marksmanship is, but where can we get it and how can we get better at it?

Well, the good news is, it’s a skill that can be learned and improved on. You just have to know what the principals are and then practice. practice. practice.

On the other hand, even a great marksman can’t make a poor rifle look good, nor can an un-trained marksman do the finest rifle in the world proper justice.

But usually, a rifle is only as good as “the nut behind butt”.

I find that it helps me to teach and talk about the skill of marksmanship; helps me stay on top of my game (and at my age I need all the help I can get). So for the last few weeks summer I’m going to mix in a few articles on marksmanship and it’s principles and traits, and then how to apply them to your practice sessions and untimely, to the woods this fall and winter.

I’ve never been satisfied with the lowest level of anything, I don’t think you are either, nor should you be. I do have a lot of expertise in the marksmanship arena and I'm happy to share what I know works with you.

Speed Loaders for Muzzleloaders: A MAX Review

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:10:00 +0000

Speed Loaders? Quick loaders?

I’ve been using these things in one form or another for over 30 years and I’ve found them helpful, but never speedy or quick. They are faster than starting a load from scratch, and they do let you leave a lot of stuff at home, but speedy or quick they are not.

They are however, the best and most convenient way to carry a pocket full of loads for our muzzleloaders if we need them. One other thing I’ve always wished they were, but have never trusted them for, was keeping my loads dry... until now.

A few weeks ago I was cruising the muzzleloading isle at Sportsmans Warehouse, just looking to see if there was anything new, and lo and behold, there was a pack of RMC EC-View Magnum Speed Shells which I had seen on the internet from time to time, but had never held in my hand. Well I had to have them, and when I left they were in my bag.

When I got them home and had a chance to examine them, I could tell right off the bat that this brand would be the water-proof speed loaders I'd wished for, and I was right.

As always, I had to test them against other brands, and I had a test in mind, a real simple one involving water.

I took my normal brand, a Thompson Center Magnum Quick Shot, a Knight Fiber Lite Speed Shell and my new-found favorite. I loaded all of them with powder and a bullet the way they were designed, and put them into a container of water. Yup, dunked them right in, put the lid on and let the water do its job. It only took a few minutes, I did it one night while locking up my office for the day.

As I went to unlock the door the next day, I remembered my little experiment and couldn’t wait to get in the door and check out my water-test.

When I took the lid off, the first thing I saw was something black on the bottom of my container, I knew what it was, powder. It was just a matter of which loader it had come from.

Not having time to take the needed photos for the blog, and not really having time to clean this mess up, I put the lid back on this not-so-elaborate test and left it another 5 days.

With my camera and rags at the ready, I opened the container, 5 days later I remind you. Good news is that the situation hadn’t gotten any worse (but it hadn't improved either).

Feeling sure that the mess in the bottom of the container came from the TC, I picked it up and sure enough, black liquid dripped from the end. Failed!

Then I looked at the Knight loader, nothing dripping from it, but when I opened it there was water in the powder. Another failed grade!

Then I looked at my new found friend, perfect. Just as dry as when I had loaded it. An A+ pass!

Simple test and only two grades, pass or fail. Put your pencils down, the test is over.

We know speed or quick loaders are neither speedy nor quick, but we now know that at least one can keep our powder dry. No more keeping my extra loads in ziplock sandwich bags. When I wrote the words "sandwich bag" it really hit home for me, had I really been trusting my hunt's to a d... (dang) sandwhich bag for 30 years. Are you kidding me!! But never again. (does that sound like you?).

Another plus for the RMC loaders is that the caps will not come off while in your pocket or pouch leaving powder in the bottom of either and a loader empty or with a partial load of powder. I've had this happen more than a few times, as I'm sure some of you have.

I know we don’t swim to our stands, but it is sure one less thing to worry about, I mean it can get pretty wet out there.

RMC EC-View Magnum Speed Shells are well built and better yet built to hunt. They are a quality product that you can trust your hunt to in two ways, by keeping your loads dry and intact. RMC EC-View loaders will be my chose from now on and forever.

MAX Review: the Thompson Center Encore

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 19:13:00 +0000

Our 4th M.A.X. Load Data Book is complete and ready: the Thompson Center Encore.

The TC Encore is the rifle I choose to move from the muzzleloader I grew up with to the muzzleloader I thought I needed to start hunting Whitetails in the Mid-West. And as it ended up, I chose wisely. It’s also the rifle that led me to start a business now known as Muzzleloader Accuracy Xperts, or just plain M.A.X.

Even though I was disappointed with my Encore rifle in the beginning, and we (me and my Encore) got off to a slow start, it’s still the best built and most reliable rifle in modern muzzleloading. Thompson Center rifles have always been some of the best built in the industry. Both the materials and the craftsmanship they put into their rifles are virtually un-surpassed. All of the TC rifles I’ve owned or tested have been reliable, but none as well built as the they’re Encore line.

TC rifles have always been pricey, and still are. But if you able and willing to get over the sticker shock, you will not have a bad experience with one of these rifles. The options available the to the Encore owner are also close to limitless.

Here's the review from my new MAX Load Data Book for the Encore:

Without a doubt, Thompson Center Arms has always been one step ahead of the competition when it comes to muzzleloaders. They’ve also been trend-setters of design and quality for others to look up to (and be forced to follow!). Thompson Centers’ unique ideas and designs have always been able to pull us in for a closer look and many, like myself, have purchased several TC products. But in any case, if you’re a hunter, you’ve wanted a TC product even if you’ve never bought one. The data in this book was shot and developed with my original Encore with a 26” barrel and the TC original breech plug. If you’re in the market for an Encore I would suggest sticking to the original-style breech plug; it’s low maintenance and will never let you down. (And don’t let it bother you that it takes 15 or 20 extra seconds to remove it.)

My first experience with the Encore was around 2004 and it was kind of bitter-sweet. As with all TC products, it was built with un-surpassed quality. But on the range, it was a disappointment which lead to a headache. I loved the quality, but I wanted a mid-west Whitetail rifle. I worked with this rifle on and off over the next year and finally un-locked it’s potential. In fact, what I learned about the Encore (since it was my first modern 209 muzzleloader) has allowed me to be able to get the most out of all other modern muzzleloading rifles.

The first thing I learned was that just because the Encore CAN shoot a 150 grain load doesn’t mean it can do it accurately. So if accuracy is a must, it isn’t gonna happen with a 150 grain MAGNUM load, not with anybody's rifle.

And loose powder will always outperform pellets, always.

Second, the more I shot the Encore, the better it shot. This will be true with any rifle, center fire or muzzleloader. This rifle will shoot and will shoot very well, just give it a chance. The Encore trigger, like almost any factory rifle lacks a little to be desired, but they can be worked on a bit. These rifles can have an outstanding trigger, another plus for the Encore.

The only modifications I’ve made to the rifle is: some trigger work, a good tight hinge pin fit (the hinge pin is a problem area that needs to be corrected), and I’ve gotten awful fond of the thumbhole stocks, so I put one on mine.

To say the Encore is versatile would be an understatement compared to other muzzleloading rifles. With a frame and butt stock, a few forearms and barrels, you’re ready to hunt almost anything in the world. The quality of TC products, outside of some custom stuff, is un-surpassed. There is nothing like the fit, finish and feel of a TC rifle. If you have ever owned one, you probably still own it and most likely own more than that one.

Thompson Center Arms products have become a part of our hunting and shooting heritage and they earned their place the hard way, by building high-quality products. TC products aren’t cheap, but no truly reliable and quality rifles are. With the right fine tuning, good loading and cleaning techniques and load components, the Encore will serve you well both on the range and in the field.

Our Encore Load Data Book will give you a great starting point and save you a lot of money by narrowing down the components that make up a good load for an Encore.

The great part is that since we do not have any sponsors, our Encore Load Data Book (actually, all our books and videos) include a wide variety of powders, primers & bullets from various muzzleloading product manufacturers.

The Encore does have a few areas that need a little attention but they are low cost and easy to accomplish. I've made an entire video on how to do a trigger job called SuperMAX Your Muzzleloader: the TC Encore, and my original video that started this entire company also features a TC Encore: Maximize Your Muzzleloader.

With a little time, patience and commitment, the TC Encore will become one of your favorite and most trusted big game rifles.

Breech Plug Cleaning Part 2: How I Do It

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:06:00 +0000

As promised I’m going to show you how to get your breech plug spotless, quickly and easily. Now it won’t be as fun as getting dirty or as quick, but it is what it is.
Here is what you’re going to need:

     •    Q-Tips (I like the long ones)
     •    pipe cleaners (I like the extra-adsorbent type)
     •    brass toothbrush
     •    1/8 inch brass or stainless steel tube brush (SS is the best)
     •    drill bit (either 1/8 or 3mm, depending on what rifle you're shooting)
     •    welding torch cleaner
     •    steel wool (OO is best, but any will do)
     •    cleaning solvent (course, I like MAX Cleaner)
     •    penetrating/lubricating oil (ditto, MAX Conditioner)
     •    canned air
     •    rag

(seems like a lot, but we use this stuff for other cleaning chores already)

As soon as you start cleaning your rifle, remove the breech plug first, spray it with cleaning solvent and leave it for last. Get it soaking. Carbon is hard and we need it to soften up.

When your rifle is clean, go to work on your breech plug. To begin, twist the proper drill bit clockwise into the fire channel. Just 2 to 3 turns and it’s done all it’s going to do. You're done with that.

Point the powder end of the plug up and spray more cleaner in the fire channel to flush some of the junk out.

Turn the 1/8” SS or brass tube brush into the fire channel, turning it around 6 to 8 times; now you’re really cleaning! Carbon cannot survive what this brush has to offer.

Spray some more cleaner in the hole, again holding the plug upward.

Now to clean one of the hardest areas, the transition area of the flash hole and the fire channel.

Pull off two small pieces of steel wool and twist them into long pieces that can be pushed into the fire channel.

Start one in the hole and then push it down to the bottom with your drill bit or you can use the end of one of the long handled Q-Tips. Turn the steel wool around in the hole 6 to 8 times. I repeat this process a second time, then you're done with that. The steel wool will be stuck in the Fire Channel, but not for long.

Next, take your welding torch cleaner and put it in the flash hole from the powder end. Scrub the sides of the flash hole and when it’s clean, push the steel wool out the fire channel with the torch cleaner. Steel wool is good stuff and also does a good job inside the powder cup on the face of the plug when carbon’s playing hard-to-get.

Now take your steel wool, if needed, and scrub the inside of the primer pocket hole. Most of the time just a Q-Tip and a little bore cleaner will do the job here.

Now spray a little cleaner all over the outside of the plug. Take your brass toothbrush and scrub the entire outside of the plug and scrub it good.

Flush the plug again, inside and out with bore cleaner.

Now take a pipe cleaner and soak it with bore cleaner then run it back and forth in the fire channel 5 to 6 times. Repeat with the other end of the pipe cleaner if needed. If it don’t come out clean the first time, it will the second.

Now take your rag and dry the plug off as best you can, then use your canned air and finish drying the plug, inside and out.

After drying, follow the steps in Part One of this article (Breech Plug Cleaning Part I: Why & What You Need) and you're good to go. One perfectly clean, ready-to-go breech plug!

Something noteworthy if you're cleaning a TC plug that has a rubber O-ring: If you are using a solvent-based cleaner, it’s best to remove the O-ring because some of these cleaners can swell the rubber making it useless. The brass toothbrush won’t help it a lot either. Just a tip. Also clean around the gas rings in this type of plug good. When dry, these rings should rotate freely around the grove they fit in.

This process only takes about five minutes and like I said, it’s as clean as the day it was born.

Muzzleloading is all about a process; learn the process, do it the same every time and you will always get the desired results. In this case clean.

Breech Plug Cleaning Part I: Why & What You Need

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:06:00 +0000

Several issues have been brought to light by the newer and more improved (yeah right) breech plugs.

First ignition, or the lack of, and what to do about it has, without a doubt, been the biggest.

Second, I think we can all agree, has been the cleaning of it. And the clean part really applies to all breech plugs, not just the new and “improved” ones.

Shooting as much as I do has given me quite a bit of time and opportunity to reflect on the matter in a practical, hands-on kind of way. I’m going to tell you in two parts what I’ve learned and what I’ve done about it. I’ve been a problem solver most of my adult life for one issue or another and it’s not just a simple deal for me. I mean, I can look at a problem and in almost any case, and come up with a fix almost immediately. Oh but I can’t stop there, oh no. I’m a “cause and effect” person, just a simple fix and go on your way is just not an option for me. Sometimes I wish it were. So here’s what my “cause and effect” sickness has taught me about breech plug cleaning:

First, burnt powder residue (let’s call it carbon) is going to build up in the fire channel, that’s a fact. To be honest with you though, once we get off the bench and in the woods, who cares. Mine is spotless when it counts and I’m sure yours is too. Anyway, I think we can control to some extent how much carbon builds up and at what rate. If we can control the rate, then we somewhat control how much.

To start with, the inside wall of the fire channel is not that smooth, it is a little rough from the machining process. Just think about running a cotton ball across a piece of glass and then a piece of sandpaper. It’s not that rough, but you get the idea. This carbon also builds up quicker sticking to its self than it does to a smooth surface. So once there’s a layer of carbon on the inside of the flash channel it’s like rabbits multiplying.

Here’s what I do now prior to shooting. I think it helps with reducing the amount of carbon build-up over a shooting session and I know it makes the cleaning process easier at the end of one. What I use is a good penetrating oil/ lubricating oil and a pipe cleaner. There are a lot of super lubricates on the market that penetrate your guns' metal, lubricates and all but disappears, but it’s still there. I (of course) like our MAX Dead On Condition, but there are others. Miltech is also a good one.

Saturate one end of the pipe cleaner and run it back and forth in the fire channel a few times. Then rub the pipe cleaner all over back of the breech plug to include the primer cup, anywhere you get carbon build-up. Let it set five minutes or so, put a good coating of breech plug grease on the threads, install and start shooting.

Back to the part about it building up or sticking to itself quicker: First, the above process will slow the build-up somewhat because carbon won’t stick to well-treated metal as well. But if you start shooting with a breech plug that has any carbon, even the smallest little bit that was left behind from the last cleaning, it will start building up on those spots first. Another bad thing about not getting all that carbon out every time, is the problem of rust and corrosion; that will certainly give carbon a place to build-up. It’s hard to get all that carbon out of that little hole and no one makes a tool that does a perfect job; one does not exist.

In Part 2, I will show you how to get a breech plug SPOTLESS, every time. I will show you how to do it quick and with little effort. Your breech plug will be as clean as it was the day it was born. And the best part is that you most likely already own most of what you need, and if you don’t, it's pretty easy and cheap to get.

Can you tell I have the “cause and effect” sickness?

M.A.X. Review: the Thompson Center Triumph

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 02:32:00 +0000

We have completed our latest M.A.X. Load Data Book: the Thompson Center Triumph. I said I'd be sure to let everyone know when it would be available by posting on the MAX Muzzleloader Blog and MAX Facebook page. Well, we've got it up on our MAX Website as of today! Here's a copy of my rifle review page:

Most of the time when I test a new rifle, I go the “plain Jane” route. So not being one to break a tradition on something that works, that’s what I purchased when I decided to take the TC Triumph for a test drive. The only thing that is an extra on my Triumph is the Weather Shield finish, and it’s worth it. This finish will not peel or chip away like the finish on the some of the lower end muzzleloaders I’ve tested.

I worked with this rifle 9 months before starting the data book and video and enjoyed every day I took it to the woods or range. I’ve got to admit that I’ve gotten awful use to, and fond, of the TC Encore and thumbhole style stocks, but the Triumph is a great feeling rifle. It has nice lines, points well and is a well-balanced rifle. The Triumph is a light rifle, I’m really more prone to favor a heavy rifle but I’m more than certain most people will agree with TC on this feature.

The Triumph did better right out-of-the-box than I ever expected. When I got the rifle, I was working on an article using a tool that helps one zero a rifle; my new Triumph was the only rifle I owned that needed zeroed. The tool worked great and as expected, the Triumph however was the surprise. Three shots and the rifle was shooting where I wanted, two more shots and I had a sub-one-inch group.

I hunted with the rifle the rest of the year. I’m sure the rifle would have done great without a new fire lapping process I do on new rifles, but I did it anyway. The ability of this rifle to group has not been disappointing, in fact shooting a rifle like this is nice for a change. A little inexpensive and easy smoothing of the barrel up front goes along way and you won’t believe what this rifle is capable of.

The Triumph is a fairly simple design, I believe it only has three moving parts.

I don’t much care for the little tiny Allen screw that we have to loosened to take it down, but it’s still simple. The rifle has outstanding lock-up and it’s hard to find one trace of blow back. The trigger is as good as can be expected from a mechanism like this one but, with a little shooting, it kind of grows on you.

The Speed Breech XT ignited both Hodgdon's T7 and Western Powders BlackHorn 209 flawlessly. And the Speed Breech XT is truly a hand-removable plug, even after 40 plus shots. I hate it that the design needed a rubber “O” ring and steel gas rings, both are possible trouble areas if not maintained, but it is what it is, I had no trouble with this one. With a little prep work, good cleaning and loading techniques, and good load components, you will be more than happy with a new TC Triumph.

Thompson Center has done it again with the Triumph, it’s a great rifle at a more than fair and reasonable price. If you have money to blow and want all the bells and whistles that comes with a Bone Collector go for it, but it won’t be necessary to have a deadly accurate hunting rifle in the Triumph.

All my Data Books are rifle-specific, but I've had a few questions asking if the load data from the Omega will work for the Triumph or Encore, and the other way around. Well, some of the data is within a few FPS of each other, from book to book as some of the rifles have 28" TC barrels.

But each book has different loads that I developed when testing that rifle. So from book to book (rifle to rifle) there are loads using different bullets and primers but all use either T-7 or BH209 as powders. There are however two things every load in every book have in common

1) each is a good accurate load
2) they all use quality bullets that are deadly on the big game they are intended for

I want you to know that I do whatever I want when I get to the range.

Meaning, for that trip to the range I just dig down in my bullet tub and pick a bullet to work with and start shooting it with different powders, primers and with powder charges from 90 to 120 grains. I write everything down so I keep up with the loads that worked and the ones that didn't so I'm not wasting time and money repeating my efforts. I don't have a script when I do this stuff, I just get in a zone and shoot, most days it comes pretty easy and some days I struggle. Most of the time when I'm having a hard time getting good shots down range and I know I'm the problem, I just pack it up and come back another day. But, on a good day is when I find the loads that just won't shoot,(and there are a lot of those), they're not included in the book. And that's how it works, along with a lot of cleaning.

Just as a "heads up", the books that are still coming in 2011 are: the Encore with the original breech plug & 26" barrel and the Pro Hunter with the Speed Breech XT with a 28" barrel. The loads for each have long been done and we're now at the mercy of the publisher/printer. But they're coming very soon!

Till then, thanks for your comments and questions, your thoughts and ideas, and your continued support of M.A.X. Muzzleloader Accuracy Xperts!

M.A.X. Review of the Thompson Center Omega

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:58:00 +0000

We worked through the weekend and were able to get our newest M.A.X. Load Data Book: The Thompson Center Omega up on the M.A.X. website after our publisher surprised us with early completion of the project! Here is an excerpt from the book, my review of the Omega:

After a little research (and very little looking for the next rifle to test) I settled on the Thompson Center Omega. At the time the Omega was getting good reviews and it looked like a popular choice for hunters wanting a modern muzzleloader with 209 ignition. The rifle I chose for this review was a stainless Omega with a gray laminate thumbhole stock I purchased at my local Sportsman’s Warehouse.

At first look the Omega is kind of an odd looking rifle, thumbhole stock or not. The thing is almost nothing more than a barrel with a stock and trigger; there’s not really a receiver as we know it. To access the breech plug, just drop the action and you’re ready to prime the rifle or remove the breech plug. The top of the hammer on the Omega is almost flush with the top of the barrel which makes it easy to get to when it’s topped off with a scope, no hammer extension should be needed. This rifle is very easy to clean, and there’s not really a need to remove the stock very often.

After about 15 or 20 shots, I knew the Omega was going to live up to the Thompson Center name. After only a few shots, the first thing I noticed was the lack of blow-back which is a definite plus for accuracy and cleaning. I ran 30 to 40 TC Maxie Balls through the barrel, to help settle the barrel down a bit, which smoothes the tooling marks from man-ufacturing down a bit. I started with light loads, because they have a tendency group earlier, and then worked up to stronger loads. I worked with this Omega all summer, and like with almost any rifle, the more I shot it, the better it shot.

In the end I found that the rifle will shoot just about anything, but not quite. The best results were achieved with the two best powders on today’s market (in my opinion), that being Hodgdon T7 and BlackHorn 209. Although there were some bullets that didn’t do so well, the ones in this book did great! The two things this Omega didn’t like, and would not shoot, were loads over 120 grains and zero loads using pellets.

The simplicity in the design of the Omega and the quality built into all Thompson Center products make the Omega an excellent choice for a reliable and accurate hunting rifle that won’t break the bank. They come in a lot of stock and finish options so they make one for every person and every budget.

I would not hesitate, not for one moment, to trust this rifle on any hunt, any where or in any weather.

Russell Lynch
M.A.X. Muzzleloader Accuracy Xperts

I'm really proud of this book and think you will all be happy with the 30+ loads I've laid out for you in it, all of which are made up of the highest quality components and provide accurate and deadly loads for your hunting needs!

What's New at MAX for 2011: Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 03:05:00 +0000

Another service you will see us offering in 2011 that is kind of new for us is that we will start selling more items on our website, and by that I mean items that are not necessarily MAX products, but are good stuff.

The fact of the matter is, we've been in-directly selling a lot of these items to you guys already. Meaning that through our product recommendations in our rifle videos, some of you are going and buying what we recommend...somewhere.

Some of this stuff can be had at your local gun shop, but a lot of it comes from all over the internet.

I know where I get it, and I also know I have user names and passwords running out my wazoo and their hard to keep up with. In fact, my UN’s and PW’s are written down on yellow Post It notes that are stuck all the way across the top of Kathy’s desk. The part that sucks is when you have to go through all the hassle of setting those accounts up for a 7.00 to 20.00 item and then go to another site and do it again for another small item. Then you pay all the shipping on all of these small items and then never use those accounts again. @#(*&^%1!! You all know the drill.

So what I’ll be doing is offering a lot of the items we use and recommend in our videos and on this blog on the MAX website, both the smaller items as well as some of the bigger ticket items.
If we can’t offer these items at a reasonable and competive price, we won’t. And as always, if you see us selling them on MAX, I’ve used it, so it’s been MAX tested, meaning it has value in the sport of muzzleloading and it’s worth the money.

In short, only the good stuff will be for sale here.

We’re hoping this will do a few things:
     1) keep you from running all over the internet looking for some of these things
     2) keep you from having UN’s and PW’s running out YOUR wazoo
     3) make sure you get what you need at a good price
     4) save you a little money on shipping in the long run
   5) create a "one stop shopping" site for modern muzzleloaders

As these items are available, I may do a short post on the blog or facebook to let you know we've got it available or if you want, just check our website. In fact, we just added a couple last week: DNZ Game Reaper Scope Mounts and Leupold CDS Scopes. Of course, Bellm parts to do a trigger job on your Encore have been part of our MAX Accessories page since we put out our SuperMAX Your Muzzleloader video.

Also, if you find a cool muzzleloading item that I've never mentioned, email me a link or description and I'll see about checking it out. We can't be everywhere at once! We’re still growing and need all the help we can get. And we sincerely appreciate it when you use us for your muzzleloading needs! MAX customers are the greatest!

Another project in the planning stages is a video I’ve had on my mind now for well over a year now. Later this fall, when the leaves get off the trees I'll start the filming (finally!). It’s going to be really useful to a lot of people, even center-fire shooters. But I’ve learned in this business to keep my mouth shut till it’s too close too ready for anyone to catch on, so you’ll will have to wait till fall on this one. But trust me boys and girls, it’s a real good one.

So that’s what the new MAX product line-up will be for 2011, we’re confident you will be pleased with them all. In fact, we’ve worked hard to insure you will be.

What's Going On at MAX in 2011: Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 16:52:00 +0000

I wanted to take a minute to kind of give everyone an idea as to what will be new at MAX for 2011. The first thing I want to let you know about would be what new MAX products I will have available by this fall, some very soon.

First and foremost would be our new M.A.X. Load Data Books. It’s really kind of crazy story as to how these books came to be and one that makes me feel a bit like a dumb a.., so I won’t tell it. But the data for the books are complete and 5, that’s right, 5 different Data Books will available by mid-July:

The CVA Accura/V2 book is of course available now, and the Thompson Center Omega, Triumph and Original Encore with the 26” barrel and old style breech plug should be ready by the end of this month. The data for the Pro Hunter/Endeavor with the Speed Breech XT Is close to being done and that book should be ready by mid-July at the very latest.

It has truly been a process to get my hand written notes about loads shot through a chronograph (had to be done by me, every last shot) and then into a nice booklet suitable to sell. The process of getting these books published has been time consuming and costly, and someone was fired in the process, and that’s why they're not ready just yet.

The neat part about these being MY data books and MY project was that I could do them MY way. I’ve used so many reloading manuals and data books over the years, I remembered the places I use to cuss them and eliminated those parts. At the end of the day, we are extremely proud of these booklets. These books are the real deal, there’s nothing slack about them.

Here's a couple of them, ready for transfering into the publishing program!!

I will also have 2 new videos for sure, one on the TC Triumph of which I really like a lot and have been working with since last November and the other on the TC Pro Hunter/Endeavor. I’ve found a technique for getting these two rifles shooting accurate and up to speed quicker. It’s an easy process, fairly cheap, can be done by anyone and is worth the time, money and effort. The Triumph video should be ready by mid-July and the Encore will hopefully by mid to late August.

A Muzzleloader Scope Worth Saving Your Money For

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 02:23:00 +0000

Last year I wrote two lengthy articles on scopes for our muzzleloaders (Muzzleloader Scopes: How to Choose? and 8 Considerations Before Purchasing a Muzzleloading Scope). I touched on two types of scopes, one type more than the other. The one I spent the most time on was the BDC type scopes, and in general, all brands of them. In those articles, if I remember correctly and I’m quite certain I do, I told you that I really don’t have that high of regard or use for any of them. I’m not going to re-hash that here, I’ll just refer you back to those articles for you to refresh yourself with why I think they’re not all they're cracked up to be.

But I did mention, briefly, a real solution to the issue of the tremendous amount of bullet drop we deal with as muzzleloading hunters. The scope I told you about and one I was testing at the time was the Leupold CDS (Control Dial System). I’ve got to tell ya, I’ve been using a CDS now since last November and I can now say for certain that in my opinion this is the very best scope available that truly addresses the needs of today’s muzzleloader!

I can sum up why this is in 9 words:
     (1) “Leupold” and
     (2-8) “true, point of aim, point of impact accuracy”.

Of course with the Leupold brand comes two things: un-questioned quality and dependability and (the hard part) sticker shock (they can be a little pricey).

But with this CDS scope comes the ability to put your cross hair where you want your bullet to hit all the way out to 250 yards (or more) and know that’s where it is going to hit. No hold over, no little all-but-useless hash marks or (even worse) little circles on the reticule of some BDC scopes. Just get the range to your target, make a QUICK adjustment to your CDS turret and put the cross hair where you want impact, and shoot.

Here’s why I like it. When I went to the Marine Corps Scout Sniper School, I was introduced to the Unertl scope. In short, this scope was built for the Marine Sniper Rifle by John Unertl. It was built for that rifle, using a certain ammo at a known and always constant muzzle velocity. The elevation turret had the numbers 1-10 around it, 1= 100 yards, 2= 200 yards and so on all the way to the big-boy yard line of 1000 yards and as you may have guessed, 10= 1000 yards.

So, if your target was ranged at being 600 yards, you turned the turret to the number 6 and let’er rip. In the hands of a well-trained sniper who knew how to deal with the wind, it was deadly accurate. The Unertl scope turret would also not make more than one full revolution. It was fool proof and rugged, it had to be, it was in the hands of US Marines.

The Leupold CDS works the very same way, maybe even better due to the fact range finders are so available and affordable. Here’s how easy it is to get up and running with a Leupold CDS:

First the hard part, and it does sting a bit, buy the scope.

Then find a load for your rifle that you like and is accurate in your rifle and zero it for 100 yards with the supplied factory turret. Once you are happy with that load, you will need the below information:

     •    Cartridge & Caliber
     •    Bullet Weight
     •    Bullet Make/Brand
     •    Bullet Type
     •    Ballistic Coefficient
     •    Muzzle Velocity
     •    Average Elevation
     •    Average Temperature

Don’t worry too much about this stuff, it can be had. If you use a load from one of my new M.A.X. Load Data Books, everything you need is there.

Then call Leupold, give them the info and in a few weeks they will send you a turret with your load data laser engraved around the top of the turret.

This turret is only good for that load. At the time of this article (Right now! Go! Quick!) Leupold is still offering a free turret with your new scope. If at the time you are reading this that offer is over, each turret is about $60.00.

To install the turret, simply loosen the three set screws, lift the factory turret off, replace it with your custom load turret, putting the zero range (in this case the number 1) to the mark on the scope and tighten the three set screws. The new turret will only turn 360°so there’s no way you’re going to lose track of what range your CDS is set to. You can have as many turrets for that scope and rifle as you want.

One of the things that I think will help sell these scopes (besides the above) is the fact that you don’t have the big, tall, target-type turrets normally associated with this type of scope. These are nice looking low-profile turrets, you hardly even know any difference.

Here’s how it works when you're hunting:

1) range the target, (let’s say it’s 150 yards)

2) turn the turret to 1.5

3) PUT THE CROSS HAIR WHERE YOU WANT YOUR BULLET TO HIT

4) shoot

Imagine that!!

Leupold offers this scope in their VX-3 and VX-R lines. They offer it in several magnification and objective lens diameter options. I’ve chosen the VX-3 3.5X10X40mm for all my rifles. Leupold can also fit the CDS dial on many of the scopes you may already own, you can call their custom shop to see if this is an option for you.

I’m sure there will be questions, so just ask away in the comment section below. I’m pretty sure I have the answer, if not I know I can get you one.

This is without question, my choice of scopes for my muzzleloader. If you try one you won’t be disappointed, I guarantee it, and yes it works that well and just that easy.

And remember, I said it was the best solution, not the cheapest. That’s why I titled it like I did, to give you time to save for one before this fall!!

45 Caliber Muzzleloaders ?

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Sat, 28 May 2011 20:37:00 +0000

Answers
to
Your
Questions

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Re: MAX Muzzleloader Blog- MAX Rifle-Specific Load Data Books
Date: Fri, 20 May 2011 11:59:49 -0400
To: MAX Muzzleloader rlynch@maxmuzzleloader.com

You're a good writer, Russel. I have a MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) degree from Columbia in Fiction Writing. So I know good writing. All your stuff is very well written.

I have recently bought a CVA Accura in .45 caliber. I know you aren't crazy about .45 caliber muzzy rifles because you say the selection of bullets is poor. But you've admitted to me they are superior ballistically (somewhat). Flatter shooting. I bought a .45 owing to what Chad and the other guy in that CVA video "Blackpowder 101' said. Also, several guys from the gun stores here in Fort Wayne, Indiana prefer the .45 muzzy (for deer) due to it's flatter trajectory.

Now, Russel, IF you are the leading expert regarding cutting edge accuracy in modern muzzleloading rifles, then, I'm sorry, you HAVE to test at leeast ONE rifle in .45. You actually don't even have a choice IF you are what you say you are: the leading expert. I know a half dozen people (along with CVA Chad and the other CVA guy) who prefer the .45. Russel, .45s are a part of the modern muzzleloading rifle scene. If you don't include us .45 users, then you are not the overall leading expert in muzzy rifle technology. If you can't include SOME loads for, say the CVA Accura (my gun), or SOME .45 cal muzzy rifle, than you are a liar.

I really need, and would greatly appreciate, some top loads in the ,45 cal for my CVA Accura. You ALREADY spend hours and hours testing loads for multiple rifles. You wouldn't even notice a couple more three to five shots groups for a .45 cal CVA Accura at the end of each shooting day. Why can't you BE a full and complete EXPERT in ALL the calibers available today? If you ARE an expert, you HAVE to work up a few loads in .45 caliber. There is a definate group of muzzy rifle hunters--like myself--who are waiting for you to do what you say you do. We're out there. And we need your loads.

PLEASE include loads for OUR guns, so that you CAN be the expert you claim to be.

Russell, I am not in the least trying to piss you off, but I could really use your help. So there are not a great variety of bullets out there in .45 cal. There are SOME good bullets out there in .45, like the Precison bullets DEAD CENTER 200 and 220 grain bullets (which are the bullets I plan to use). Why can't you be the expert you say you are and help out us .45 cal guys? Chad and the other CVA can't be wrong about the .45, can they"

If you don't beleive me about the CVA guys--for deer sized game--preffering the .45, then watch the "Blackpowder 101" video.

Russell, you impress the Hell out of me for what you're doing, except that you, right now, are NOT the expert you claim you are. It won't affect your day much at all to include a couple of extra groups for the .45. Please become what you say you already are. Please give me some good load data for my .45).

Thank you for your work and your time.

Fort Wayne, IN

This is an email I received about the new Rifle Specific M.A.X. Load Data Books. First of all, I see that his degree is in fiction writing, and I sure hope everyone knows that anything I have to say is pure NON-FICTION.

Now that we have that cleared up, you can see that this person wants some data on the .45 caliber muzzleloader. I do believe the .45 will make somewhat of a comeback, but not to the extent that even the most dedicated marketing campaign by any manufacture will have everyone selling their .50 cal’s to get one.

The guys in the video he mentioned, Chad Schearer of Shoot Straight with Chad Schearer and O’Neil Williams of O'Neil Outside, are both accomplished hunters to say the least. But remember, they both work for CVA and they say what they need to say to sell what they're paid to sell. But If anyone purchases a .45 because of the video, then Chad & O'Neil have done their job.

I really don’t know but a few people who are using a .45, but I’m sure there are quite a few of you out there. The new inline .45's lost a lot of fans some years ago when the manufactures had the twist rate of the rifling screwed up and they just would not hold a group. Unfortunately for them, that has carried over to today somewhat.

Another big problem for the 45’s in today’s market is that the 50’s own the market which = shelf-space in the stores. So, there are very few accessories available over-the counter, to include bullets.

There are some good bullets available for the .45, the best probably being made by Mr. Cecile Epps at Precision Bullets. I really must say I don’t remember saying that the 45 was ballistic superior to the 50’s, so I’m glad the word “somewhat” was used. Without getting into a big explanation, just remember, smaller, lighter and faster doesn't mean better. A good example to look at would be in the centerfire world and that being the age-old comparison of the .270 and the 30/06. For the first 200 yards the 270 is flatter and faster, after that +/- a few, the 30/06 is the clear winner. I know it’s not the same thing, but it’s the same principle.

It’s not that I’m not a fan of the 45 ML, I just don’t have any time behind the butt of one nor the interest from my customers for the information. If I get time to play in the future, it maybe with a 45, but I’m having a lot of fun with the 50's and will be for a while. I’ve got three new 50 cal rifle videos due out before year’s end and 4 data book’s for 50’s.

I must say however, I really appreciate the kind words about me and MAX. I loved getting called out and I love a good challenge. But as I get older, I’ve learned not only to pick my battles, but when to fight them. He went a little too far with some of this, but mostly with the liar part, that did pi.. me off a little to start with, but I’m over it.

45 data is something I need to get to and will, when it’s time and I have time. I’m not putting the 45 down and I’m certainly not putting anyone down for buying and choosing one for their deer rifle, I just don’t know anything much about the new ones. Heck, call Chad or O’Neil.

For now I’m going to stick with something I learned in the Marine Corps and Law Enforcement, that being “the needs of the many over the needs of the few”. So for now, it's back to the range with my 50's.

MAX Rifle-Specific Load Data Books

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Fri, 20 May 2011 03:43:00 +0000

For the past four years while testing rifles, I’ve written down and recorded everything I’ve done and every shot I’ve fired from my rifles. Collecting the information I need for one of my videos requires me shooting 800 plus shots from each rifle. The result of all my testing and logging all this information down is DATA. Lots and lots of data.

At the end of each video I give the customer 6 to 8 loads for the rifle featured in that video. I have to limit it to that bcause there’s only so much room on a video. But each rifle tested yields between 35 and 40 loads unique to that rifle. So for the past 4 years, there’s been A LOT of unused data just sitting around in my office gathering dust.

Until now.

As I test each rifle, the load data is recorded on a MAX Data Sheet and kept in a three ring binder, with the data sheet on one side and one of the MAX Targets for that load on the other. That book is then hauled back and forth to the range for several months and along the way becomes worn and collects dirt, Diet Coke, Grizzly Winter Green stains and even a little blood at times. But the data is still some the best in the country.

So in order to pass it on to you in a form that's much easier to use than my sloppy hand-written notes (and a whole lot cleaner), I’ve had it put into a nice, clean, user-friendly booklet.

The new M.A.X. Load Data Books are a nice spiral-bound design that make them user-friendly on the bench, where you need it to be, and are a nice 8 ¼ X 5 ½ size to fit easily in your muzzleloading stuff box. The data tables are easy to read and have all the data a modern muzzleloading hunter needs to set up a rifle for the upcoming hunt.

In the data tables, you will find recommended loads for big game and the max range at which that load is recommended. The loads will also show bullet drop out to 250 yards. As with all MAX recommendations, If it don't pass my test, I don't pass it on to you! And believe me, my tests are harder than Chinese Arithmetic. So every component of every load in these books are the real deal, MAX approved stuff.

I’ve worked on these books for over the past year to insure you were getting your money's worth and I’ll assure you, you will be.

No other company in the world offers this kind of data, no one. This is rifle-specific data, meaning that the data in each booklet was shot, from my shoulder, out of the rifle for which ever data book you purchased. This data was not shot from a test barrel in some ballistic lab. And every load in these books provided sub one-inch accuracy, from an out-of-the-box factory rifle.

I’m certain that these books will help increase your modern muzzleloading big game experience. So for DATA that is "on target" every time, check out my new M.A.X. Load Data Books!

NOTE: As of the posting of this article, the CVA Accura & Accura V2 Load Data Book is available and for sale on our website. The Thompson Center Omega Load Data Book is at the printer!! Watch for the announcement here and on Facebook for the release of the Omega Book and others which are still coming!! Thanks for your business

The Big Brown Truck

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Mon, 09 May 2011 23:35:00 +0000

This is a post I’ve had on my mind, in some shape, form or fashion for several years now. It’s a story about “The Big Brown Truck”.

The title sounds like a story book you may have read your little boy or girl, but in this case, it’s much more than that. It’s a story about a delivery truck we big boys and girls love see pull into our driveway any time, but we really love to see it in late summer or early fall. When we see it at these times of year, it means the fall and winter (that play such a big role in our lives as hunters) are just around the corner.

The anticipation of coming home from a long day at work and finding evidence that the elusive driver of those Big Brown Trucks have visited our homes is almost unbearable as we pull into our drive way. As we pull in, we scan the possible drop-off areas that these rarely seen drivers have left our toys in the past.

When the box is spotted, it seems we can’t get out of our truck or car fast enough to claim what we have waited on so long. We take it directly to the kitchen, go straight to the drawer and retrieve the first knife we can to fight the box like a Ninja to get a first look at our prize.

On the down side, if we don’t see our much anticipated package in the normal places, we look like a confused Lab puppy trying to figure out what the problem is. Has that driver forgot where I live? It must be a new driver, where has he left my stuff? Did it ship on time? Did he have a wreck, if so, I hope my stuff is OK? Or the worst possible scenario, the note on the door that says he was there, but someone needs to sign for our package! @#$#$^&%_*&^%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Making arrangements to correct this mother of all problems is nothing short of a train wreck!!!

All joking aside, as big boys and girls, this guy or gal in the brown shorts and black shoes beats the heck out of our childhood friend with the white beard and fancy red suit!!

One big difference between these brown clad drivers and our child hood friend wearing red is that as big boys and girls, we PAY for that Big Brown Truck to show up at our house, it’s not mommy and daddy anymore. And now that we’re talking about money, I’ll get to the point.

The truth be known about it, the worse experience we can and do have with delivery trucks has nothing to do with the driver or the truck itself, at times it’s the product in the box. That’s right, it’s what we purchased that’s most disappointing. After researching, shopping and finding the best deal, we’ve purchased a product that’s not what we thought it would be. After saving and then spending our hard earned money on a product that we were really looking forward to having and felt like we needed, the item falls short of our expiations in one way or another.

The two biggest areas of failure are usually poor quality or it just doesn’t do what it was advertised to do. And most likely, it's both.

This is why I started MAX. I had a bad experience with a rifle that I thought should have been more capable than it was. After working with the rifle and applying what I knew about center fires to it, I found the Encore to an extremely accurate and reliable rifle.

So in that case, I came out OK, but only after spending countless hours, hundreds of dollars and racking my brain using all the experience under my belt to un-lock the hidden potential of the expensive Thompson Center rifle.

But both the time and money spent was un-called for. If TC had given me, as well as everyone else, the proper instruction on what this rifle liked to start with, MAX would have never been created or gotten off the ground. So in this case, their inattention to the important details was my gain. But at the same time, we all loose. In most cases, it’s just money wasted on a bad product that you will never get back.

What MAX has grown into today is much bigger than I ever expected. Besides being able to find what makes today’s Modern Muzzleloaders tick and being able to share it with others, I can also tell you what equipment not to waste your money on. With the amount of time and money I spend on muzzleloading stuff and with my history of shooting experience, I know what works, and what doesn't.

I’ve refined my research and testing standards down to a fine art over the winter, and a lot of good stuff is just around the corner for modern muzzleloading. Things that will save you the time and money it cost me. Things that will make your experience with the Big Brown Truck a good one, every time.

At MAX I work for no one company, never will. Be mindful of that as you do your research for your next muzzleloading purchase. This is the only company of its type that I can find, anywhere. You will always get a true, independent and professional review of today’s top products.

Remember that when your reading product reviews on other websites and blogs looking for credible and reliable information. Ask yourself two questions: 1) is that person on someone’s “Product Payroll” and 2) what qualifications do they have to review Modern Muzzleloading products?

Having a quality experience with any product requires two things, a product that works and the knowledge of how to use it. At MAX you will get both, always.

I want to insure that you never have a bad experience with the Big Brown Truck again (unless it’s their fault, of course, and they've actually got pretty good customer service for that sort of thing).

As what’s left of spring turns to summer, keep track of MAX as we start now and work towards fall. I will do my best to help you be better prepared for hunting big game with muzzleloader than you’ve ever been before, and you’ll do it with great equipment and you will have the ability to use it.

I don’t believe in luck, never have, and neither should you. What I do believe in is being prepared.

3 Things to Look at in Breech Plug Primer Pockets

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 01:55:00 +0000

Last in the series on breech plugs is the area where the ball starts rolling, the Primer Pocket. This little area is often over-looked but can tell us a lot about what is happening with the components of the loads we are working with.

This pocket is simply the recess in the breech plug where the primer sits. In all the breech plugs I’ve measured, there is very little variance from one manufacturer to the next. The best plan would be for the primer to fit this pocket as tight as possible. But being that we are using a primer that’s designed for something else (shotgun shells) and we’re using it for something other than that, that’s just not going to happen. As we all know, when 209 primers are put in a shotgun shell, they have a tight friction fit in the primer pocket of the shell. They are put in the shell with a press and removed by a press. In fact, at times shotgun and metallic case primers are so hard to remove that de-capping pins can break while removing them.

With all that said, the fit of the 209’s in a breech plug primer pocket is sloppy in comparison to the way it fits in a shotgun shell. It has to be in order for us to be able to get the darn things out after the rifle is fired. But this loose fit adds to a little issue we know as blow back. It was hard to write this article without getting into blow back issues too much because blow back is really its own topic, and there will be more coming on that headache later.

With the primer pocket, there were three areas I looked at:

          1) The Diameter
          2) The Depth
          3) And what the Length of the primer has to do with the head space, blow back and fire delivery.

First: the Diameter. The diameter is what it is and there wasn’t a lot of difference in that dimension between any of the manufactures. The CVA has a little looser fit than TC or the new BH209 plug.

The diameter of each is:

          CVA - .248
          TC - 245
          BH- .245

Our main concern with this dimension is how it relates to the diameter of the primers we put in in the hole. For the past few weeks I’ve started working with and testing primers much more in depth than ever before. The first thing I done was to measure all brands and types from top to bottom. I’m going to share all the information about the primers at a later time, but for now I just wanted to show you two of primer dimensions. As it relates to the diameter of the primers, .238 was the smallest and found in 13 types all the way up to .244, the largest found only in Fiocchi 209’s.

During my primer test, removing the fired primers was not a problem, as expected, but lets wait and see what happens when I put about 100 gr. of juice in front of them later. I’m betting something is going to change with that.
Second: The Depth. Depth is next and in my opinion a big factor in both accuracy and making the rifle go bang. This is where we start getting into a little thing called Head Space. Now there’s going to be a few opinions out there about where head space lies on a muzzleloader, and I’m not going to say that my findings are the final answer, but I think it’s a good one and practical.

I’ve been reloading rifle ammo for 30+ years and I’m well aware of what head space is and where it’s checked on the different rifles and types of cases, but it’s a little harder to get a grasp on and control over with a muzzleloader. One reason for that is because of the difference of the length I found in the 13 different primers I’m testing. This dimention is much more critical than the diameter. Let me show you what I’m talking about with a few measurements I’ve taken.

Primer Pocket Depth:

          CVA QRBP - .221
          BH 209 - .200
          TC Speed Breech - .200

Third: Primer Lengths. The longest primer measured was .302 and the shortest was .290. That’s a difference of .012 between the 13 different types, and that’s a lot when it comes to head space and how it translates to blow back to us muzzleloaders. In head space world that’s about 1.69 miles.

The way to look at it is like this; the longer the primer, the less travel space the primer has to the rear when the rifle is fired, therefore the less blow back we have and we have more fire going down the fire channel. The shorter the primer, and we can expect just the opposite.

Now the other part of head space is how close the back of the primer is to the frame or breech of the rifle. In TC’s, Bellm Custom has a set of shims that can be placed between the frame and the firing pin block. What this does is to move the firing pin block closer to the face of the primer. In CVA’s, I’ve read and been informed several times about using a larger “O Ring” behind the firing pin block. I’m sure this works because the new ring is thicker and will take up the gap between the block and the primer. One of the problems with doing this is that if you use a solvent based cleaner, the O Ring will swell and weaken and need to be replaced more often than metal shims. Just like the O Ring on the TC plug needs to be replaced when using these types of cleaners. I’m working with a company now to come up with a shim set for CVA rifles. I know that part of the purpose of the O Ring is to keep blow back out of that firing pin area, but to tell you the truth, that little ring really don’t do a great job of keeping that area clean anyway.

The problem with moving the block of either rifle closer to the primer is that if you want to try another load and use a shorter primer, you have to start all over again because the fit will be loose again. Another problem with moving this block is that you can move it to much and the rifle won’t close. The very first Pro Hunter with the new Speed Breech I put on my range had the problem of not closing with the Winchester Blue Box 209’s. That was only because those primers were longer than others. I’m sure a lot of you may have had the same problem.

Below is a list of the head space that I found from the primer to breech plug fit only, it has nothing to do with the primer to the face of the breech head space at all, but its all relevant, and good to know.

These measurements were found by putting an un-fired primer in the primer pocket. Then I laid a 5/16 brass punch pin across the back of the breech plug and over the primer. I then used a set of feeler gages to measure the gap between the face of the primer and the back of the breech plug.

As these measurements will show, the CVA plug has a little looser fit than the other two.

The TC has a tighter tolerance in this area and this is one of the reasons that TC’s have no problems with igniting BH209.

Out of the two dimensions I’ve talked about, the depth of the primer pocket is the most critical and there’s two things we can do that will help 1) be mindful of the primer we’re putting in it and 2) move the firing pin block.

The length of the primer at the end of the day is what makes the difference. I’ll have an entire article about primers coming soon. I’ve been surprised about what I’ve found so far and I believe you will be too. I can tell you for a fact that the fit and type of the primer we use has a lot to do with ignition and accuracy.

Out of all this Breech Plug issue and talk these are the four things that will help the new longer breech plugs ignite BH209, and all powders:

          1) The face of the breech plug having a nice dished out shape

          2) The primer fitting as tight as possible to the bottom of the breech plug primer pocket during firing.

          3) A nice transition area from the fire channel to the flash hole.

          4) a good quality primer (more on that soon)

Longer is not better, but it can be dealt with.

I’m not sure what’s next because I’m working so much good stuff. I’ll get one thing on my mind and then something else takes over!! If there’s something ya’ll want to know about, let me know and if I have it ready, I’ll do it and if not, I’ll look into it.

MAX Note to Customers, Readers & Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 17:52:00 +0000

Hello Everyone!

We wanted to let you know that Russell has returned from his trip. We appreciate all the prayers and blessings sent to us by our wonderful customers during this time, and also the patience you've all had while Russell helped to deal with his family's emergency.

It will take a week or so to get through all the emails and phone messages, but Russell has begun working through them all to get your questions answered. In addition, we should have the Primer Pocket installment of the Breach Plug Series completed in a day or so and it will be posted as quickly as possible.

Thanks again for everyone's concern and patience and we look forward to getting back to work at MAXimizing some Muzzleloaders!!!

Sincerely,

Russell Lynch & the Staff at MAX Muzzleloader Accuracy Xperts

MAX Note to Customers, Readers and Friends

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 17:45:00 +0000

We wanted to post a quick comment to say that we've had a family emergency and Russell had to leave town unexpectedly. The office has just opened back up after a few days of being closed, but Russell himself won't be back for another week or so as he deals with a family illness. Russell has almost no access to the internet which means no email, facebook or blog, although the office personnel will do what they can to answer emails, etc. and pass on information to Russell by phone when he is available.

We posted our absence on Facebook because we didn't think this blog was really a place for personal info, but we've had a couple of comments on the blog asking where we are. We didn't really want to answer in the blog venue, so if anyone has any questions or comments regarding issues, other than a question on a specific blog article, please email us at sales@maxmuzzleloader.com and we will get back with you as soon as we can, remembering our limited access to Russell as he deals with personal business. If you have a question or comment concerning a blog post or article, please go ahead and post it at that article's comment section and Russell will answer or comment when he gets a chance.

We appreciate everyone's patience during this time, and especially all of the emails and facebook comments with prayers for the situation! Thank You!! MAX has the most awesome customers, we are very blessed!

Breech Plugs: the Flash Hole & the Face of the Plug

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 03:08:00 +0000

It's been pretty hard to break the Breech Plug down into six features and talk about them each independently....

1. The Primer Pocket
2. The Fire Channel - that hole between the primer pocket and flash hole.
3. The Transition Area - the area that connects the fire channel to the flash hole.
4. The Flash Hole
5. The Face of the Breech Plug
6. QRBP: the Length - and this is what has been the driving force in causing us to have to pay more attention to the other five features.

So one GOOD feature works with the the next and so on and so on, but one bad one in the mix...refer to the bad apple story we've heard all our lives. But the best way I found for me to understand where the problems were was to break it down and look each feature. At the end of the day, everything is relative.

And one bad apple....

To begin: the Flash Hole

Only two things to look at here:
1. Diameter
2. Length

Diameter seems to be a big topic in the industry. You'll find conversations on blogs and forums all over the internet about this small, but pertinent hole.

Most of us want to make it larger, but others are fine with it the way it is. I'm one of those guys. Many have found that making it larger, especially in the case of the CVA Quick Release Breech Plug, does not necessarily fix an ignition problem. So in some cases, bigger is not better.

Flash Holes seem to run from around .026/.028 all the way (with our intervention) to .035. Why then do some work flawlessly at .026 and others fail at .035? For the answer, it's as simple as going back to the bad apple story. One breakdown / flaw in the fire flow from primer to powder and the bad apples wins.

Just what should the diameter be? From what I've seen in testing, smaller is better if it works. Reason being is because in most cases, a larger Flash Hole opens the door for more blow-back (same as blow by, I call it blow back). There are cases where this is not true, but there are a lot of factors that determine how much un-wanted blow-back a larger Flash Hole can cause, or not.

One manufacturer tells me they're worried about increased pressure levels on the frame at the firing pin / breech face on alloy frames from the larger holes. If they're concerned, I am too.

The next factor with the Flash Hole is it's Length.

In the case of the Thompson Center Speed Breech XT, that hole is .150 +/- and the CVA Quick Release Breech Plug is .138 +/-0. Which one is optimal? Well, again - all things are relevant and everything this hole sets between matters. From what I've seen, the length of this hole is not a huge factor if everything else is right - with no bad apples.

Now comes what I've called "the Face of the Breech Plug", which I'm going to call the Powder Pocket from here on out.

In my opinion, a breech plug that has a Powder Pocket or one that doesn't have one is a big factor. The one that HAS a recess to hold powder will always have my vote.

One of my readers has asked why I haven't mentioned the Omega Breech Plug and so for him, I have now. It is one of the most trouble-free factory breech plugs available, always has been. In large part, I believe because of the nice powder pocket design (and it is shorter).

I like this Omega pocket for two reasons.

1. the powder seems to be exposed to more fire as the fire exits the Flash Hole
2. it moves the powder closer to the primer

This pocket is one factor that allows the Thompson Center Speed Breech XT to out-perform the CVA Quick Release Breech Plug for reliability in ignition.

Whoa there, hold on! Hear me out and look at the photo of the two side by side. At first glance, it looks like the CVA breech plug should have less problems than the Thompson Center, I mean, it is a lot shorter. A closer look shows this:

The difference between the two breech plugs is that the Thompson Center has to deliver it's fire .434 further than the CVA.

So with all that said and keeping in mind that neither have great transition areas, why does a much longer, Thompson Center plug out-perform the much shorter CVA plug?

1. The Thompson Center's Fire Channel is a larger diameter

2. The Thompson Center plug has a much more defined Powder Pocket.

My vote goes to the Powder Pocket being the most important contributing factor here.

The reason? I believe the fire is delivered in a much more efficient manner due to the Powder Pocket design. The CVA plug is obviously designer to shoot pellets and it does a great job with those, if that what you choose to shoot (but we wouldn't be talking about this if it were, now would we).

The new plug that Western Powder has designed has a very deep Powder Pocket.

When I write the article on that plug, I'll tell you more about it (dimensions, etc) but the reason it's so deep was to overcome the added length. It puts the powder around the same distance from the primer as the old-style , shorter plugs (namely the good ol' Thompson Center Omega plug!).

Just for the heck of it, I've thrown in some photos showing the above powder pockets full of powder:

For those of you not familiar with the CVA Quick Release Breech Plug, the shoulder you see around the top is not a Powder Pocket. That shoulder is part of the plug design that allows it to seal the plug to the barrel and keeps fowling from getting into the threads. For that purpose, it's an excellent design, as you will never find fowling in these threads and can always get the plug out by hand.

In closing this segment, I believe the Powder Pocket is a bigger deal than the diameter or length of a Flash Hole. Just as long as there's no bad apples in the mix, cause we all know that all it takes is one....

Watch for the last segment in this Breech Plug series: The Primer Pocket coming in a few days.

Till then, An Apple a Day (cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning) Keeps the Breech Plug Doctor Out of a Job!!!

Quick Release Breech Plugs: the Fire Channel & the Transition Area

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Continuing our breech plug discussion, the next topic in this series will be on the Fire Channel and the Transition Area. Both work together (or should) so I couldn't really talk about one without including the other and really, they should be considered one in the same.

What I mean by "one in the same" is that I believe the Fire Channel should be just that, a channel to carry the fire all the way down the channel and into the Flash Hole. But as you'll see in this article, on the most part, they are two separate things: a Fire Channel and a Flash Hole.

There really is no Transition as I see it, and I hope I can do a good job showing why I say this with my arts & crafts skills....

First, the Fire Channel.

As I talked about in my last post QRBP: the Length, today's breech plugs are longer. But they all seem to lack having any noticeable Transition Area. Because of this, there are three areas for us to take note of : Diameter, Transition Area and the Cleanliness Factor.

Diameter:
The only two diameter's for Fire Channels that I've found on the market are 3mm and 1/8 inch. Here's pretty much how you can tell (besides measuring) the difference:

American made = 1/8"

Foreign made = 3mm

1/8 inch is larger and delivers hotter and higher quality fire down the Fire Channel to the Flash Hole. (So in this case, size does matter!) The extra space has more oxygen and therefore allows the primer to burn better, providing more fire. This is one of the problems with the CVA Quick Release Breech Plug (QRBP) design, which is of the smaller diameter.

Cleanliness:
The next issue that has become more pronounced with the added length is carbon build-up. It was always there, just not to the degree we are seeing it now. There is now a lot more surface area for primer and powder residue to hang it's ugly head.

If the Fire Channel is not properly cleaned after a trip to the range, or if it is an extra-long range session, you can have hang or mis-fires with the new longer plugs. Just a few shots can cause immediate problems with the CVA QRBP. But be no mistake about it, if you fail to clean this Fire Channel in a timely manor, or if you don't clean it properly, you could experience problems with any powder.

The reason it causes us muzzleloader's such a headache is because it significantly reduces the diameter of the Fire Channel with it's hard, baked-on surface. As many of you have already been been doing (from what I'm seeing on Facebook and in the forums), guys are using the proper-sized drill bit's to remove this carbon build-up. Not only are they experiencing how hard the build-up is, they are also seeing how much residue is removed when the breech plug is cleaned out with a drill bit.

In the photos below, provided by Doug Phair, CEO of Western Powders (owners of Blackhorn 209), you can see how restricted that area becomes and just how much build-up gathers in the Fire Channel.

The photo on the left is a clean breech plug. On the right is the same breech plug after 10 shots with Triple 7. (!!!) Be sure to notice not only how restricted the Fire Channel is, but how "clogged" the Flash Hole is.

Unbelievable! As it's been said: A picture is worth a thousand words.

With all the best logic applied, the only reason I can see why a rifle can keep firing with this kind of blockage is because the force from the primer is knocking the carbon build-up from the Flash Hole area. ...not good....

Second, the Transition Area.

What I call the Transition Area, Blackhorn is calling it the Flash Cone. In reality, it barely exists in any manufacturer's breech plug! With my crude, but (I think) effective visual aids below, you can see the area I'm talking about.

I got to give you a little explanation as to how I came up with the NOT TO SCALE angles I'm showing below.

Originally, I wanted to make a cast of the inside of a Fire Channel to get a better idea of what might be causing the problems inside there. I just had to find a way. Well, after the internet search from H-E-double-hockey-sticks (!!!), I found a liquid rubber compound that I thought would work. It was kinda costly, but as it turned out, very useful to me in finding one of the culprit's causing problems inside the Fire Channel. Below you can see the castings I made of various breech plugs, and if you look at the angle of the Transition Area leaving the Fire Channel and going into the Flash Hole, you'll see where I got the models for my visual aids below.

The models below show my findings:

First is a fair look at what a CVA Quick Release Breech Plug Transition Area would look like according to my cast.

Next is a Thompson Center Speed Breech XT model according to the cast I made of that breech plug.

As you can see, the Thompson Center is a little steeper, but not by much. But again, "not much" really matters.

The last model shows a much steeper Transition Angle. As you can see, there IS a cast, so a plug MUST exist....

....and it does.

This is the inside of the breech plug that CEO Doug Phair and his team designed, and will be available sooner than expected!

I just used common sense to draw my simulated "fire" going down the Fire Channels and into the Transition Area, then on into the Flash Hole. I'm quite certain y'all all get the picture, I sure did once I saw my castings.

As you can see, most of the fire in the CVA plug is hitting a (pretty much) solid wall. A little more fire is getting to the Flash Hole in the Thompson Center plug, but not much. And again, I can't stress how much "not much" matters in this case!

You can see what a difference the new Blackhorn plug will make in fire delivery to the powder, not with just their powder, but with all powders.

Looking at my models, you can tell why just drilling a Flash Hole from .026 +/- to .035 +/- will really only give you an increased "fire stream" going into the Flash Hole of about .009. In this case, "not much" really doesn't matter much at all. As some of you know, a bigger hole does not always fix the CVA QRBP problem.

In my opinion, this little Transition Area correction alone could fix a lot of our ignition problems, all by itself.

My pick, until Western Powders new plug is on the market, is still the Thompson Center plug. The larger diameter Fire Channel and slightly increased Transition Area angle makes it currently the most reliable breech plug on today's market - for all powders.

And don't forget: Clean, Clean, CLEAN. It's a big factor. We have a very effective breech plug cleaning process worked out with some recommend products that we will be telling you about soon.

Next up in this Breech Plug series, I'll be talking about the Flash Hole and the Face Of The Breech Plug ....watch for it in the next few days!

***I want to give Doug Phair a special thanks for allowing MAX to use the before and after photos of the inside of the breech plug. They have an extensive test lab and I think the photos go a long way in proving just what is going on inside our breech plugs! I'd also like to commend Western Powder for jumping in to correct a problem that didn't belong to them, or to us muzzleloaders, with the development of the new and improved breech plug they've designed. I'm hoping to go back to Montana this spring and get a look at some of the other projects they are working on, first hand.

IMR Legendary Powders Press Release

noreply@blogger.com (Russell @ MAX Muzzleloader) — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 12:08:00 +0000

Chris Hodgdon of Hodgdon Powders sent this press release out to members of the media a couple of days ago and after reading it, it was obvious that Hodgdon felt necessary to release it for the safety of all muzzleloaders. Please read and pass on within the muzzleloading community. Remember: Always MAXimize Your Safety!

Media Release - March 2011 - For Immediate Release

IMR® Trail Boss® is 100% Smokeless Powder

Shawnee Mission Kansas, IMR Legendary Powders is clarifying recent misconceptions about TRAIL BOSS gunpowder. TRAIL BOSS is a 100% SMOKELESS propellant. Various articles and blogs have appeared miss-stating that TRAIL BOSS is a blackpowder/muzzleloading type propellant. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

Since TRAIL BOSS is smokeless it does not require any special cleaning like muzzleloading powders. Using TRAIL BOSS, or any smokeless powder, in a muzzleloading firearm is never recommended.

The primary advantage of TRAIL BOSS is that even in reduced, low velocity loads such as those popular with Cowboy Action shooting the powder fills the shell case. This not only improves the ballistic uniformity of the load but is an added safety feature for the handloader because an accidental double charge spills over the shell case. Always follow IMR’s loading recommendations exactly as shown in the 2011 Basic Smokeless Manual, Annual Manual and in the RELOADING DATA CENTER at imrpowder.com. For more information on further loading information, contact IMR Powder Company, 6231 Robinson, Shawnee Mission, KS 66202, Phone: 913-362-9455; E-mail: help@ihodgdon.com.

Thanks to Chris for keeping us at MAX in the loop! Now back to our breech plug series....