1) You've bought your new, traditionally styled, muzzleloader, you've brought it home, and you have no idea what to do in order to get it hunting for you. Instill in yourself confidence that you will be shooting safely and well in the very near future. Respect your gun as a very serious weapon but do not fear it.

2) Screw a "cleaning jag" of the proper size on to the business end of your ramrod. The proper size jag will be one of the same caliber as the ball you'll be shooting from your gun. If your gun was made to shoot a 50 caliber ball (half an inch across), your jag will be a 50 caliber jag.

Most jags that come with new rifles are made with a brass shank. I prefer a steel shank on a brass jag and I recommend you get steel shanked jags at your earliest convenience too.

You should eventually get a "work rod", or a fully brass ramrod with a big, wooden ball for a handle on one end and a place to screw your jag on the other. Brass rods won't break with over use which, if you come to enjoy range shooting as much as I do, your rifle will eventually get. For the time being, you can use the wooden ramrod that came with your rifle and the jag that came with the rod.

3) Get yourself a dry, cotton cleaning patch, stick the jagged end of your rod into it, and run that patch down the barrel of your rifle right to the bottom. Pull it up and see if it's got grease all over it. If it does, which it should, use more patches to clean the grease out of that barrel.

4) Stick a pipe cleaner into your touch hole (flintlock) or down your nipple (percussion gun) and work it around a bit to clean out any residual oil or grease.

5) Pull your hammer back to half cock (percussion guns). Put a percussion cap (either #11 or musket cap) on your nipple. Pull your hammer back to full cock. Put the muzzle of your gun up close to a small leaf, feather or whatever, and pull the trigger of your rifle. You'll hear a "pop!" and the leaf or feather should fly away from the muzzle of the rifle. If it does, your "flash channel" is clear and you can fire the gun safely. If it does not, try again until the channel is clear. Even if the channel is clear, snap another cap to dry any residual oil out of the flash channel.

6) Turn your gun so that it's muzzle is facing upward and away from your face. Rest the butt of the rifle on your foot. Using your "powder flask", your can of powder, or whatever, pour a charge of triple fg black powder into a powder measure and measure a charge of black powder BY VOLUME. For 45 caliber rifles, I'd begin with about 50 grains of 3fg. For a 50 caliber rifle, I'd start with about 60 or 65 grains of triple fg. In a 54, I'd begin with 70 grains of 3fg. Beyond 54 caliber, or if you are shooting heavy bullets as opposed to round ball, I'd use 2fg powder, which is not as fine. In a 58 caliber rifle, use 70 grains of 2fg to start, etc.

NEVER POUR POWDER DIRECTLY FROM YOUR FLASK OR CAN INTO YOUR GUN!

Many will tell you that beyond 45 caliber you should load with 2fg only. I have found no reason to stick to this rule over the years. Contrarily, I find I get better ignition using 3fg, so I use it.

Many will advise you to use one form of black powder substitute or another rather than black powder itself. I will advise against all of these and tell you to use back powder only. Gun stores will often advise you to use substitutes for no better reason than that they haven't got a permit to store and sell true black powder. That's their problem, not yours. Black powder will ignite more reliably than some modern substitute will. This is precisely why the store needs a permit to store black powder but does not need one for the modern substitute.

Some will advise you to use a substitute because it is cleaner than powder. Nobody ever said this was going to be a "clean" hobby. It's meant to be a traditionalist's hobby. If it's clean you're looking for, take up swimming.

7) Once you've got a proper charge measured in your powder measure, put your flask down and pour the charge from the measure and into the muzzle of the rifle. Remember to keep that thing pointed away from your face! Should there be an ember in the breech when that charge hits home...............

When the charge is in the rifle, put your powder measure down, lift your rifle and give the side of the butt in the area of the breech a little "rap" with the palm of your hand. This will settle the powder in the barrel down into the breech where ignition will take place.

8) Set the butt of your rifle back down on your foot. You've got your charge in there now so you're going to need a projectile. With this in mind, center a greased "shooting patch" right over the muzzle of your rifle. These are for sale where muzzleloading stuff is sold but it's easy enough to make your own. Normally you'll use a cotton patch that is 10/1000 or 15/1000 of an inch thick. Pillow ticking is about the right size. I like thin, leather patches. You can grease them with "Crisco" if you decide you don't like using petroleum products in your gun. I use bearing grease. Don't get them too greasy, however.

Note: The purpose of the patch is to engage the rifling of your barrel and impart a spin to the projectile leaving the barrel. This spin will stabilize the ball in flight.

9) Center a ball (normally 5 or 10/1000 of an inch smaller than the muzzle of the gun, ie a 490 or 495 ball for a 50 caliber gun) in the center of the patch which is already positioned over the muzzle of your gun. Using your "short starter", rap the patched ball just into the muzzle of the gun. Using your "long starter", rap the ball about five inches into the barrel.

10) When the ball has been started down the barrel, pick up your ramrod and ram the ball ALL THE WAY DOWN UNTIL IT IS FIRMLY SEATED ON YOUR POWDER CHARGE! One of the few dangerous things you can do when loading one of these guns is to leave air space between that ball you've just seated and your powder charge. Be certain that the ball has been rammed all the way down but don't get carried away and hammer it down or anything.

11) You should be wearing shooting glasses and maybe some hearing protection now. If there is anyone with you, be sure they are standing IN BACK of you. This is especially important if you are shooting a flintlock. Be certain there is no one standing within six feet of your touch hole.

Lift your rifle and point it down range. With the rifle pointed down range cap, your rifle if you are using a percussion cap gun. It is best to use a "capper" when doing this as to use your thumb can be dangerous in the event that the pressure you apply causes the cap to go off. The blast of the powder in the breech coming up through the nipple of the gun will take your thumb off and all your friends will laugh at you and call you "stumpy".

With your gun pointed down range, pull your hammer back to full cock. If you've got a set trigger on your gun (the one in the rear) , set it now. Aim carefully. Yell out loud "FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!" Fire! (Pull your front trigger.)

If your gun is a flintlock, there will be no capping necessary. Once you've got your ball seated on the powder charge, stick a little feather or pin or whatever in your touch hole and wiggle it around a bit to loosen the powder just around the touch hole. Put the feather down. Using a "pan charger", put a small amount of 4fg powder in your powder pan. You will obviously have to lift your "frizzen" in order to do this. Once the 4fg charge is in the pan, put your frizzen (which doubles as a pan cover) back down. Lift your gun so that the muzzle is pointed down range, pull your cock back to full, aim, yell "Fire in the hole!" and squeeze your trigger.

IN THE EVENT OF MISFIRE: Leave the muzzle pointed down range at all times. Wait a minute. Cap or recharge and try again. If the gun does not fire again, wait again and try again. If it does not fire this time, wait again. uncap your percussion rifle or dump the charge out of your flinter's pan and figure out what's wrong. (Hint: Your flash is obviously not getting to your main powder charge. Why not?)

12) Hopefully, you just fired your gun. If you did, savor the moment, then pull your hammer to half cock, put the butt of your gun back on your foot and run a slightly damp "cleaning patch" down the bore, all the way to the bottom of the barrel, using your ramrod and your jag. If after about eight or ten shots you find you are experiencing misfires, (with you percussion gun) load your uncapped gun first and then clean the barrel. (Note: Pulling the hammer of your percussion rifle to half cock after firing and before loading will prevent your causing an air pocket to form between your powder charge and the ball you're loading. I recommend this procedure. Others do not.)

13) In the event that the gun didn't fire after a few tries and you couldn't figure out how to make it fire, you are going to want to get the charge out of your gun before going home. One way of doing this if you are shooting a percussion rifle is to unscrew your nipple and sneak three or four grains of 4fg pan powder under the nipple. Screw the nipple back in tightly, recap and try shooting again. However, if you are shooting a flintlock or if sneaking some pan powder under the nipple of your percussion rifle didn't work, you're going to need to "pull the ball".

The traditional way of doing this is to use a "ball screw" or "ball puller". This is a screw that screws into your ramrod where your loading and cleaning jag is now. You will use this to literally screw the screw into the soft, lead ball and pull the ball out. You'll need to have been eating your "Wheaties". Be careful that no one is standing over the muzzle of the gun as you do this, which would seem impossible. It is best to tie a rope around the head of your ramrod and then to a tree and pull the rifle backward.

While not traditional, certainly the easiest and safest way to dislodge a stuck ball is to use a modern CO2 powered "ball discharger". Personally, I will only put tradition aside for the sake of safety and I would suggest that you do the same.

Outfitting yourself for shooting or for muzzleloader hunting will eventually be covered elsewhere as will the procedure for cleaning a muzzleloading rifle. The loading and cleaning of black powder hand guns and shotguns will be covered elsewhere too.