Our listmembers possess an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience. Also, some of them can even write. They have given generously of their time to provide a series of articles which we have compiled into a table of "Frequently Asked Questions" or FAQ's. Practically everything you need to know about muzzleloading is contained here. Enjoy!!

The first table contains basic knowledge for the beginning shooter. All listmembers should be intimately familiar with these topics before engaging into discussions. Their purpose is to avoid repetitive questions such as "What's the best load" or, "What's the best patch lube".

Beginner's Basics
Beginning Shooters Guide Cleaning Your Gun Comparing BP Types
T/C 50 Cal Ballistics Casting Lead Balls Paper Shot Cartridges
Flint Lock terminology Roundball in a Smoothbore Percussion Lock Terminology

The next table is for the beginning or moderately experienced shooter who desires to give his hand a try at customizing a store bought gun or making his own gun. Making your own gun often seems overwhelming. However, if broken down into a series of smaller tasks, then each can be successfully completed. The biggest drawback to building your own gun is a lack of familiarity of common tools and a demonstrated proficiency in their usage.

Gun Building Tips
Gunbuilding Tips Gunbuilding Tools_some tips Sharpening Tools
Stock Finishing An Old Durable Stock Finish Sharpening a Cabinet Scraper
Tempering Steel Differential Tempering of Steel Lapping the Bore
Install a Patent Breech Install a Percussion Drum Tuning the Flint Lock
Barrel Browning-One Method Pouring Pewter Nosecaps Case Hardening Steel
Shaping and Polishing Metal Parts

This last group of articles deals with a variety of topics we think will broaden your knowledge base and provide some provacative thoughts.

History and Misc.
Dating Archaic Barrel Steels French Military Lock Evolution Internally coned touch-hole
V.M Starr on ML Shotguns Thoughts on D. Boone's Gun The Inefficient Patched Round Ball
Powder Measure Experiment: Timing Flint Locks

Many find it useful to print out each FAQ and arrange them into a loose leaf binder for future reference. The reader should also be aware that the content contained within are the thoughts and methods of each writer, and there may be alternative ways of doing many things.