With a new-to-me .50 flinter on the way, time to make up some ball boards in shooting anticipation whilst whiling away the doldrums of a freezing, snowy winter.
Cut up some 1/2" x 2-1/2" oak to 6-1/2" lengths, layout the tick marks for the ball holes.
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Drill press does the hole making deed.
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Ready for sanding.
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Belt sander takes care of smoothing out the flats and rounding off the edges.
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Ready for some wipe-on polyU to seal the grain.
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All done. Made a pair - top one with the red .015" pillow ticking (9/16" ball holes) and t'other with .010" linen (1/2" ball holes).
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A hunting speed loader!
I've made these in the past and gave or sold them all off, but couldn't find images, so .... I cobbled one together in the rough.
This is a chunk of soft pine I had laying around that's 3/4" x 3" x 5". On the 3" side I drilled three 7/16" holes about 2-1/2" deep. Each hole will easily hold 80+ grains of black powder plus room for the cork stopper. Drill deeper for more robust powder charging. Below those powder charge holes I drilled three 1/2" holes (for .490" patched balls). Then at about 3-1/4" down I stepped down 1/4" where the ball holes are located. This gives me about 1/2" thickness for the patched balls. Tidied it all up a bit on the sanding machine and rounded off the corners with a 100 grit emery board. What it needs is fine sanding, staining and some clear coats. I have the corks on order, too. Each cork is pierced lengthwise and a piece of synthetic sinew is knotted in and attached to the board, so that corks can be pulled off and powder dumped without the cork getting lost. A lanyard is attached near the top of the loader for around the hunter's neck or attached to the shooting bag. In this manner, the powder holes are on top and the ball weights are at the bottom. It should be finished by next week, whenever the corks arrive.
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