General Hints

9
LOADING AND SHOOTING INSTRUCTIONS
FOR SINGLE SHOT MUZZLE LOADING GUNS
WARNING: BEFORE PROCEEDING ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE FIREARM IS UNLOADED AND POINTED IN A
SAFE DIRECTION.
On all the arms provided with set triggers you could regulate the release hardness, by acting on
the screw situated behind the front trigger.
To adjust the set trigger, see section “G
ENERAL TECHNICAL INSTRUCTIONS” in this booklet.
PERCUSSION FIREARMS
1) Place the hammer at half cock position.
2) The bore area should receive a good cleaning just before the gun is loaded, so clean all oil
and grease from inside the barrel, by running fresh patches down the barrel until they come
out clean and dry.
3) With gun pointed in a safe direction, place the cap on the nipple, set the hammer in a full
position and fire. This operation will dry out the base of the bore and the nipple and should be
repeated two or three times.
4) With the muzzle pointed in upright position well away from your face and body and the
hammer on rest position (down) measure and pour the powder down the barrel
(see point 15 of
section
“IMPORTANT CAUTIONS FOR MUZZLE LOADING SHOOTING” in this booklet), following the
doses indicated in this manual chart.
5) To be sure the powder is positioned correctly on the barrel’s bottom. Slap the side of the barrel
in front of the lock.
6) Lay a well greased patch over the bore and press round ball into the bore; to facilitate this
operation we suggest the use of a bullet starter (art. USA 510), that will help the introducing of
the ball for the first 15 cm (6”), then you can continue with the ramrod.
7) With ramrod seat the ball down firmly against the powder, but without crushing it. M
AKE SURE
THE BALL IS FIRMLY SEATED AGAINST POWDER SO THAT NO AIR SPACE EXISTS BETWEEN THE BALL
AND POWDER
-CHARGE. A good system to check what above is the one to insert the ramrod into
the barrel loaded with black powder, mark the line at the muzzle height. Check with this line
when you put the wad (if used) and again for the ball. The three reference lines (four if the wad
is used) will give you the vision of possible loading mistakes.
8) With the gun pointed to a safe direction and the hammer set at half cock position, place a
percussion cap on the nipple. N
OW THE GUN IS LOADED.
9) Place the hammer on the full cock position; THE GUN IS NOW READY TO FIRE.
10) After firing slide the ramrod into the empty bore and wait for one full minute before loading
the next powder charge; this will allow any remaining sparks in the barrel to burn out.
11) In case of a misfire make sure you keep the gun pointed in a safe direction and just wait for at
least one minute before repriming. There is always the chance a spark is smoldering in the
powder and the gun could fire at any moment. If still a misfire using new cap, place a small
charge of fresh black powder in the nipple using a nipple charger (art. USA 080), place the cap
and fire.
If after some attempts the gun still should not fire,
UNLOAD IT using the proper caliber bullet
puller.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE REMOVED ANY CAP ON THE NIPPLE AND THE HAMMER IS IN A SAFETY
POSITION.
In this case screw the bullet puller to the ramrod, insert it into the barrel to catch the bullet;
rotating the ramrod will ease the bullet pulling. You can now remove the powder