Trapdoor Gallery loads

[Drydock]

[Pitspitr]

Our living history group was doing this at Fort Hartsuff about 25 years ago. We were shooting indoors during the winter. IIRC we were using 3-4 grs. of 3F. That load made no appreciable smoke but still flattened the round ball out nicely.

We/I also did some candle practice. I got some trick birthday cake candles, drilled a hole in a board the right size to hold them snuggly, then primed some cases (NO POWDER OR PROJECTILE!) and shot at the flame with the muzzle 3 feet from the candle. If your hold is good, it will blow the candle out. The trick candles made it so you didn't have to re-light them. Then I could practice in my basement in the winter. The plus was that it was fun!