Black powder scatter gun fun part 2

 

So the last post ended with my second shooting session and the mention that my cousin had given me some Pyrodex to shoot. During that second shooting session I decided to try loads with Pyrodex. In case you're not away Pyrodex is a "black powder replacement". The advantage, as I see it, is that Pyrodex is not classed as an explosive so its easier to ship than real black powder and thus is available from a lot of vendors who won't carry real black powder.

Pyrodex is more difficult to ignite than black powder but in a cap lock gun its not a real issue. I did notice a tiny amount more delay with the shot going off and it throws a little less smoke which smells a little less sulphery.

What I found that I really disliked is the cleanup. Of course black powder cleanup is never fun but its not terribly hard. I mix up a little hot water with dish soap and soak the barrel for a few minutes, that water comes out all black with the powder residue, then I run a couple patches with TC #13 cleaner, and a patch or two with denatured alcohol to dry things out, then a couple clean patches and an oiled patch to finish the job. Usually the second clean patch will be pretty clean.

I never did get clean patches with the Pyrodex and worse those stupid plastic shot cups left terrible fouling.

Thats a bore brush coated with plastic fouling, its bronze underneath I promise.

Lest you think that the problem was all caused by the plastic fouling I took the gun to shoot Trap last Friday. We fired a total of 8 shots, I fired 4, Angie 2 and one of the other guys at the range fired 2. Each of us managed to hit one bird but the machine was set strangely and was throwing very high. This machine also gets used for sporting clays and they move the aim around. The black powder shots were the first we fired, I got better at it after a couple rounds.

Anyhow I used all pyrodex for that excursion and it was nearly as bad to clean, the Pyrodex fouling doesn't seem to be particularly water soluble, I let it soak longer than I normally would, and with very hot water and the water didn't get particularly black, it took many patches before I finally just gave up and let it be a little dirty. I'm fairly confident that the corrosive elements have been removed though.

So would I use Pyrodex again? Sure, I've got a pound and a half of it and this gun burns through 82 grains (3 drams) for each shot, it'd be silly to not use it. I probably won't use it for hunting, that extra split second delay could be the difference between hitting a bird and not. One of the cans I was given is Pyrodex Select, as near as I can tell Select is just regular Pyrodex RS (Rifle/Shotgun) screened more carefully. Most folks seem to suggest its not any better than RS. At the very least it'll be interesting to test that out.

Oh, yeah I did mention hunting didn't I? That season is coming up soon. One goal I have this year is to take some birds with black powder. Recently I realized that there are a lot of pheasants stocked in my area. I actually saw one last fall while duck hunting but we'd just moved into a new area and I didn't want to spook the ducks. I ended up shooting a goose there so I'd say it was a good choice. I think this old gun will work well out to about 20 yards. That fits with what I've been reading for other folks suggestions on open choke guns.

I've mentioned my 16ga cap lock once or twice, that has a modified choke but its a much lighter gun than this, I don't want to use more than 1 1/8 oz of shot in that and probably I should only be using one ounce. Its been awhile since I shot it, I should probably put it back on the patterning board...

New car day +2

After yesterday's running around today should be easy, get the car inspected. Well, the plans of men...

Its raining today and I noticed the driver's wiper wasn't doing a great job, that'll fail inspection so I grabbed new ones, figured I might as well replace both.

Thats the end of the wiper, its a weird slide in sleeve thing. The wipers have to be in "wipe" position to lift the arms too, weird...

Much fiddling with adaptors

Until finally...

Okay, off to the inspection station:

Rats!

This actually isn't so bad, a black R is not safety related and you can drive the car, in this case its because some emissions sensors are reading "not ready". This is probably because the dealer I bought the car from had to have a DPF regen performed at the dealer. DPF = Diesel Particulate Filter, and a regen is when it burns off the built up particulate. If the car had been mostly city driven on short trips the filter could fill up early and not get to burn off which is why it needed a dealer regen. I drive mostly on the highway which is ideal and shouldn't have an issue, also VW has been forced to issue a long warranty on the DPF and finally the aftermarket has "DPF Delete" options for "off road use only".
So anyway the plan is to put a couple hundred miles on the car and try again in a couple weeks.

Finally I tried to set the clock and clear the "Oil/Inspect" notice in the dash. Both require pressing the odo reset button which I tried and didn't seem to work. So being an optimist I pulled the dash cluster.

 Its super hard to see but the problem is right where my finger is, the contacts for the button are on the green board under that white lump and theres a white bump of powdery corrosion. I squirted a little De-Oxit in there and worked a piece of paper towel in to remove the corrosion.

Reinstalled, tested and the clock is correctly set. You might also notice in this picture I've forgotten to reinstall the two screws that hold the cluster in place. I didn't remember until I started writing this blog entry, I had to pull the trim again and reinstall.

Even with having to redo the trim the whole process took less than an hour. Yes I could have made then dealer fix it but its a half hour drive to the dealer, time to get it fixed and half an hour home, in the end its just as fixed and I know more about the car and I took a moment to De-Oxit the other side while I was there.

Last thing, I picked up some nylon washers for the license plate screws. I'd bought some stainless steel screws but they're just a little too long. I could have cut them but I was a little worried about corrosion on the cut edge, the stainless screws you get at the hardware store aren't the finest stainless in then world...

Removing the human slime!

That should give you an idea how dirty the Jetta was when I got it. The Mighty Car Mods guys call that "human slime" and I'm inclined to agree. I started cleaning the car with my shop vac which of course chose that time to fail, it'd run but on shutdown howled like a dry bearing and it have very little suction. I pulled it apart to find the impeller full of dust bunnies and the bushing (no bearings here) dry. I lubed the bushing with a little Marvel Mystery oil (everybody's favorite) and cleaned out all the bunnies. I also took a second to put the filter in place :)

An hour later the car was much cleaner but still pretty filthy and I was thinking about soaking the seats in cleaner and sucking it back out with the shop vac like a carpet cleaner. Then I suddenly remembered that we have a carpet cleaner. Angie's grandparents gave it to us. It took some time for me to figure out how it works, Angie is the only one who had used it and I couldn't find the book but I got it going and we went from this:

to this:

Actually I took another pass at it after the picture, this time I put Simple Green right on the seat and ran clean water in the carpet cleaner. I should have taken a picture of the grime that came out of the seats.

Anyway its MUCH better. I won't say it looks like a new car but it looks like a much less dirty old car.

With all that going on I also have the following parts on order:

Coolant distribution pipe - to fix a minor coolant leak

Shifter boot and parking brake boot - both are cracked and ratty looking

Vacuum pump - for the central locking, I wasn't going to replace it until I found one cheap on eBay.

Today I need to order:

Ignition switch - Gotta get the headlights back on

Timing belt - I have no idea when this was last replaced. Its an 80,000 mile schedule which would seem to indicate 240,000 but considering failure of the timing belt ruins the engine I don't dare chance it.

Serpentine belt and power steering belt - Both have to come off for the timing belt so I figure its a good time to replace 'em.

Water pump - When replacing the timing belt the water pump is right there, I figure it should be done too. With that done I'll put in all new proper G12 VW coolant.

Next up: Rust repair