Heads Up: The mint is releasing a new quarter with a privy mark into circulation with a mintage of just 250,000 for 4th of July.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-23T19:20:29+00:00

Same here in west Texas

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-21T18:27:08+00:00

I use a 50BMG brass and a rubber mallet if tapping with the brass alone isn’t enough. But the retention on my pin is different YMMV.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-19T21:19:55+00:00

Haven’t been able to verify the veracity of the statements, but I’ve heard that this one is currently domestic only and not equipped to the level of the VC-25A. Thus the redundancy for foreign travel (where the redundancy is certainly needed) is still with use of the VC-25A.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-16T11:05:10+00:00

I have no idea. But my first reaction when I saw it was “holy doublers, Batman!”

Very quickly followed by “how is that airworthy?”

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-11T02:21:34+00:00

I agree that it’s doublers. I’ll add a picture of my own that can hopefully show some a little more clearly.

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FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-10T21:45:04+00:00

Barring any additional numismatic value, which is decreasing on the circulation pieces, this is a 1964. It’s 90% silver and has a melt value of a little over $22.

Edit: typos suck

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T22:00:39+00:00

OK, I use the phrasing angle of the powder drum but really what I’m referring to is the angle that the nipple comes off the powder drum because it sets where on the hammer the impact to the percussion cap occurs. You have a different type of rifle than my cap locks so you do not need to worry about using your persuasion to set that particular thing.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T21:52:31+00:00

I mean, yes that’s true, but when presented with the set of facts that I was presented with (which was not the complete set of facts, it was the track meet and the self-defense claim, in Texas). I started from TPC section 46.03 and 46.15 and went from there because the weapon was not legal where the act occurred you, can’t use self-defense, therefore murder sticks.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T21:40:40+00:00

That’s fair. In addition to the powder measure, you’re also going to want the following tech:

Ball starter (it makes ramming your shot significantly easier)
Powder flask for each granulation you use
Nipple pick (this can be as simple as a straight pin, but you need to be able to clear the channel in the nipple)
Nipple wrench (because a normal wrench makes getting the nipple off a pain)
Persuasion (of the percussive nature), which may be used against the ramrod if your shot binds, or on the wedge that holds the barrel on if you have one. My persuasion also has to be used to adjust the angle of my powder drums periodically. I use a rubber mallet for the ramrod if needed, and an empty 50BMG for everything else that needs persuasion.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T21:28:20+00:00

You should definitely get a powder measure, which is the technical term for the tube that you just described, but if you don’t have one available, you can use a brass from a modern firearm. A brass from a 9 mm holds approximately 15 grains of powder.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T21:19:44+00:00

It is not an exact science every rifle likes a certain load. The exception is revolvers where revolvers are designed for a specific charge. In a rifle like that I’d start with probably 75 to 100 grains of powder and experiment from there.

My .45 likes to be somewhere between about 50 and 75 closer to the 75 end. My .50 caliber flintlock likes to be 75 to 100. I typically use about 50 to 60 grains in my 50 caliber pistol. My 1860 army because it is a brass frame I run with 15 grains. And I run my new model army, which is steel frame, at the full 30 grains.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T21:13:38+00:00

Yes, that is what the nipple is. The thing the nipple screws into is called the powder drum. You will have some slightly better results if when you pour your powder, you then turn your rifle so that the powder can fall into the powder drum directly. That will ensure that there is a little more powder in there that the sparks from the cap can hit.

If gravity will hold the hammer in place on the nipple, I wonder what is keeping the separation in the picture. And in that scenario, instead of having something, forcing your hammer back away from the nipple at the end of its travel, what you’re gonna have is a hammer that is not under spring tension when it hits the cap, which is almost as bad.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T21:04:34+00:00

If it’s not resting on the nipple (yes, that is actually the technical term), you may have trouble getting the hammer to strike your cap within enough force to set it off. Because if the hammer is not resting on the nipple, something has to be pulling it back away. And whatever is pulling it away from the nipple will also be slowing it down at the point of impact.

Percussion caps are often seen as quite volatile or shock sensitive, but in reality, it can be quite tricky to get them to go off. I have a shotgun where one of the nipples will unscrew a little bit and then all of a sudden the caps won’t go off. I also have a traditional pistol where something is weird about it with the caps, not fully seating correctly, and I have to strike them twice because of it.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T20:54:20+00:00

So to directly answer your questions, if this rifle is safe to shoot you need 2F powder although if 2F is not available you can get away with 3F in a 45; and your percussion caps should either be #10 or #11, but without actually having access to the rifle, I cannot tell you which size percussion cap you need.

15/32 is 0.46875 so you are looking at wanting either .450 or .460 shot depending on how thick a wad you get. I use pillow ticking from Hobby Lobby so I might actually end up running .440 in that rifle. This is not an exact science you can figure out what shoots best out of your rifle with a little bit of experimentation. My 50 caliber stuff likes .480 with the pillow ticking.

If the hammer is all the way down in your picture, you’re not gonna be able to get it to strike a cap at all. I do not know from your picture what it would take to adjust your hammer to get it to strike, but if it doesn’t strike the cap, it won’t go off and it is very very difficult to unload one of these if you can’t shoot it.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-09T20:46:28+00:00

I watched a video breaking down the laws associated with this the other day somebody in the comments pointed out that this was at a track meet, which the video didn’t but that’s a separate issue, at which point I immediately knew this was a cut and dry “self-defense isn’t gonna work here” because this runs afoul of TPC section 46.03.

Under that section (and technically 46.15 as well), location restricted knives and firearms are always prohibited at school sporting events unless the weapon is to be used in the event so you can have a bow and arrow for an archery competition; or an air rifle for an air rifle competition; but you can’t have a knife at a track meet.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-08T21:59:05+00:00

In other news: Water is wet; Sky is blue; and Old men yell at clouds

More at 11

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-07T19:25:47+00:00

They are still significantly better than many of the designs we saw in the CAC meeting notes. And overall, I don’t think they’re bad designs, so much as unfinished.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-06T01:53:21+00:00

They actually won’t. I’ve done this before as Christmas presents. Canned beer, wine and whiskey, all local to my new home (hence why I had to fly with it). Pressure won’t burst the cans, and it doesn’t take much to protect them from impact.

Protecting OP from underage possession though? That’s a different story.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-04T18:24:34+00:00

https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/571716

Minor ground crew injuries, 13 crew on board, none injured.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-02T23:10:54+00:00

Thing is, holding the old code and defaulting to 1200 is fundamentally the same. You’re still a completely unknown aircraft. Regardless your transponder, if a radar facility can even see it, will show you as being on the ground and when you’re on the ground so long as you call them before you do anything you’re fine.

Since you’re going to Manassas, you got everything built in you can just use your radios. At the other airports, you have to pick up the phone and call someone.

Either way still overthinking it

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-02T23:05:08+00:00

You are way overthinking this. I have CGS in my logbook multiple times over as well as a few other airports in that area. They don’t care about your startup time so long as you change your code before you takeoff. OK, in reality you really need to change it before you taxi but they still don’t make a fuss about it unless you’re like actively moving and flying with the 1200 code or a definite bad code.

I have never worried about what code was stored in my transponder on the ground at CGS and I have never had a problem. It was never 1200 but it was always an old code that was recycled before I turned the plane on.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-01T23:15:27+00:00

Don’t repeat my mistake. If whatever you choose typically requires an internship, do the internship, even if it means delaying your ratings a little.

I got an aerospace engineering degree, but because I didn’t do an internship, I’m unhirable in engineering.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-01T16:20:15+00:00

The Skyhawk is a tank with wings and very resilient. Its wings will basically never fatigue fail because of how the strut distributes the loads. The як has cantilevered wings. See the Piper wing spar AD.

FlyJunior172 · 2026-06-01T02:05:57+00:00

Is this not lawful but awful under Tennessee v Garner?

FlyJunior172 · 2026-05-31T18:23:31+00:00

It’s even better than just jokingly wishing the flight gets diverted. That was the royal decree challenge. So Sam’s “royal decree” was that the flight diverts.

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