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Another good (and addictive... ) site for info is http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com

Craig, what do you mean by lube? I have some T/C maxi lube and I have some bore butter. The bores have some corrosion and I know that I will have to deal with either lead or wad fouling depending on what kind of wad is used.

Skip

The heat generated by black powder is high enough to melt the plastic type wads leaving a mess in your bore. Stick to the paper and fiber wads. If you are shooting at the range you can use some dishsoap for lube on your cushion wad. For hunting you might want a more stable lube that won't bleed into your powder charge. Circle Fly (or whoever is making them now) has the wads you need until you figure out how to make your own cheaper. Safety is very important. This is somewhat different from managing a single barrel muzzleloader. And it is easy to get shot load moved forward off the charge while hunting, and you don't want to be working over an empty barrel with the one next to it loaded and capped. That is why I suggest you get with a qualified instructor to learn the shotgun procedures to keep you whole.

Skip,

Both of those will work. Those types of lube are best if you melt them and dip your fiber wad in them and then let sit to cool. These work well for hunting where the gun may be carried for hours before being fired. This type of lube will not migrate into a powder charge.
When I just go out shooting, and the gun will not be loaded for any amount of time, I normally use vegetable oil to wet the fiber wads with. You don't want to make them dripping wet, just a quick dunk will do.
When you keep the fouling soft and under control, it will minimize leading in the bores. Similar to the function of grease grooves in a cast bullet.

Again, Jerry V is giving you excellent suggestions! The danger increases significantly with a doublegun-both in loading and firing.

I'm not familiar with your piece or any production muzzleloader, but your barrels are most probably cyl bore, and you'll not get the range that you are used to with modern pieces. You mention corrosion in the bores: is this heavy pitting or does it look light? You may want to scrub the bores with 0000 steel wool and lapping compound to take out as much as possible. Loading will be improved. I use Circle Fly wads and lube with bear oil or deer tallow. Olive oil will also work very well, and all three of these lubes are "Period Correct" if that's important to you.

I used to buy the "for brass" wads as they are a little bigger than those made for the old paper shells, but I don't know if that would apply to the modern gun you have.

If you develop a routine of wiping each barrel with a slightly damp patch after each shot, it will reload much easier. You can also skip using the "cushion" wad, if you damp-wipe. Damp-wiping also is likely to extinguish any glowing trash that might remain to light the next powder dump. The only real use for the "cushion/filler/cleaner" wad is to clean most of the fouling if you have it fairly moist with something. It doesn't really cushion anything and just adds to the cost and recoil. I have shot thousands of shots this way and it loads as easily at the end of the day as it did at the start. I like 70 grs. of GOEX 3f with 1 oz. of shot or 60-65 grains 3f with 7/8 oz. Using 3f instead of 2f will allow you to achieve the same velocity with 5-10 grains less powder. This will reduce recoil and foul less. Using the damp-wipe method, only a hard card wad on the powder and an over-shot card is needed. You'll need to make a serious loading/wiping rod with a jag that is a fairly snug fit with your wiping patch on it. I make mine with a 5/8" hardwood dowel for the rod and custom make the jag on my lathe, from 3/4" brass stock. The jag is pinned and epoxied to the rod and tapped for a wad puller. The ramrod that comes with the guns are almost useless and will likely break under much use. Wads should be .020-.025" larger than the bore I.D. Poking a small hole in the over-shot card will prevent it from popping back because of air compressed as you seat it.

Skip
I've hunted a bit with muzzle loaders. Some suggestions:
- Be careful using toilet paper if it's dry out, it seems to work okay as wadding but after firing you'll have flaming bits of toilet paper dropping all over the field in front of you.
- I use Circle Fly wads, but rather then purchasing separate over-shot wads I take my finger nail and split the over-powder wades into two or three thin wads for use as over-shot wads.
- Make sure you have a jag on the end of your ramrod for removing unfired loads and infield maintenance (like when you realize you've loaded both loads of shot into one barrel, or worse yet both loads of powder into one barrels, oops... hard to get it out safely without a jag).
Anyhow, ML's are alot of fun, I hope you have a great time with yours.
Steve