Q: I find your rifle most intriguing, but I wonder how do you keep the cap from falling off?
    —J. Heck

A: We solved that problem by using a properly designed nipple and musket caps. Not only are the musket caps "hotter" than #11 caps, they are constructed of thicker metal cups and actually grip the nipple tightly. In fact, if you haven't taken the shot by the end of a days hunt, you'll have to pry the musket cap from the nipple with your patch knife.

Q: What kind of accuracy can you expect from the Forsyth rifling? I always thought you needed to have a fast twist for accuracy.
    —T. Strickland

A: We have customers sending us targets all the time, however, a recent one from Mike Rocole of Lakewood, Wisconsin shows a 50 yard group of 1 inch and a 100 yard group of just over 2 inches. That was fired from a bench with 160 grains of 2f black. The interesting thing about this is that Mike has fired over 1500 shots from his 20-bore Zephyr!

Some of our customers compete with their 20-bore Zephyrs at 200-yard metallic silhouettes. And they do quite well! Keep in mind, however, that the Zephyr is designed as a hunting rifle and as such most folks are easily capable of putting five shots into a soccer ball sized target offhand at 100 yards. That's with our "Peephorn" rear sight, by the way.

Each Zephyr is shipped with full instructions for its care and feeding, including the accuracy formula that Mike used!

Q: What diameter of ramrods do you use for the Zephyr? -J. Brath

A: We do not like the skinny 3/8" ramrods that are offered by other makers, but have used 7/16 for our 20-bore rifles and a full half-inch diameter for the 12 and 8-bores. However, we are standardizing and will be using the 1/2-inch rods on all of our rifles in the future. We also cut wide cicumferencial grooves into the "handle" portion of the ramrod for a more secure hold. These rods handle much better under field conditions where one's hands and fingers can be cold and numb.

Q: Why do you use a curved buttplate on a rifle that is so powerful? My experience with curved buttplates has only been a painful one. -B. Thornton

A: While the Zephyr is fitted with a crescent plate, the proportions of the curve are much more generous than found on most crescent plates.We specifically designed our buttplate to handle recoil and still provide the esthetics we desired. It is almost flat from side to side and is a full 1-3/8 inches wide. And with a length of just over 5 inches, the curve is gentle and feels very comfortable, especially for men of larger stature.

Q: Does your rifle work with Pyrodex? -P. Keller

A: Normally we recommend using the Ox-Yoke Wonder Wads over a black powder load. However, when loading Pyrodex or other black powder substitutes we recommend using Ox-Yoke's 1/2- inch thich shotgun wads over the powder and then loading the patched round ball. Like their Wonder Wads, the shotgun wads are lubricated with Wonder Lube, which we highly recommend.

Stay tuned for more questions and answers.