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Superstitions and traditions

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Ajgall

40 Cal
Joined
Dec 17, 2019
Messages
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Location
Northern Kentucky
I read somewhere that a coffin nail in a muzzleloader was believed to keep it safe from hexes. I’d love to hear what some other superstitions or folk lore about muzzleloaders y’all have heard through the years.
 
If you see some of the older MLs often the muzzle has marks on it from some sort of punch around the bore. I have heard that was to ward off hexes also or to bring luck depending on who you hear it from.
 
Ken told me that all muzzleloaders should have a "Hex" sign on the top of the wrist so you can rub it with your thumb when you shoulder the long arm to ward off Evil spirits. He said a weeping heart was preferred, but could be different depending on the owners faith.
We put a weeping heart on mine.

20190427_161846.jpg
 
The French drilled a hole in the stock that a priest put Holy Water into then a plug was put into the hole.
That one is a myth. The French government drilled a hole into the side of the rear of the stock and put in a (unblessed) dowel of boxwood. It was a government mark of ownership. The tale possibly began with priests blessing their military flock's guns with a sprinkle of Holy Water.

Post Revolution the Church and State were formally separated so no French government would allow an involvement by the Church in such a matter.
 
Easing the barrel in a clear flowing creek wash bad sprits off the barrel.
A woman tying a knot in her apron strings just before he shoots makes him miss( done to discouraging gambling)
Silver on a gun is holy and keeps devils away.
Rifles shoot well as demons can only ride spinning objects( demons are on spinning earth but not on non spinning heaven)
Demons can ride a rifle ball and drive it toward their target. Should they get a near miss one can hear the demons scream in rage as they go by.
Don’t believe it? Cast a ball out of a holy metal, bless it, and scratch holy symbols on it. Scratch them deep and around it so as to give the demon no place to sit, shoot it and you won’t hit well at all ( caint hit worth a d~~n with’in it).
 
Your list seems to have some things in it that might be related to a quote from the book, "Pictorial History of the RIFLE" by G.W.P. Swenson, ©1972 by Drake Publishers Inc. on pages 8 and 9, speaking of rifling in a barrel.

"From the beginning, round balls were used with the rifle, for practical and religious reasons, as the ball was easy to load, and the sphere was associated with the heavenly bodies, and helped to dispel he demonic connotations which became associated with the rifle.

The first explanation of rifling in 1522, by a Bavarian necromancer, was reassuring. The accuracy of the rifle was said to be caused by the fact that no demon could stay astride the spinning bullet, as shown by the sinless rotating heavenly spheres, as compared with the sinful stationary earth. To settle the matter finally by experiment, the Archbishop of Mainz in 1547, had two members of the shooting club fire at a target at 200 paces range. One shooter used lead balls, the other silver balls, deeply marked with the sigh of the cross and blessed by the Clergy. At the conclusion of twenty shots by each man it was found that the lead balls had given 19 hits, and the silver ones, none!

This lead to the natural conclusion that the demons were actually guiding the spinning bullets.

The manufacture of rifles was henceforth forbidden and all existing ones confiscated. Non-observance of the Edict was punished by burning at the stake.

The true reason; that silver balls could not be driven down with the rifling to take the grooves, as could be done with lead bullets, was not, of course, suspected."
 
Go to church on Sunday and take your rifle with you. In a couple of years, you get outta jail and maybe you get your rifle (that is free of spirits) back.
 
Easing the barrel in a clear flowing creek wash bad sprits off the barrel.
A woman tying a knot in her apron strings just before he shoots makes him miss( done to discouraging gambling)
Silver on a gun is holy and keeps devils away.
Rifles shoot well as demons can only ride spinning objects( demons are on spinning earth but not on non spinning heaven)
Demons can ride a rifle ball and drive it toward their target. Should they get a near miss one can hear the demons scream in rage as they go by.
Don’t believe it? Cast a ball out of a holy metal, bless it, and scratch holy symbols on it. Scratch them deep and around it so as to give the demon no place to sit, shoot it and you won’t hit well at all ( caint hit worth a d~~n with’in it).

You must read Vance Randolph.
 
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