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Marcus Ades

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Hi Guys,
I am a shooter from the UK (yes we can have firearms) and chanced upon this forum. I have just purchased a smoothbore muzzle loading shotgun, thought I would have some fun on the range with it.
Will be looking for some expert answers to questions for you guys and gals.

Markus
 
Markus its refreshing to hear from you .Your specs are a bit vaige its smooth bore but what is it and what bore ? And where are you in UK ,Why do you mention a range rather than a clay pigeon ground . Pardon my seeming to be nosey I don't live there anymore its gone nuts with silly laws but that's a common tale these days .But I do know a lot about muzzle loading in UK Regards Rudyard

PS Don't mention Trafalgar Or Waterloo We don't want to upset Erwin, he's a fine Gentleman .
 
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Welcome!

Most of my smoothbore action for the past 30 years has been muzzleloaders so I hopefully can point you along the proper path. Or at least help you avoid the mistakes I made.
 
Welcome. Also from the UK. Are you a member of the Muzzle Loaders Association of Great Britain. I’ve been shooting muzzle loaders for over 40 years now and am happy to help if I can. I’d love to know where you are in the UK. Private message me if you like
 
Hello again all, long absence as I was planning to take it out shooting but haven't touched it for a few months!
I am in The south of the UK and shoot at local ranges and also at Bisley. I have a few firearms that may surprise you. A straight pull AK, a ML Pistol etc. I am not a member of the MLAGB as this is just a taster fun thing. I take part in enough comps and cant find the time to add another discipline to shoot. My ML Pistol I have 5 cylinders for it and shoot it with smokeless powder indoors at 25 yards.
I am looking to get the smooth bore out this year, its a 2 band Enfield replica and cost me next to nothing, if I like it I will prob get a rifled ML firearm as well. I will let you all know how I get on.
 
Welcome, Curious about the shooting the muzzle loading pistol apparently it is a revolver ( 5 cylinders ) but the question is in regard's to the smokeless powder your loading with, Was always taught the muzzle loaders were a taboo thing with smokeless powders. Also you may want to search up Britsmoothy and his posts neat fellow, he is on your side of the pond.
 
I would rather that we don't get into discussions about using any kind of smokeless powder in any kind of muzzleloader or pistol of any kind.

Any postings discussing that subject further will be removed by me.
 
Zonie ,I see your point but this can be very dangerous to the user, just trying to help out a fellow shooter.
 
I read the "smokeless powder" used in the revolver and immediately began to wonder if that was some misunderstanding on the part of the poster.
 
Hello again all, long absence as I was planning to take it out shooting but haven't touched it for a few months!
I am in The south of the UK and shoot at local ranges and also at Bisley. I have a few firearms that may surprise you. A straight pull AK, a ML Pistol etc. I am not a member of the MLAGB as this is just a taster fun thing. I take part in enough comps and cant find the time to add another discipline to shoot. My ML Pistol I have 5 cylinders for it and shoot it with smokeless powder indoors at 25 yards.
I am looking to get the smooth bore out this year, its a 2 band Enfield replica and cost me next to nothing, if I like it I will prob get a rifled ML firearm as well. I will let you all know how I get on.
 
Hi
You might like to think about the Surrey branch MLAGB's "Repeating Pistol Meeting" on 26/27 Septembber at bisley (Cheylesmore Range)
This has been running for a number of years --- probably more than 10 events now, but sadly the Coronavirus caused the cancellation of the Army Target Shooting Open Meeting in April and the !Imperial Meeing" earlier this month so this is the first time this year.
Look at the branch website or the forum for "
 
OOPS!
Hit the wrong button and hadn't finished the posting --- wrinkliness is approaching ;-)
I will post details in "Public Events" -- basically the same R&Rs as previous Meetings.

ZONIE -- I really DO undestand your position re the use of Smokeless Powder" in M-L arms and accept your rulings (just like Judge Roy Bean!) but in the U.K. many people cannot use BP in their Clubs so HAVE to go down that route in order to keep shooting. That's why in our Open Meetings we insist that the firearm has been sent to Proof for the load being used -- no valid Proofmarks = No SHOOT! The ban on "handguns" after the Dunblane Massacre (affected the law-abiding but not the criminals, of course) also brought in what we call "Modern Muzzle-loaders" (such as the DA revolvers made by Alan Westlake) -- which are the nearest thing to what people were used to. Some of us have no choice.
 
Zonie, please at least let me clarify the situation before you cut me off -

Here in UK we can own MUZZLE-LOADING handguns of the usual BP ignition design - cap and ball.

We can also own any design in the traditional style, Remington, Colt, Remington, Spiller and Burr, Rogers & Spencer, Griswold & Gunnison et al, that have been modified with a NEW cylinder that is designed to shoot a minute charge of a modern propellant and, usually, a wadcutter bullet specifically designed for it. Many more shots can be obtained out of a pound of modern powder at 4.5gr at a time, rather than go through the hassle of getting BP, which needs licensing and dedicated storage. They utilise shotgun primers for ignition, and use a loading stand. They are STILL classed as a muzzle-loader, because they ARE muzzlel-loaders

As Jim notes, Alan Westlake, noted hand-gunner of the past and modern-day gunsmith, and Alpha Engineering, both make adaptations to MODERN revolvers using shotgun primers. They are, of course expensive - what else? and you either have to surrender your old cylinder for destruction and install the new one as a one-for-one entry on your Firearms Certificate [FAC], or have the new cylinder added to your FAC, as some do, so that if the mood strikes them, they can shoot the proper stuff.

We can, of course, own ANY kind of regular BP muzzle-loading handgun on MAINLAND UK - England, Scotland and Wales. Only in Northern Ireland, also part of the UK, can you legally own any cartridge-firing handgun that still looks like an ordinary item, although there are exceptions which are both costly and VERY constraining, that I'm not going into here.
 
Markus its refreshing to hear from you .Your specs are a bit vaige its smooth bore but what is it and what bore ? And where are you in UK ,Why do you mention a range rather than a clay pigeon ground . Pardon my seeming to be nosey I don't live there anymore its gone nuts with silly laws but that's a common tale these days .But I do know a lot about muzzle loading in UK Regards Rudyard

PS Don't mention Trafalgar Or Waterloo We don't want to upset Erwin, he's a fine Gentleman .

Here in UK we can shoot a single projectile - a ball - from a smoothbore muzzleloader on a gun club range. ALL muskets are smoothbore - like the Brown Bess and Charleville and so on, which is how historical re-enactors over here are allowed to have their traditional replicas - as Section 2 firearms, AKA shotguns.

Even if you are lucky enough to have a real antique original of one of these guns, it still has to be registered as a live-firing Section 2 firearm/shotgun before you can shoot even a blank load in it.
 
Dear T Foley Thank you for the clarification I was aware of muskets on ranges & shot many times on Short Siberia with MLAGB .The nitro cylinders is all new to me but I wasn't so much into pistols . My last article ran in BP magazine was about' a mountain mans choice ' .about bush trips with rifles in remote regions & joined MLA in 1961 but due to funds I had let it go but still wrote for BP. I was even the' Nelson Branch' (Of one !) but that was in Dave Dorgan's time as Editor . Bill Curtis & DeWitt know me well even as' Rudyard' You and Jim clearly know your stuff and I know Jim does a great deal for shooting if I don't know him personally .Good on you both.
Double Regards Rudyard
 
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