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Old Wives' Tales

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Big John said:
What have you heard about muzzleloaders that sounded strange? For example: Old timers would fill the barrel to the muzzle to shoot further out!

Now you know where the "Wives" part came from! She was trying to get her old man killed so she could marry the colonel :rotf: :rotf:
 
Big John said:
What have you heard about muzzleloaders that sounded strange? For example: Old timers would fill the barrel to the muzzle to shoot further out!

"A watched pot of lead never boils..." :hmm:
 
Prefacing this comment with all intentions of safety,,,,,,,,,,then digressing.

I could just see in my minds eye the muzzle flash that would eminate forth from firing a load like that. :rotf: As the pressure pushed that column of powder out into the air and it ignited in front of the barrel.......

Providing of course the barrel didnt burst.
 
"These old guns aren't very accurate are they? They didn't have rifling in them back then, did they?"
I hear this statement about 50 times a day. :shake:
"Are these guns musket loaders?"
There's another one I hear about 15 times a day. :shake:
And the list goes on.....
We have a lot a work to do boys! :rotf:
 
There's a whole list of blackpowder myths in my Lyman Blackpowder Handbook. One of my favorite myths that they attempt to dispel is that you can work up a load by determining how much powder it takes to cover a ball held in the palm of your hand.
 
"Put just a pinch of smokeless on top of your regular BP load and it will give you better accuracy, more power and burns cleaner."
 
" A Flintlock can't fire if the pan's not primed."

"You can't expect accuracy with a roundball fired from a 1:48 twist barrel." :rotf:
 
"You can't get good ignition with a plain drilled touch hole"...this one just simply refuses to die.

Then there's the cord wrapped around the stock and burnt to make curl...

Every muzzleloading gun is called a "musket". Not an old wive's tale, but rather public ignorance. :(

Also when you tell someone you reenact the 1750's (or 18th century), they say, "Oh, you're a Civil War reenactor". :shake: That's just plain dumb.
 
Ok, I freely admit I am ignorant. What makes a gun a musket? And what makes a gun a rifled musket? Something I always wondered about.

Steve
 
If you read the back of the DGWs catalog I believe it says the modern barrel is so strong, you can fill it with powder and two balls and set it off (they show a pic of one tied into a old tire)

Id say what you have is a warpped version of that.
 
greenneck said:
What makes a gun a musket? And what makes a gun a rifled musket? Something I always wondered about.

Steve

A musket is a smoothbore gun, usually a military style weapon, civilian smoothbores are referred to as fowlers...

A rifled musket is very similar to the military musket, only it has a thicker walled barrel to accept rifling (two or three wide grooved), rifled muskets also have rear sights on them...
 
I've heard a lot of guys on a local Tennessee forum bad mouth round balls saying that they aren't good to kill anything with. I always ask em' just how our ancestors survived with such "primitive" technology if it wasn't any good. They never do have a good answer. Most of em' seem to think that if they're not shooting an inline with 100+ grs. of Pyrodex or Triple 7 and a 400+gr conical they won't be able to kill a deer at 50 yrds. Of course, all of us here know that a round ball with 70-80grs of powder WILL kill a deer at 50 yrds without any problem. That's one reason that I like this site so much, because we know about muzzle loaders, not just the "manure" that the local Walmart sales person tells someone. :thumbsup:
 
Der Fett' Deutscher said:
Then there's the cord wrapped around the stock and burnt to make curl...

Every muzzleloading gun is called a "musket".


:rotf: :rotf: I just heard these two yesterday. AND, it was given to educate me on old masters methods of stock finishing in case I didn't know. :rotf: :rotf:

It's a good thing for me that so many experts come through to visit with me in my shop.
 
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