JMinnerath said:
Josh Smith said:
JMinnerath said:
Hmmm... you callin' me a liar?
I'm saying you're :youcrazy: :youcrazy:
Some of these BS ideas of yours are going to get you or someone else hurt.
OK, Mr. Minnerath, we are good then.
Most folks do not get me. I'll try to explain so that things about me are clearer. I do not like to talk about myself, but I think it's needed in this case.
When I was five, I started in martial arts. Nothing formal; kickboxing training by a friend's dad.
Also started making rudimentary weapons at the time. It was required because we had wannabe gangs in the new housing division in which we lived in Indianapolis. When I say "wannabe", I mean 10 year old white kids on bicycles.
Got good at throwing spears through their spokes.
Dad wasn't a shooter, and there was no place to shoot anyway. I made rubberband guns, starting with shooting it off my finger, then off a stick, and then progressing to ones with triggers made from clothespins, and ultimately, made a rudimentary lock from wood and applied it to a rubberband pistol at, I'd say, age seven or eight.
As there were not many hunting places in the city, I took to hunting honey bees. They were plentiful back then, and I'm sure I wiped out a hive or two.
Moved to Wabash when I was 10. Found some very springy wood growing in a woodlot in the apartment complex in which we lived for a time, while finding a house. I'm far from a master bow maker, but the stuff I came up with evolved to shoot 50 to 100 yards max, with an effective range of maybe 10 yards. Not far, but they worked and passed cardboard box penetration tests :thumbsup: Arrows were blunt for small game, or had heads on them made from tin cans (don't ask).
They weren't toys but my friends and I didn't know it. In fact, they would have been more powerful if I had known how to braid at the time for stronger bowstrings and how to properly carve the stave for the bowstring. As it was, I just split the end, put the twine through, and tied a knot.
My parents found a house in the country - an old farm, defunct. Dad didn't mind me having a BB gun or .22 or anything, but Mom did - and Mom overruled Dad. For the next few years, I studied primitive weapons, always trying to find something better. Ended up making atlatls, boomerangs, and my pride and joy was a sling I made. I took game with it - rabbit and squirrel - in a woodlot belonging to a neighbor a ways down the road. He was a farmer, so I also smacked a few woodchucks with it.
I was in Karate-do at the time, so I made my own nunchaku. I could do all sorts of tricks with them and use them for defense, but they were not any sort of hunting weapon.
Got a BB gun, then a .22, and mostly forgot about my experiments prior to this. Entered into private martial arts study, learned Aikido, some Kung fu, and some Escrima - which meant sticks. I pretty much gave up the nunchaku in favor of sticks and a sword.
I started experimenting again when I got my first 1911, then when I started reloading. I was able to build guns to my specs for the first time - no more heavy triggers, and if I wanted a set trigger, I made it. Reloading gave me a chance to work things up for myself.
Then I got the bug to experiment some more. Started handloading the .22LR. Eventually had a case head failure at around 2000fps with a 40gn bullet (eek), blew apart the junk mag I'd been using to feed, and backed off, wiser, and more cautious. But if I get the bug again, I know how to optimize a .22 load to my barrel length so nothing's wasted. As well, the rifle I chose vented perfectly - I was not hurt, and this is one reason I chose the brand of rifle I did. Looked it over, found it to be OK. I was wearing ears and eyes and I was OK, as well.
Put that stuff up. Got into muzzleloaders.
The .22 experience is keeping me cautious, and to be honest, I have no desire to push a muzzleloader's velocities. If I did, I'd blow up a cheap inline before a pretty sidelock.
Recently, I found a name for what I'd been doing for most of my life: Experimental archeaology. I love how things were developed, and if I can safely reproduce them, I will. Right now, making black powder from the old recipes is out of the question - I do not have the equipment. However, I do know an old chemist with proper licensure who will help me out when I feel ready - IF I feel ready.
Regardless, it won't be discussed here.
That's where I'm coming from. I have to know how things work. If BP and Pyrodex are able to be mixed, I want to know why, and would research it. Since they're not, I want to know why, and will research that as well.
It's been hinted that I'm a troll. Nope. I just believe that there are things worse than death - like ignorance. I would give up my right trigger finger if it meant I learned something of very awesome value from whatever event took it. And I do have a steep learning curve. I've never really been out of college. I just keep drinking it in.
Now, really, no more talk about myself. I feel like it's a conceited, prideful thing to do. I realize I'm different, and I needed to clarify, get that stuff out of the way to make my position clear. The whole article here talking about myself is way outside my comfort zone, so we'll leave it at that.
Hopefully it's cleared up some stuff though.
Thanks,
Josh