• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades

I know about the dry ball club; but is there a no ball club?!?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Feb 9, 2012
Messages
1,842
Reaction score
153
Location
Mesa AZ
So I made it to the range yesterday. I have been a little off since my hospital stay, so I was loading more slowly to be sure I didn't miss anything.

I fired what was likely my 12th shot, and it sounded weak. I thought hmmm, wonder how that happened.
Dropped the ramrod down the tube to be sure I didn't have a stuck ball then proceeded to load my next shot.

The ball was rediculously hard to run down and stuck halfway. Didn't click yet why, and I don't have a very sturdy ram rod so I went to the range officer and asked if they had a sturdier rod I could use. Thankfully they did, and even better the time it took allowed the moose juice in the patch to soften the fouling so the ball slid on home.

Fired that round and then while I was cleaning the bore it dawned on me. I've read on hear that touching off a load of powder without anything over it will severely foul the rifle.

Hi everyone, my name is Terry. I'm a member of the no ball club.. might even be the founding father though I doubt it.

Anyhow I'll end this long winded cell phone post. I just figured you folks could use the chuckle.
 
There's a lot of these clubs for us to be members. I'm in most of them.

I'm a reenactor, so I participate in the no ball firing blank club.

I'm also a member of the dry ball club, the double ball club, no powder in the pan club, double ball club, forgot the set trigger was set and firing too soon club, firing a grossly over sized ball (not to worry since I had a sturdy mallet). Waiting for the invite to the firing the ramrod club.
 
Last summer I thought I dry balled. I tried dribbling powder in the touch hole but only appeared to have flash in the pan. I didn’t have a ball puller with me so packed it up and went home. I had been “visiting” a bit while loading which we all know is not a good recipe. When I got home I found the barrel to be empty. I had forgotten to load both powder and ball.
 
Let's see....,

There's the,
"Went hunting/target shooting; left the rifle behind the front door" club.
"Went hunting/target shooting; left the ball/powder/both at the house" club
"Brought .530 ball for the .50 caliber rifle" club, and its sister organization, "Brought .490 ball for the .54" club
"The dry ball" club
"Went hunting/target shooting and lost the vehicle keys in the woods; wait there they are hanging from the ignition in the locked vehicle" club
"I left the life-vest back at the house, officer" club
"There was a flint in the lock jaws when I walked into the woods" club

Probably a few more out there...

LD
 
Let's see....,

There's the,
"Went hunting/target shooting; left the rifle behind the front door" club.
"Went hunting/target shooting; left the ball/powder/both at the house" club
"Brought .530 ball for the .50 caliber rifle" club, and its sister organization, "Brought .490 ball for the .54" club
"The dry ball" club
"Went hunting/target shooting and lost the vehicle keys in the woods; wait there they are hanging from the ignition in the locked vehicle" club
"I left the life-vest back at the house, officer" club
"There was a flint in the lock jaws when I walked into the woods" club

Probably a few more out there...

LD
I think I'll choose to stick with one confession at a time; yes, I am a member of the "powder only club"; that sounds better than "no ball club"; and I choose to look on the bright side, it didn't open my group size at all.
 
The Dry ball club, the no ball club, the double ball club, the double charge club, the broken ramrod club, hmmm what else. I think I've joined them all at one time or another.
 
All but ram rod launch here. Favorite trick is leave something at home club, forgot the balls, forgot the powder, forgot the caps. Once I remembered all those but brought the .54 Cabelas and "remembered" the .58o_O More than once I took all the right stuff and got to shoot:D

Two or three years ago I joined the bring the 12 ga shot gun and the 20 GA component club. That morning, acting as a guide only, I called two jakes into FIVE FEET for my son. Only he couldn't/wouldn't shoot one cuz they was right behind the tree I was leaning on. Had I been armed we would have more than likely doubled:(
 
What's the drop for a ramrod at 50yds, just in case it's the only projectile you have left? I ran out of speed loaders once, all I had with me except for the RR. Kept having to shoot a deer that wouldn't stay put! While skinning it, RBs falling out like shot from under a rabbit's hide! 2 of us must have hit that deer 8 or 9 times! Backstraps and rear quarters were all that was useable.
 
Drove thirty miles to the range and discovered I left every grain of powder at home, I can't go shooting my CVA Hawken with out dry balling at least once, brought number 10 caps for my number 11 nipple.
I don't know how many times I have threatened to cancel my club membership.
 
Back
Top