Amusing/Ridiculous Muzzleloading Misconceptions...

[springfield art]

I was at the range yesterday with my 54 GPR.
Since I was doing some load testing, I was at the 50 yard line, on the far right side - next to the 100 yard which was less that 5' to the dividing line.
A guy I see there often was sitting 3 chairs to the right at the 100 yard, he had hung 3 targets up (those shootnC kind.
He made the comment that he wanted to get a muzzleloader but just could not deal with the short distance they would shoot. He needed to be be able to shoot all the way out to 100 yards.
He was sitting there with a 300WM with a 24 power scope - shooting at 100 yards. (YUP one of those)
I politely asked him which target of his would he like me to shoot?
My GPR is much better than minute of deer - It will clover at 50 and easily keep 2" or less groups at 100.
I loaded, pulled a few degrees to the right and put a 54 roundball in the inner ring of his shootnC target.
Jokingly of course, I offered to give him lessons on how to shoot his "long distance" gun at long distance.
Next week we will be meeting again at the 800 yard course for his first lesson.

Wow! Neat report! I saw a guy at a local range with wind flags out for his whiz-bang modern rifle, at a 100 yard distance....but giving him his due, that's all the distance the range accommodated.

 

[springfield art]

Wow! Neat report! I saw a guy at a local range with wind flags out for his whiz-bang modern rifle, at a 100 yard distance....but giving him his due, that's all the distance the range accommodated.

I, too, have a 54 GPR, but haven't shot it enough yet.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

OK, let us not get our collective panties in a twist on this, I was simply poking fun at the subject.

No worries.
My underwear is just fine.

 

[springfield art]

In the 70's I went to a historical re-enactment as a tourist. As the opposing "forces" commenced firing, I heard one man explaining to his wife, "They have to keep their muzzles elevated when firing. Lead rings build up in the barrel of the guns from firing live ammunition, they come loose when firing blanks and it could strike someone on the other side." I heard that repeated in another location, at a different re-enactment, and I was just amazed.

That's too funny! Never heard that one before, and I did Rev War enactments for 10 years.

 

[Rod Man]

I’ve heard a bunch of good ones but my favorites are,

“It’s irresponsible to shoot a handmade gun. At least do the right thing and warn your viewers they’re not as safe as real ones”.

“If you’re going to make videos about how to do stuff at least wear your bag and horn on the correct side dummy. No one wore them on the right side”.

“Are you going to replace the barrels of folks you told to clean their guns with water?”

UNREAL

 

[hanshi]

Fun thread! I guess I've encountered near every one of these myths/claims/etc in my 55 year muzzleloading career. The number of people I've offered the opportunity to shoot mine at the range is fairly large; but only about 25% accepted. The ones who did were amazed and found it very cool.

But I find it particularly sad that quite a bit of the myth silliness passed around actually comes from shooters with experience, often significant experience. An example is the myth about seasoning the bore. And there's also those who know all about the "ol' timey" ways - which are often flat-out wrong or either misconstrued. A friend once bought a fancy inline and and remarked "you should see what this (pistol JHP in a sabot) will do to a deer"! I held up a lead ball and responded, "you ought to see what THIS will do to a deer. He finally bought a traditional percussion.

And as for BB guns, I once killed a turkey with my little boy's powered down BB gun. BBs just bounce off the body (feathers) of pigeons but put that little BB in the right spot and it will do the job on even bigger birds. Obviously a .32, say, will take them with aplomb.

 

[Zonie]

When I was at the range, shooting my Schuetzen with paper patched bullets, I had several of the bullets laying on the bench waiting to be loaded.

A guy wanders up and looks at my rifle and then at the bullets that were laying there and says, "Do those bullets have smokeless powder in them?"

I look up and say, "No. They don't have any powder at all in them. I load 70 grains of black powder under them." to which he says, "Holy manure! You mean that's just the bullet?"

The bullets he was looking at are .40 caliber, 400 grain slugs that show up in the lower box in this picture. They are about the size of a .38 Special cartridge.

 

[biliff]

I was at the range yesterday with my 54 GPR.
Since I was doing some load testing, I was at the 50 yard line, on the far right side - next to the 100 yard which was less that 5' to the dividing line.
A guy I see there often was sitting 3 chairs to the right at the 100 yard, he had hung 3 targets up (those shootnC kind.
He made the comment that he wanted to get a muzzleloader but just could not deal with the short distance they would shoot. He needed to be be able to shoot all the way out to 100 yards.
He was sitting there with a 300WM with a 24 power scope - shooting at 100 yards. (YUP one of those)
I politely asked him which target of his would he like me to shoot?
My GPR is much better than minute of deer - It will clover at 50 and easily keep 2" or less groups at 100.
I loaded, pulled a few degrees to the right and put a 54 roundball in the inner ring of his shootnC target.
Jokingly of course, I offered to give him lessons on how to shoot his "long distance" gun at long distance.
Next week we will be meeting again at the 800 yard course for his first lesson.

Our BP range is also a silhoutte range with steel targets set on rails. While the targets are meant to be shot offhand (based on size and distance), most of the suppository crowd shoots off the bench using bipods or sandbags. They seem surprised that you can knock them down off hand with a flintlock.

 

[Shotgunblast]

How about this one. I was at a friend's house and noticed a nice DGW 45 Kentucky and asked about it. Seems his uncle dry balled it and declared it a wall hanger. Tried as I might could not convince him that his uncle was wrong, that by using an attachment on his ramrod he would be able to pull out the ball. What a shame to see that stupidity is passed onto the next generation.

 

[tenngun]

Another old idea, from the country areas of the UK, was that Chewing the shot before loading your smoothbore gave better patterns at long range.
(When you've tried it let me know! )
I can see Some logic to this;
Maybe wet shot slides up the barrel better, but damaged shot spreads wider.
Maybe the chewed grains stuck together for so long, in which case it Might appear to work at times!
Still, it's summat I never tried!

Re. some folks commenting on how slow a flintlock fires;
I have sometimes offered these folks the opportunity to try it;

"You stick your hand over the muzzle and I'll fire it. See if you can get your hand out the way before it goes off".

Ball was roughened ‘ chewed ball. Today folks will do it with a rasp , back in the day it seems to be tooth. I e not tried it, range reports don’t seem to show improvement, but some folks swear by it, I wonder if this is where it comes from shot.

 

[Whitworth]

How about this one. I was at a friend's house and noticed a nice DGW 45 Kentucky and asked about it. Seems his uncle dry balled it and declared it a wall hanger. Tried as I might could not convince him that his uncle was wrong, that by using an attachment on his ramrod he would be able to pull out the ball. What a shame to see that stupidity is passed onto the next generation.

We can only hope his uncle was "dry balled" too so he couldn't pass stupidity down thru his offspring.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Another of the ridiculous notions is that you can season your barrel so you can load your gun without regard for the fouling build up. After all, T/C has been selling Bore Butter with the claim that it will season your barrel to make it slick like Grandma's cast iron frying pan.

To bust that myth!
Our barrels are not made with cast iron.
That "seasoning" is the reason that the original muzzle loaders needed to be freshened out not because they were shot out.
Seasoning in a muzzle loading gun's barrel is nothing other than the crust built up by fouling and oils used to lubricate the patch.

 

[gustrolland]

You know what I'm talking about.. You're at the range shooting BP or talking to a buddy at work about your muzzleloading hobby and you hear something stunningly inaccurate about muzzleloaders. Sometimes it's funny, other times frustrating..

I brought my rifles and revolvers with me to work yesterday so I could go straight to the range afterwards, so I showed them to a guy I work with on break. He looked at the rifles and said "Oh when you said you shoot Muzzleloaders I thought you meant the real ones they sell at Walmart." Another time my boss insisted a round ball couldn't kill a deer or even hit a target past 50 yards...

Anyway, I was just thinking about it and thought if I've heard several humorous misconceptions in the short time I've been in this hobby, then some of you veteran ML shooters have probably heard some doozies! I'd love to hear 'em! -Justin

Have people get a really nice surprise when they see what these guns can due. I normally shoot fainter, but have a Parker Hale Wentworth that is accurate out farther than I can find a place around here to use it.

 

[appalichian hunter]

A late uncle who occasionally hunted with my dad and I many years ago, one evening as we were getting ready to hunt deer, he and dad were using percussion rifles when I pulled the flinter out of its case he said what you going to do with that thing scare the deer to death, you do know it will go poof and a few seconds go bang, bye then the deer will be in the next county. I went off to hunt when we met back at the truck I ask him if he wanted to shoot the flintlock, he shouldered the gun and touched the trigger BOOM he just handed me the rifle and said someone lied to him.

 

[B P Arn]

Off the subject but Gibberish is a language.
Used by the Gibbers being the natives of Gibraltar.

 

[Cap'n Ball]

New Mexico we frequently have fire restrictions with good cause. At a major range during fire bans you can shoot muzzleloaders on the ranges over dirt. You cannot use the trap range over weeds and scrub. I have seen smoldering patches and wads, so I just go along with it since their policy seems reasonable to me.

On the anticipated kick subject, I think the big numbers scare them..They often know what a 30 caliber feels like, so a 50 must be nearly twice! Not surprising, but I have had the questioner glad to listen and learn something. My favorite comparison is 22 to 32 because a 40 grain round ball is the same as the standard 22LR and at a similar velocity. Everyone that listens buys in. Those who don't, generally just accept your word that a 50 ML does not kick like a 50 BMG.

 

[Griz44Mag]

I, too, have a 54 GPR, but haven't shot it enough yet.

My only regret now about buying one - was not holding out for a flintlock model.
And these are not readily adaptable to a change - that darn snail crawling on the side would have to be dealt with.
I'm looking real hard at the new Pedersoli built one, just need a way to rationalize the expenditure.

 

[Treestalker]

I can't believe people would make such ignorant unsolicited remarks. My experience in life has been those who speak the least usually know the most. I am so blessed to not have to deal with a public range and the public.

You're not from Arkansas are you. Had several people question my using a riding cart in Wal-Mart. Like I'm supposed to stop and relate how I achieved each of my injuries on demand. I really have to bite my tongue and not invite them out to the car and offer to shoot them through one knee and use a sledge hammer to bust 6 inches off the opposite thigh bone and see how well they can walk later on in life. And live on the pittance I worked for and paid into for over 40 years. The gall of some folks. Don't even get me started on my smokepoles, LOL!

 

[Musketeer]

I also like ‘Hawking’. I always think, “You mean like Stephen Hawking?’

Isn't he that famous Brit gunmaker who wrote the book A Brief History of Lock Time?

 

[Tacksman45]

I once had a someone tell me that there were no rifles before the American Civil War because according to them, that was when conical projectiles were invented, and a round ball will not stay straight when fired from a rifled barrel.