Amusing/Ridiculous Muzzleloading Misconceptions...

[springfield art]

The Revolutionary War was was won by the Americans because they all had Kentucky rifles and the British only had smoothbores.

Ha, ha!

 

[Buck Conner]

Yes, but... does Wentworth have a target range, and can you to shoot golf [balls] with a Whitworth at Wentworth?

Yes, golf balls in the air and now you have a skeet shoot. Biggest problem is the hired help have to keep a low profile during such events ........ .....

 

[Crow-Feather]

I do have to agree on that one, it's amazing how many people still think muzzleloaders kick like a mule.

At Rondy, I ask youngsters if they want to shoot my rifle. The parents look worried but usually allow it. I load about 20 grains and the youngster has a smile on his face for hours.

 

[rickpa]

Back in the 70's a friend and I were shouting at a slag dump we used as a range with our home built flintlocks when 3 guys showed up with their bolt action 30-06s. Of course they questioned the accuracy of our guns so Bob offered to put up some clay pigeons at 100 yds and asked them if they'd like to shoot for $1 a bird. They shot first, offhand, and got one out of 3. Bob put up 3 more, hit them all but declined to take their money. They were really surprised when we held our rifles upside down and fired them.

 

[DUNKS]

BOB. It's difficult really, the author is on about a Brit cavalry officer in "The American war" and relates the story and there is a reference to 1760 but it appears from previous pages that he is referring to an excellent rifle possibly made in Lancaster with a barrel weight of six pounds and a few ounces shooting a ball no larger than thirty six to a pound. Sorry if this is confusing, The book is English guns and rifles.

 

[Dale Lilly]

Guess my bamboo Orvis would be wasted on them......

mmm? I collect 'old' bamboo fly rods including one eleven feet long … for steelhead and salmon. They look great displayed alongside my ML collection. I guess I really was born too late. Polecat

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Stopped into a rural Kansas country store and saw they had a rather wide selection of ammunition and Muzzleloading supplies. I found a box of .36 round balls and the clerk rang them up, looked at them and said “Muzzleloading? What a pain in the ass hobby that is”.

 

[Robby]

Smokey, you should have told him, its not a hobby, its a way of life!
Robby

 

[Tanglefoot]

My father had been told that black powder gets unstable as it gets older, and can explode if it's dropped or shaken. I didn't know he believed that, so I never brought the subject up. Then while I was in the army, he came across a pair of antique powder cans I had in a cabinet (still containing powder). They were the oval red cans with the black & white paper labels. One was about half full and the other had never been opened. He emptied both cans down the toilet and then threw the empties in the trash.

 

[Cruzatte]

For various reasons I got really good at remembering stories as a kid. Someone would tell a story to me and 3-4 years later they would tell it again, half way through I'd stop them and say something like "no, your messing that up, it was Rocko, that blue tic with half an ear that caught the coon under the wood shed not Trigger"

It was really funny when they didn't remember telling me the 1st time. . . . .They would have this look on their face, like, how could this kid know that????
Now I'm getting older and can't even keep my own stories straight

Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

 

[biliff]

1760 That's what the book says!

Might want to get a new book. Last time I checked the Brits and Americans were shooting at the French in 1760, not each other. Your story sounds like the Col. Tarleton anecdote from approximately 1780.

 

[Ames]

"The million dollar question with flintlocks is whether they will fire when there is a deer standing in front of you. It makes you wonder how they survived 200 years ago when you were never 100% certain that your gun would go off when you pulled the trigger."

They forgot to point out 200 years ago you hunted deer 365 if you wanted to.

 

[TFoley]

I could head shoot a robin at 30 yards just about 100% of the time.

I have to ask why you'd want to shoot a robin.

 

[Bob McBride]

I have to ask why you'd want to shoot a robin.

How could you not, what with all that unnecessary flying about and singing, and you there, gun in hand?

 

[SmokepoleSam]

Probably because he was 10 years old and it seemed like a good idea at the time. Do you remember being 10 years old and what you did then?

 

[Dale Lilly]

I shot grouse with a Lyman 1858 revolver … at maybe thirty feet … and I missed many more than I hit … maybe 30% …. and I loved the hunt. Polecat

 

[Justin.44]

How could you not, what with all that unnecessary flying about and singing, and you there, gun in hand?

And don't forget the orange target on their chest!

 

[tenngun]

mmm? I collect 'old' bamboo fly rods including one eleven feet long … for steelhead and salmon. They look great displayed alongside my ML collection. I guess I really was born too late. Polecat

Weren’t we all

 

[Bob McBride]

And don't forget the orange target on their chest!

I swear I thought about how to fit that in but sometimes making two points in one sentence ruins the prose.....

 

[Eutycus]

My father had been told that black powder gets unstable as it gets older, and can explode if it's dropped or shaken. I didn't know he believed that, so I never brought the subject up. Then while I was in the army, he came across a pair of antique powder cans I had in a cabinet (still containing powder). They were the oval red cans with the black & white paper labels. One was about half full and the other had never been opened. He emptied both cans down the toilet and then threw the empties in the trash.

You should tell him black powder really gets unstable when it's wet.