• 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

Coldest temp you have ever shot in a match?

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Don't know the temps but have shot during some nasty frigid weather. Wasn't what I would call fun but we did it. Have also shot in some killer heat. One time the brass powder measures were so hot they blistered our fingers. Right now, it is 5 degrees and snowing hard. No way I will go outside, to shoot or anything else. Try dragging me out and I will shoot you inside the house.
 
0 degrees. We had an old truck rim turned upside down with a roaring fire going.After the shoot we had hot home made Chili with coffee and hot chocolate. Miserable but still fun.
 
Never seen that kind of cold anytime, anywhere I have been. Does a flintlock still spark at that temp? 😂
I used to tell buckskinning story about being caught in weather so cold it froze my fire.
Of course in the story I was band of three Blackfoot-crow-sioux-‘rappaho-‘ree-ute. I had to fight them off and went to shoot one and when I did my rifle didn’t fire, but the sparks were glowing right on top of the powder.
I grabbed them and tossed them in my mouth. Then threw my hawk. By then them sparks were warmed up and spit them in to my pan. Aimed at the hawk and shot. Split the ball on the hawk blade and the two half’s kilt the indians on the side, while my hawk hit the middle one and kilt him.
So I came out of that winter three horses richer.
 
I used to tell buckskinning story about being caught in weather so cold it froze my fire.
Of course in the story I was band of three Blackfoot-crow-sioux-‘rappaho-‘ree-ute. I had to fight them off and went to shoot one and when I did my rifle didn’t fire, but the sparks were glowing right on top of the powder.
I grabbed them and tossed them in my mouth. Then threw my hawk. By then them sparks were warmed up and spit them in to my pan. Aimed at the hawk and shot. Split the ball on the hawk blade and the two half’s kilt the indians on the side, while my hawk hit the middle one and kilt him.
So I came out of that winter three horses richer.
WOW! Did that really happen?? 😂
Good story, bet the boys listening in were wearing 5 buckle overshoes!
istockphoto-174928895-612x612.jpg
 
I have shot a match at about zero with a good stiff wind. Ws hotting a .36 flintlock. Patches shattered at the muzzle, leaving a ring at the top of the barrel. Was so cold I cut my fingers and did not notice it until I felt the ramrod was sticky. Took four bandaids to close the cuts to keep on shooting. But we kept on shooting.

Shot a primitive biathlon that started at 6 above. On my seventh shot, froze a patched ball halfway down and we had to hammer the hell out of the range rod to get it where we could shoot it out. Then broke the ramrod. A great day to be in the outdoors!

This weekend it was in single digits, so I stayed by the fire. With age comes wisdom.

ADK Bigfoot
 
The coldest I can remember was the one on a February Sunday. There must have been a good foot and a half of snow on the ground, maybe two, which is quite a great amount for NE Kansas. Temperatures may have been in the 20 degree range Fahrenheit.
 
Many years ago my wife and I attended the February match in Brady Texas. We camped out and woke up to a blue norther! We shot all our matches that day but only by sitting in the pickup with the heater on between relays! I recall our spit patch freezing half way down the barrel when loading! There was snow and wind so our scores didnt win anything. Our goal was to just finish all the matches. We still had a good time!
 
Twoquick ones: In Alaska 1954, froze my ears shooting Ptarmigan. -35 and I forgot to turn ear flaps down on my cap. Old-timer with me said 'don't touch your ears. At hospital doctors were afraid I would lose the ears. Their great work saved 'em.. Also Alaska, in military, had to fire cold weather course. Shot best score ever, easily qualified expert. Range master congratulated me. I said "when I got the first shot right, the rest was easy. I was frozen in place." Polecat
 
Elk season, mid to early 80s. -25 degrees...the 5 gallon water barrel froze solid in less than 6 hrs, we were low on water for 3 days, before we could get enough water thawed to be of more use than a few drips and sips...it was cold.

Great hunt though.
 
Well Gentlemen, I had a stretcher I was gonna tell but my hat's off to Tenngun --but I remembered that the first liar don't have a chance. Y'see, I recollect ol' John a-tellin' me about a time it were so cold the sparks from his flint `n steel froze and he used to carry a bunch of `em around in his `bacca pouch. When he wanted a smoke, he'd stuff that ol' stone pipe of his, tap a couple of those froze sparks --- they looked like shiny l'il beads --- onto the top, and blow on `em to warm `em up. So Tenngun's yarn ain't all that uncredible after all. John also said that same winter was fearsome cold. He said he'd go out with Old Fetchum to get some meat and when he muttered to hisself (he usually did), his words would freeze in his beard. When he came back to his lodge and hunkered by the fire, they thawed out and it sounded like two or three trappers argyfying. Kept him awake half the night, wondering which one was winning.
Tanglefoot
 
Our ML club had a annual "Hardwater Rendezvous" the first weekend of January just west of Onawa, IA (about 50-60 miles north of Omaha, NE). Set up Friday afternoon and break camp Sunday afternoon. One weekend the highest temp was -10*F and got as low as -25*F - snowed real light but steady all weekend but only got 3" or 4" of snow. I've still got 4 or 5 - 12" stakes back in the woods someplace. Had truncated competitions, but, by golly we had them. Fun times but really cold. Tandem weighted sled pull was a hoot !!!
 
Back
Top