Funny Stories about Muzzle Loaders that left you wondering.

[Burningprince]

Ok this is a story about how ignorant some people can be and ruin it for the rest.The range where i live is sadly closed now.have to drive three hours to shoot now.Obviously these guys thought it would be a great idea to shoot skeet with AK'S a house a mile and a half down range and on the other side of the ridge not in line with the range had it's roof peppered thankfully no one was hurt.lack of RO's and common sense is just a bad combination.

 

[sc45-70]

Once while shooting at our local range,I was set up and shooting at a target on the 50 yard backstop. While loading my flintlock rifle a car pulled in and parked. 2 guys got out, I waved at them and they waved back. I finished loading my rifle,went to the bench, primed my rifle and took aim at my target. I set the trigger and was about to shoot when I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.
Here those two idiots were walking down range past the 50 yard backstop heading tward the 100 yard backstop. I screamed at them asking them what in the H they were doing. They told me that they saw that I was shooting a muzzle loader and figured that by the time I shot and got reloaded they could be set up and shooting. :idunno:

 

[Frank Savage]

There are only two kinds of ML shooters in the world:
-Those who already shot their ramrod downrange
-and those who are just getting ready to do so

(preferably for the last shot of a "10 from 13" match, with string heading for 98 or better score)


Indoor ranges-reminds me of my father giving a try to one such institution. No cornmeal, which we use for wadding was on hand at the time, so the toilet paper was used (both gives less influence on ball than felt wads, esp. with light charges for being accurate and just beinng able to hole the paper, as to say).
He was in the middle of fourth cylinder of Rem. 1858, when he was asked to finish and leave "for messing the range", generaly said. A few meters ahead, in a blind angle of the shooter caused by the shooting desk, a "fire dwarf´s toilet range" was smoking decently... 21 small, but as toilet paper well-idenntificable, s#*@hills were smiling. My father apologized and proposed cleaning his rangepath after finishing his obligate six-cylinder relaxing row, but the RO was acting as if 24 BIG cows with acute diarrhoea were carefuly placed downnrange to vent their guts and father just informed him about two truckloads of the same ill cows just hauled in RO´s bedroom for the same purpose.
Some people just lack any sense of humor.

 

[lakota]

There are only two kinds of ML shooters in the world:
-Those who already shot their ramrod downrange
-and those who are just getting ready to do so

I will admit to nearly doing this on this very afternoon. If I had done so I would be S.O.L. because cashola is very tight right now and I would be faced with no way to replace said ramrod for a while! :redface:

 

[DanC]

There are only two kinds of ML shooters in the world:
-Those who already shot their ramrod downrange
-and those who are just getting ready to do so

My bro, sis in law, nephew and me were getting ready to go huntin elk huntin a few yrs bak. We had our gear adjusted how we was gonna carry it and was shootin pretty good. She fired off a round, then her head came up with a look of perplexion on it, and she froze. I asked what happened and she said "it kicked really hard and didn't hit like it shud.

I asked her where was her ramrod- "Oh NOoo ..."

I

Dan C
n all fairness, i must make a full disclosure and say I poped mine out , yust outside the ten ringjust a few weeks ago.

 

[Greg Hardy]

About twenty five years ago, I picked up an old Zoli Zouave. I had just gotten bitten by the casting bug, so I got a Lyman 525 gr minie mold. Well, after casting about two hundred hollow based minies, I figure hmmmm, what if I left out the base plug and blank off the base and cast some really heavy solids? Thinking was doing and a couple of days later I went to the range I was a member of and decided to touch off a few rounds. I had paper patched the slugs, which weighed about 845 gr. With a charge suggested by the late Val Forgett, which I will not repeat, I touched off the first round at the 50 yd target. The report was awsome but thethe recoil was nothing short of OH MY GOD! The slug hit well, but started keyholing past the 50 yd mark making a moan that would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. On the fourth or fifth shot, the slug hit the old telephone pole used as a backstop retainer and a huge chunk of wood went flying up in the air. I immediately had an audience of guys who had been shooting 30-30's and what not wondering what I was shooting. I showed them the thumb sized slugs and they all loaded up their cartridge guns and left...

 

[chuckr1952]

My 12 year old daughter and I were at the range last fall,2 other guys were sighting in a new rifle.I was messing with my gun she was at the next bench,all at once she said DADDY DADDY LOOK she had laid her 22 auto down and one of the guys was walking out to change targets.I hollered "hey we don't mind going cold if you need on the range!',he looked at me then he looked at her and said 'ALL SHE's got is a 22'.After all the preaching about gun safty to becky she nearly had a heart attack,I just told her to watch them.

 

[Trench]

My 12 year old daughter and I were at the range last fall,2 other guys were sighting in a new rifle.I was messing with my gun she was at the next bench,all at once she said DADDY DADDY LOOK she had laid her 22 auto down and one of the guys was walking out to change targets.I hollered "hey we don't mind going cold if you need on the range!',he looked at me then he looked at her and said 'ALL SHE's got is a 22'.After all the preaching about gun safty to becky she nearly had a heart attack,I just told her to watch them.

Don't you know that "real men" can take a bullet now and then? 40gr of supersonic lead is just childsplay I guess.

 

[The Hermit]

Over the years when Donna was alive, we had taken in 17 troubled boys. I taught most of them how to shoot and they liked the black powder guns. I had a .50 cal that they could use supervised. One day when I came into the living room, there was two 14 year old boys and a 10 year old sitting on the couch watching tv.The 10 year old kept looking at my unfired .50 cal Penn long rifle on the mantle over the bookcase and then I noticed that the ramrod looked odd. I started to say "what in the world.." when suddenly the older boys split, but I managed to catch the little one. Seems they decide it would be great fun to shoot the Penn long rifle but in their haste forgot to remove the ramrod before touching her off. They put the rifle back, uncleaned, and stuck the remains of the ramrod back into the rifle.I was starting to get very upset when the little guy said,"man, you shoulda seen that stick fly through the air, it was neat".
We ended up have a good stern lecture,another safety talk,and cleaned my new once unfired rifle.
I never will forget the look on the little guys face. He's married now with 2 kids of his own.
The rifle still shoots well, regardless of its first use.
The Hermit

 

[paulab]

I've got a story I still cant believe. Our m/l club shoots once a week outdoors in good weather. One of the shooters [a teacher by the way] forgot to take his ramrod out of the bore before he shot. Believe it or not, ALL of the gas went out the nipple, leaving the ramrod in the bore. That's not the amazing part. We couldn't get that ramrod out no matter what we did. He took it to the local gunsmith. He couldn't pull it out either. He filled the bore with kerosene and left it upright for a few days....no luck. He ended up pulling the breechplug and driving it out. THE RAMROD WAS COMPRESSED INTO A TIGHT CORKSCREW SHAPE FROM FRONT TO BACK! I saw it. It was unbelievable. cheers Paul

 

[HAMMERSCHILD]

Bent,
That is probably the best and funniest story I have EVER heard. :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:
Got to love our wives!!! :idunno:

Cheers, DonK

My poor bride thought tha muzzleloader mean't that the "cartridge" was loaded from the muzzle for years till she finally made it to the range. that precious "oooooooh" look on her face was priceless.

 

[sepiatone]

The day before I left for my honeymoon, me and some friends went shooting our mls. The next morning, me and the wife decided to check in curbside at the airport. Security swabbed our bags, which came up as "explosives". Security quickly seperated us, took our licenses, and questioned us. As this is going on, I'm watching TSA take item by item out of our bags right there on the sidewalk (some of which are my wife's unmentionables :redface: )

I had packed my boots that I was shooting with the day before which set off the alarm. The wife still gives me a hard time about this.

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Same thing happens to seniors who transport nitro heart pills for angina. Only AARP tells 'em to bring a script along for the plane ride.

I traveled the day after I shot, wearing the same pants (by accident). No one spot checked me that day though, so no problems.

 

[Ranger1759]

Last October at a Rondy, I was back helping out/BS'n with the guys running the range, oh, by the way this is an open rondy with lots of walk-ins, an older guys shows up at the range wanting to shoot(walk-in) he's dress as a rev war militia sorta, and was carrying an obvious indian made Bess...well in speaking to and registering him in he said he hoped that he had enough powder to get through the 15 shots... we all told him not to worry as we all had our horns there and we would help out if he runs low...he said thanks and that he loads 90gr of 4f per shot....everyone there went white! and we asked "you mean 3f right" he said no I have 4f and thats what Ive shot a few times at home, stating that he just got the gun last week...well I checked his horn and sure enough it was filled with 4f....

we set him straight about the powder and gave him back his money and told him to have a nice day!

I would not want to be next to him on the line when that indian bess decides to let go!

Ranger

 

[Dave Rosenthal]

Yeah, let him watch & see how it's done right, then invite him back next year, if he "gets it".

Some times I wonder :shake: