After a long break a friend and I organised to go for a shot at a local property.
The clincher was I had just received the wads for an antique 14g I had acquired.
As the property owner was interested in having a go with black powder we were told to expect a visitor.
Keen to share my love of the holy black I took the following:
The trials and tribulations!
As the 14g was a dark horse we lent it against the spare tyre and tied it to my cast iron benchrest and sandbag. I had no string. I had bought it special and left it at home.
ended up tying a bit of leather thong to a ratchet strap to a horses bridle but got a workable solution.
While working up the shotgun the farmer, his visitor and his 2 daughters arrived.
After working up to a 3 dram square load it was time for the fun!
OK first they wanted to shoot the CVA flintock (the only flinter I brought) I had/have not fired it yet myself. I have bought it and redone the stock and metalwork. Part of the required work was to raise the trigger plate. That coupled with other work meant the set trigger bore on the sear (I had not releived it enough). Leaving the trigger touchy at best.
As it was loaded I fired it by pulling and releasing the hammer which did not hold but fell forward and fired (thankfully). After it was empty I worked the hammer and kerthunk! something happened inside the lock. It was jammed solid (the Mainspring had escaped!).
So out comes the Lyman.
The Lyman is my go to rifle BUT I have found that RWS percussion caps (all I could get) do not fit well. Some fit down properly and some don't).
Not the best impression I could have made with about 1 in 3 needing a second strike. But we all got a shot.
Now time for the 14g. Long story short I got distracted more than once and forgot to put powder in two loads and my nipple wrench would not fit. Having said that we eventually got the overpowder card and everything else out.
Eventually we all managed to shoot a few clays with it.
WHAT A BLAST
We forgot the ammo for the Martini.
My mate did not realise that the Zouave uses different caps and we had no musket caps
Did not even get to shoot the Double rifle or the Kentucky.
After 3 1/2 hours it is time to clean up. The head of the jag broke off in the CVA!!!! Eventually managed to catch the remaining few threads and extract the Jag head and using the dremel cut a slot in the part broken in the
cleaning rod and unscrew it. Fixing the trigger on the CVA is still an ongoing issue.
Ah well I have learned a lot and learning more. Much better than a day at work
The clincher was I had just received the wads for an antique 14g I had acquired.
As the property owner was interested in having a go with black powder we were told to expect a visitor.
Keen to share my love of the holy black I took the following:
- 14g Belgium perc. side by side
- 50 CVA perc. double rifle
- 45 perc. custom long rifle
- 54 perc. Lyman Great Plains hunter
- 54 CVA flintlock Mtn rifle
The trials and tribulations!
As the 14g was a dark horse we lent it against the spare tyre and tied it to my cast iron benchrest and sandbag. I had no string. I had bought it special and left it at home.
ended up tying a bit of leather thong to a ratchet strap to a horses bridle but got a workable solution.
While working up the shotgun the farmer, his visitor and his 2 daughters arrived.
After working up to a 3 dram square load it was time for the fun!
OK first they wanted to shoot the CVA flintock (the only flinter I brought) I had/have not fired it yet myself. I have bought it and redone the stock and metalwork. Part of the required work was to raise the trigger plate. That coupled with other work meant the set trigger bore on the sear (I had not releived it enough). Leaving the trigger touchy at best.
As it was loaded I fired it by pulling and releasing the hammer which did not hold but fell forward and fired (thankfully). After it was empty I worked the hammer and kerthunk! something happened inside the lock. It was jammed solid (the Mainspring had escaped!).
So out comes the Lyman.
The Lyman is my go to rifle BUT I have found that RWS percussion caps (all I could get) do not fit well. Some fit down properly and some don't).
Not the best impression I could have made with about 1 in 3 needing a second strike. But we all got a shot.
Now time for the 14g. Long story short I got distracted more than once and forgot to put powder in two loads and my nipple wrench would not fit. Having said that we eventually got the overpowder card and everything else out.
Eventually we all managed to shoot a few clays with it.
WHAT A BLAST
We forgot the ammo for the Martini.
My mate did not realise that the Zouave uses different caps and we had no musket caps
Did not even get to shoot the Double rifle or the Kentucky.
After 3 1/2 hours it is time to clean up. The head of the jag broke off in the CVA!!!! Eventually managed to catch the remaining few threads and extract the Jag head and using the dremel cut a slot in the part broken in the
cleaning rod and unscrew it. Fixing the trigger on the CVA is still an ongoing issue.Ah well I have learned a lot and learning more. Much better than a day at work
