This is a public service announcement for all the want-a-bees out there about the dangers of this black powder thing. Once you start, it makes you crazy! I always wanted to try it and now that I'm in it,I can't get out!
It started a couple of months ago after my surgery. Having time on my hands, I bought a cheap flintlock thinking I would kill some targets and try something new. (It was also something I could do wearing paper underwear.) That was a big mistake. The darn thing would only fire about every other time. That got me hooked on trying to get the thing to shoot the way it should. With the help of the guys on this forum that was accomplished.
Sorry for the interruption, the grandfather clock just struck 5 AM. The darn thing must be broken because about a half hour ago it struck 12 midnight. I guess I have to get that fixed now too. I've been working on my gun.
Anyway, still having time on my hands I started on my way to Bass Pro (about three hours away) to buy a cheap kit to build. On the way, I realized that putting the two hundred or so into a Traditions kit would leave me with another one of the same type of rifle that I already had. A better choice would be to stop at Cabelas (its on the way) and put about $350 into a little better Hawkin kit from them.
One of the shooters at the range told me about Longhunter Mercantile in Portland, PA (also on the way because NJ is so x%!* stupid you have to leave the state if you don't want to wait months in order to buy real BP). This place was in the old railroad station of a little town with a Goex sign in the window (points there even before I got out of the car).
Dennis showed me the Southern Mountain Rifles that he builds and answered all my questions. I could tell he enjoys helping new builders get started. He said I could give him a call anytime if I had anymore questions. (The regular guys on this site know what was going to happen.) Dennis had guns in all stages of completion and with no intention of spending that kind of money, I walked out with a 36 cal "In the White" Southern Mt.Rifle. Silar Lock, Green Mt. barrel, straight grain maple stock with iron (steel) furniture, that I can see some "curl" in.(I learned all that stuff reading this forum).The truth is, if he was building flintlock elephant guns, I probably would have bought one. Now when I'm finished, I'll have the decent kind of rifle I should have invested in
in the first place. Definetly sound logic if I ever heard it. Sometimes I surprize myself.
The second problem is the weird change in my personality.I find myself not being able to put down a part until every ridge and low spot has been filed or sanded down and made smooth. Thats not like me. Cleaning the garage has been on my short list for the last six months.
Its also a marriage wrecker. I'm not only catching hell for not getting anything else done, I'm catching it for leaving sandpaper and files in the kitchen all the time and not cleaning up.(I need a work bench.)My wife thinks they took part of my brain out along with my prostate!
Now that I had "experience" I caught myself pricing parts on the sites of suppliers, thinking how I could jazz up my new gun. But that didn't last long because I realized that most S Mt. rifles were "poor boys" and that would wreck it. Anyway I would want something like a 50 cal Isaac Haines to jazz up .....................
See what I mean, BEWARE!
TR
It started a couple of months ago after my surgery. Having time on my hands, I bought a cheap flintlock thinking I would kill some targets and try something new. (It was also something I could do wearing paper underwear.) That was a big mistake. The darn thing would only fire about every other time. That got me hooked on trying to get the thing to shoot the way it should. With the help of the guys on this forum that was accomplished.
Sorry for the interruption, the grandfather clock just struck 5 AM. The darn thing must be broken because about a half hour ago it struck 12 midnight. I guess I have to get that fixed now too. I've been working on my gun.
Anyway, still having time on my hands I started on my way to Bass Pro (about three hours away) to buy a cheap kit to build. On the way, I realized that putting the two hundred or so into a Traditions kit would leave me with another one of the same type of rifle that I already had. A better choice would be to stop at Cabelas (its on the way) and put about $350 into a little better Hawkin kit from them.
One of the shooters at the range told me about Longhunter Mercantile in Portland, PA (also on the way because NJ is so x%!* stupid you have to leave the state if you don't want to wait months in order to buy real BP). This place was in the old railroad station of a little town with a Goex sign in the window (points there even before I got out of the car).
Dennis showed me the Southern Mountain Rifles that he builds and answered all my questions. I could tell he enjoys helping new builders get started. He said I could give him a call anytime if I had anymore questions. (The regular guys on this site know what was going to happen.) Dennis had guns in all stages of completion and with no intention of spending that kind of money, I walked out with a 36 cal "In the White" Southern Mt.Rifle. Silar Lock, Green Mt. barrel, straight grain maple stock with iron (steel) furniture, that I can see some "curl" in.(I learned all that stuff reading this forum).The truth is, if he was building flintlock elephant guns, I probably would have bought one. Now when I'm finished, I'll have the decent kind of rifle I should have invested in
in the first place. Definetly sound logic if I ever heard it. Sometimes I surprize myself.
The second problem is the weird change in my personality.I find myself not being able to put down a part until every ridge and low spot has been filed or sanded down and made smooth. Thats not like me. Cleaning the garage has been on my short list for the last six months.
Its also a marriage wrecker. I'm not only catching hell for not getting anything else done, I'm catching it for leaving sandpaper and files in the kitchen all the time and not cleaning up.(I need a work bench.)My wife thinks they took part of my brain out along with my prostate!
Now that I had "experience" I caught myself pricing parts on the sites of suppliers, thinking how I could jazz up my new gun. But that didn't last long because I realized that most S Mt. rifles were "poor boys" and that would wreck it. Anyway I would want something like a 50 cal Isaac Haines to jazz up .....................
See what I mean, BEWARE!
TR
