Weird Things

cynthialee said:

I figured that was a case of god saying 'yeah my bad, your shot should have made it, here is the easy shot.'

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sometimes it just seems that it was meant to be.

One time I got up super early to get to my turkey setup and there were lightning bugs all over the place. I was sitting there just half asleep and the lightning bugs started collecting together in a bunch. Soon they all coalesced into the shape of a man that sparkled in the early morning dark, and then they “walked” away. Really happened, but it was because I fell asleep and was dreaming. Weird though.

Many years ago I was muzzleloading with my nephew we were pushing a draw. He was in the bottom and I on the ridge when out comes a doe at 40 yds. We both fired the exact same time and a sound I've never heard. We think out bullets hit each other. Now we have no way to prove it but she should have clocked out but no. Both of us were excellent shots back in the day.

Yanqui said:

What’s the strangest thing that has happened with you and your muzzleloader? I’m going to say for me it was at the range. Was all loaded up and capped. Trigger pulled, no bang. To my amazement the primer for the cap had been knocked out of the cap and sat on the nipple. Never before or since has that happened.

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Remington caps were notorious for doing that in the early to mid 80's. I had a tin with 30 or so caps that did that. Never bought another Remington cap in the last 40 years.

Brazos John said:

I had the same thing happen with some old free caps that I had received.
The primer came loose, and blocked the fire channel through the nipple, without me noticing it.
Two caps later, I saw what was happening.
Cleared the channel, and it fired like it should.

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rp77469 said:

Remington caps were notorious for doing that in the early to mid 80's. I had a tin with 30 or so caps that did that. Never bought another Remington cap in the last 40 years.

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A cowboy shooter gave me the bag full of tins of old Remington caps, with a warning that there might be issues.
He was right.
These had the greenish charge inside.
Looks like it wasn't just my imagination...

So, can anything be done to improve their reliability?
Or, do I just use them for plinking?

Early in my bow career I had a perfect 7-8 yard shot at a nice buck from a ground stand. Shot was perfect and I nailed a 2" sapling that jumped in front of my arrow at 5 yards. I swear that stick was not there when I shot. SMH.

Brazos John said:

A cowboy shooter gave me the bag full of tins of old Remington caps, with a warning that there might be issues.
He was right.
These had the greenish charge inside.
Looks like it wasn't just my imagination...

So, can anything be done to improve their reliability?
Or, do I just use them for plinking?

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I think they forgot to glue them in, because I remember tiny priming compound hockey pucks rattling around in the tin with empty copper caps. Maybe check one of the cap making threads for what they use to secure the primer? I think I used the caps up in my ROA and have been using CCI (and flint) ever since.

cynthialee said:

I shot at a deer, missed....35 yards, how I missed I don't know, I am pretty sharp with that rifle.
Looked at the deer looking at me, called over to the deer 'if you are still standing there when I get reloaded I am shooting you'.
Loaded again with a conical because that is my second shot due to load speed, bambi just kept looking at me chewing on grass, told her 'I am capping my rifle, last chance to flee'.
Popped off that shot and it was an instant dirt nap for that deer. Ate on her for the next 4 months. Didn't buy a meat box from the butcher that year. Second best deer I have ever taken. (Best was a juvenile. The hunting season was any deer and that deer was there and I am not a trophy hunter at all.)

I figured that was a case of god saying 'yeah my bad, your shot should have made it, here is the easy shot.'

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I like that idea of a conical for a second shot. I use a prb and that 2nd one can be hard to load, though I may use a thinner patch in my block also.

Ponderosaman said:

...Soon they all coalesced into the shape of a man that sparkled in the early morning dark, and then they “walked” away. Really happened...

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Uhh, you might consider cutting back a little on the kinnikinnick, bro

Ponderosaman said:

One time I got up super early to get to my turkey setup and there were lightning bugs all over the place. I was sitting there just half asleep and the lightning bugs started collecting together in a bunch. Soon they all coalesced into the shape of a man that sparkled in the early morning dark, and then they “walked” away. Really happened, but it was because I fell asleep and was dreaming. Weird though.

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It was really Donald Trump appearing to you to tell you to mend your ways.

deleted.

Yanqui said:

I like that idea of a conical for a second shot. I use a prb and that 2nd one can be hard to load, though I may use a thinner patch in my block also.

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ease of loading is 100% the reason I use a Conical on my second and subsequent shots (although I must admit I have never needed a 3rd bullet....)
If I use a TC Maxi-Hunter 275 and 10 grains more powder than my PRB I get pretty much the same shot group as the PRB.
I have a mold for them but I still have a small amount of the premade.

yellowhammer said:

Uhh, you might consider cutting back a little on the kinnikinnick, bro

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You never nodded off in your setup before? I have had some of the most insane naps out in the field.

Ponderosaman said:

You never nodded off in your setup before? I have had some of the most insane naps out in the field.

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woke up once with a family of deer looking at me from about 10 yards away
tried real hard to be slow but my first movement set them off and they were gone before I could shoulder my rifle
cricked my neck good sleeping like that but it was restful, didn't get a deer that year

This isn't a hunting story and it's not about my muzzleloader but not for lack of trying...

Several years ago, I came across a Pedersoli .45 Kentucky rifle for sale on a social media platform that allows gun sales. The person selling it is in the same state as I am, he wouldn't ship - he required it be picked up. He isn't a real long way, just a couple hundred miles. Anyway, we agreed on a price. I told him I would be up the next day, or at his earliest convenience to pick it up. The next thing I know the guy starts getting weird with me acting like I'm not smart enough to have a muzzleloader - his gun is way above my ability. I Cordingly attempted to talk to him in an effort to purchase the rifle, but he wouldn't have any part of it. I really wanted that rifle and still wish I would have been able to get it. Oh well, I guess that's what I get for not being smart enough to shoot a muzzleloader.



,

Yanqui said:

I wonder how often that happens? Now I know at least there’s two of us

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Naw they 3 of us now. Had it happen before.

Shooting too late, right at dusk, I spilled a small amount of powder while priming the pan on a rifle I'd been working on. Gun fired and so did the spilled powder atop my shooting bench. Maybe a half-teaspoon full, but somehow it seemed like every grain of ffffg ignited as well as the rifle shot.
Singed the outside of my right hand and nearly caused me to fill my britches. Lesson learned.

Then there was this duck. I was mebbe twelve and Dad finally bought his first muzzle loading pistol - Tingle Model of 1960 percussion .40 caliber. We were the only people at the rifle range, but there was a trap shoot going on at the ranges up the hill. Nice sunny day and quite warm as I recall. Duck came flying towards us and my father (who taught aireal (sp?) gunnery in WW2 but only broke a game law on that day) put one hand on his left hip, raised that Tingle at the duck and fired.

Some "pictures" stick in your mind for an entire lifetime. That duck kinda/sorta collapsed in mid-air with a cloud of feathers floating towards us. "C'mon Johnny, we gotta go home." We did. Quick. Still have that pistol and another - both 3-digit serial numbers. Very accurate and lucky.

sheriff john said:

Shooting too late, right at dusk, I spilled a small amount of powder while priming the pan on a rifle I'd been working on. Gun fired and so did the spilled powder atop my shooting bench. Maybe a half-teaspoon full, but somehow it seemed like every grain of ffffg ignited as well as the rifle shot.
Singed the outside of my right hand and nearly caused me to fill my britches. Lesson learned.

Then there was this duck. I was mebbe twelve and Dad finally bought his first muzzle loading pistol - Tingle Model of 1960 percussion .40 caliber. We were the only people at the rifle range, but there was a trap shoot going on at the ranges up the hill. Nice sunny day and quite warm as I recall. Duck came flying towards us and my father (who taught aireal (sp?) gunnery in WW2 but only broke a game law on that day) put one hand on his left hip, raised that Tingle at the duck and fired.

Some "pictures" stick in your mind for an entire lifetime. That duck kinda/sorta collapsed in mid-air with a cloud of feathers floating towards us. "C'mon Johnny, we gotta go home." We did. Quick. Still have that pistol and another - both 3-digit serial numbers. Very accurate and lucky.

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I almost had one of them Tingles for real cheap back in the late 80's, but I hadn't heard of such a gun before and I was skeptical of the gun. Go figure eh?

cynthialee said:

I almost had one of them Tingles for real cheap back in the late 80's, but I hadn't heard of such a gun before and I was skeptical of the gun. Go figure eh?

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His single shot pistol was an interesting design. He had a long barrel version and a detachable butt stock to go with it. Pre-dated the Contender; they prob emulated his ideas

He also offered a pretty cool half-stock rifle and a revolver if I recall correctly.

I was hunting in Florida, in the Alafia River area, using my trusty .50 caliber GRRW Leman Indian Trade Rifle, named Lucy . I was still-hunting, moving slowly and carefully, stopping frequently and scanning the area around me. There was a lot of undergrowth and palmetto scrub but pretty good visibility on a clear, sunny, cool day. At one point I had stopped under a large Live Oak to look and listen when I heard something running through the scrub and leaf litter, coming closer. Soon I saw the brush disturbed by a large animal's passing, and then a big buck deer burst out of the bushes about 20 yards in front of me and stopped broadside to me, looking back over his shoulder. I cocked the Leman carefully, holding the trigger back to eliminate the "click" and slowly raised the rifle. The buck was motionless except for his breathing. I drew a careful bead on the crease behind his shoulder and squeezed Lucy's trigger. The shot went off, and I stepped to one side to clear the smoke while I grounded the rifle butt and reloaded. I watched the buck take what I thought would be a last few bounds as I upended my powder horn and measured another charge. Imagine my surprise when he kept running out of sight to my left front, disappearing in the thickets. I got reloaded and went forward to where he had been standing, looking for the blood trail. There were his tracks, clear as day, but not a drop of blood, no hair, no wound debris of any sort. Huh! So, Lucy and I set out to track him. We followed his tracks for what must've been a quarter-mile. I paused to catch my breath and a voice in the sky said, "Tracking something, buddy?" I looked up and there was another hunter in a tree stand just a few feet away. I told him what had happened and asked if he had seen the buck. He said nothing had come through all morning. I pointed at the tracks and said, "Well, this one did!" He said he'd been there since daybreak, had not gone to sleep, and didn't see any @#**! deer. Then he told me, "I'll bet you shot at the `Ghost Buck."' He came down out of the tree stand and offered me a cup of coffee from his thermos. Then he went on to tell me that he, like most hunters who frequented that area, had seen and shot at a very big buck deer with a huge rack but nobody ever hit it. He said he personally had shot at it with his rifle and another time with a bow, both times from a stand and both times very close up. That evening I talked to one of the Game Rangers in the camping area nearby and he chuckled and told me more stories about people who had shot at a big buck deer with a massive rack of antlers but nobody had ever brought it down or even found evidence that they hit it.
I haven't hunted there in years, but the last I heard the Ghost Buck was still there and still teasing hunters. It's hard to believe but I know what I saw, and I haven't suffered from nerves for many years --- and at the range I shot at that deer, I would be unlikely to miss. I guess it's like what the hunter in the tree stand that day said, "I got so busy trying to decide which wall I would mount that trophy on that I just didn't aim!?" Maybe.