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  1. F

    MUZZLE CONING TOOL

    Received from a customer: ”Hey, Mr.Wood.... Let’s do it again! This time I need a .40 tool. I have placed in two shoots since I coned my .50. I’m happier than a pig in mud! Rick”
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    Protecting your gun during hunting

    In the beginning of my serious escapade with custom made flintlocks they were finished to pristine condition and I did nothing but worry about scratches, etcenters, just wasn’t comfortable. Then I discovered the likes of Jud Brennan and his ability to age and distress new guns. What an eye...
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    Texas Freeze!!

    It’s a balmy -9 below here in Amarillo this morning. Feedyard cattle are going to suffer badly. Reminds me of the winter of ‘72 and ‘73. Brrr......
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    Priming From The Barrel

    Use a feather in the touchole instead of a toothpick. And do like a lot of old timers did, drill a small hole in bottom of buttstock to keep the feather in.
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    Priming From The Barrel

    For decades I have used larger toucholes and have to put a feather in while loading. If I’m using 3f I can close the frizzen and it always self primes. I think this was not an uncommon practice in the early years. I have seen many early guns with very large touch olds that have not been shot so...
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    Flint re-knapping

    Years ago I made a small flint knapper that works like a charm. Sharpening while shooting I just Leave the flint in the jaws, place on half ****, and be sure the gun is unloaded. Just a few quick, light taps across the face of the flint renews it to as good or usually better than new. Very...
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    No hogs today but woke up to this!

    About five inches in the Texas Panhandle of very dry snow. Glad I had quail hunted the day before! Think I’ll wait till spring to wage war against the pigs.....
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    45 cal PRB for mule deer.

    A .45 is fine for mule deer IF you’re an exceptionally good, steady shot. I’m not and usually the excitement and exertion of the moment plays hell with my shot placement. So, though I’ve shot plenty with a .50 I now prefer a .54 or .58 just to be sure.
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    Whitworth rifle trial ground in rural Tennessee

    My Parker Hale Whitworth I owned 25 years ago shot very well with a round conical made by Ron Long of Denver. Weighed 492 grains and I cast it pure lead, no paper patch And no sizing. Obturation from 100 grains of 3f was complete. That gun is long gone but I do still have a Parker Hale .451...
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    When hog hunting dont go as planned with video

    Here in the Texas Panhandle hogs are playing hell with livestock and wildlife, especially destructive of our bobwhite quail. The country is so big and hunters so few that shooting them doesn’t even put a dent into the population. The best control we have is to have a good, healthy population of...
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    When will I be strong enough to push RB down a Plains .54 single shot pistol?

    Coning the muzzle of your pistol makes loading much easier. No pounding of the ball to get it started and accuracy is not hurt. Search “muzzle coning tool” on this forum.
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    Sell me on the .40

    I love the little .40. Here’s my copy of a late John Armstrong with a three month old piggie. I deferred from shooting big momma.....
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    How long does it take you to clean your rifle/smoothbore?

    I live in a fairly dry climate in the Texas Panhandle. The method I’ve used for forty years doesn't take more than a few minutes. all my guns are flintlocks. First, I wad up a small piece of paper towel and put it in the pan and close the frozen down over it. Next, I use a bottom scrapper to...
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    Colt 2nd Generation Pistols

    I have all ten of the models NIB that I will probably sell in a couple years as age catches up with me. But not right now. 1860 fluted Army 1860 Navy 1851 Navy 1860 Pocket Navy 1860 Pocket Police 1849 Baby Dragoon Walker 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Dragoon
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    coning barrels the traditional way

    We are probably never going to know exactly what was the most common method of coning barrels but I think it was Wallace Gusler at Williamsburg who hypothesized barrels might have been coned by inserting a hardened and tapered mandrel into the muzzle of those soft iron barrels and giving them a...
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    What is the proper name for "possibles bag"?

    What is often called a “possibles“ bag was originally called a wallet. The term is found fairly frequently in 18th century writing. Webster still says it is a “bag for carrying miscellaneous items while traveling“. Another common term for the bag was “budget”. Again, Webster defines it as “a...
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    GRANT

    Way too many commercials but we recorded it and jump through them. Pretty expensive production and small audience so guess they needed to double up on ads. Have only watched first episode. Not bad for a TV history. Cramming twenty years of history into three episodes requires a lot of...
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    How long can you keep a flintlock loaded?

    if the gun is clean I often leave a hunting load in for months. BUT I always have this little leather tab in my pouch which I slip over the hammer. Avoids making stupid, dangerous mistakes!
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    MUZZLE CONING TOOL

    These precision made tools are the preferred way to cone the muzzles of roundball guns either rifled or smoothbore. Greatly eases starting the ball and the long cone allows the ball to be gently swaged into the bore without damage. I believe accuracy is unchanged. There are many guns that have...
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    picking up flint

    It is my understanding that the very best flint comes from quarries deep enough that it has not been exposed to eons of freezing and heating which results in microscopic cracks that show up when knapping or when the trigger is pulled it shatters. In the Texas Panhandle we have a high quality...
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