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20 shots at 50 yards. Aiming point was bottom of the bull.

A friend who keeps up with Mr. Hoyt reports he and his granddaughter who assists him are slammed with work. Have you tried Dan Whitacre? [email protected] (540)877-1468.

Curious. Why the concern about velocity? That long, long slug has the dynamic inertia of a loaded freight train.

Believe that should be "hygroscopic".

I acquired one of these door stops back in the 1950s or early '60s when a teenager. Never fired it, one of my rare sound decisions. About 80 caliber. Lockplate was zinc. That $35.00 price tag sounds about right. Traded it off reasonably soon as I recognized it was more a prop than a shooter...

Fragile stock? Live with it and avoid doing vertical butt strokes.

Me? I'm always acquiring my latest last antique firearm.

Well, there's this....

I have no insight into the proportion of rifles to smoothbores on America's Revolutionary frontier. How's THAT for a grounding to enter the fray? However, it is notable 1850s printed guides for pilgrims trekking west to California and Oregon recommended smoothbores as armament for the travelers...

Read my "contribution".

Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn whether someone chose a rifle or smoothbore 250 years ago on the margins of white civilization. Just reported what Boone himself told others, specifically his son Nathan, about his choice of firearm (a smoothbore, apparently a fowler loaded with buck & ball)...

As I recall, preparing for the expedition which ended in the Battle of Blue Lick in 1782, late in the Revolution, Kentuckian and frontier firearms expert Daniel Boone chose a smoothbore, likely a fowler, with which to be armed. For woods combat, he apparently preferred buckshot and quick reloads.

As I recall, large numbers were sold to France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. A friend owns what is likely one of these, subsequently converted to flintlock, likely for the African trade.

Communicated with a couple friends who were execs at DuPont before retirement. They checked-in with friends still active in DuPont. Word they get is DuPont, no longer even vaguely the company that once manufactured black powder, is in no position to resume production and is not contemplating the...

Superb.

I read somewhere (how's THAT for documentation) that the U.S. military consumes a surprisingly large amount of black powder annually.

the paper my Brown Bess came wrapped in from IMA works swell with my M.1840 U.S. musket.

At the Asheville, N.C. gun show yesterday there was exactly one can of muzzleloader powder: a dealer with a I-know-what-I've-got smirk had a pound of GOEX offered for $90.00.

For what it's worth, the Board of Ordnance ordered lockplate dates and contractor names deleted after 1764 prior to the name and "1776" date on this replica. After 1764 all Besses were marked simply "Tower" or "Dublin Castle". (Goldstein & Stuart, "The Brown Bess", Mowbray Publishing, 2010, page...

Cataract surgery. Quick, painless, has given the 77-year-old me the eyes I didn't have even as a teenager.