2 Questions: 1 practical, 1 historically documented

[roundball]

A QUESTION / SPECULATION OF PRACTICALITY:

When the dirt poor settlers / frontiersmen "back in the day" deer hunted...do you think there was any intentional decision on their part to use only enough of powder charge to get enough ball penetration to kill the deer, but not enough for a passthrough in order to reclaim, melt down, and re-use the lead?

A QUESTION OF HISTORICAL ACCURACY:

Does anyone actually know of any actual documentation to that effect?

 

No.

No. (because of first answer) :haha:

 

I know that on at least two occasions pass through shots were planned using the charge in the gun while the hunters were after deer.

The pass through shots were made on Indians by both Kasper Mansker and Daniel Boone when they came upon Indians while hunting deer. In both cases the shooters waited until the victims were in line, in order to fire one shot that would purposly disable both subjects.

That indicates to me that the shooters were not loading reduced charges of powder and were therefore not particularly concerned with recovery of lead. They were aware that their charges were capable of passing through one Indian and into another when they performed the deed and no reference is made to them pulling a light charge and reloading with a heavy one to accomplish this feat.

We make too much of the dirt poor thing. Mostly due to our modern situation where hunting is a sport/recreation activity. Sometimes we can not afford to hunt. They hunted out of necessity, similar to the way we drive to and from work and budget it as a normal expense. The absence of many items was usually due to lack of availability rather than poverty. Passage to new lands usually required a considerable grubstake.

A settler could feed a good sized family on one deer per week. With a .54 caliber gun that would make about two pounds of lead and one pound of powder, per year, necessary to sustain life. 52 deer hides would clothe even a poor family and leave a few hides to trade for the needed powder and lead.

George Rogers Clark went to Williamsburg to petition the legislature for a continuious supply of lead and powder for the KY settlers. James Robertson traveled to Herrodsburg on several occasions to resupply the Cumberland settlements with powder and lead. With every man between 15 and 60 in the militia, every man was allotted powder(as well as some of the women). The horn of powder and double handful of balls you drew during the seige of the fort, if not wasted, would feed the family for six months. The western lands were pretty much in a state of continuious war from 1775-1800, requiring continuious powder/lead resupply at government expense.

That being said we must remember that all things are situational and when lead was scarce they would attempt to recover as much as possible. I think I remember 300+- pounds being chopped from the walls at Boonesboro after the battle there. Boone is also reputed to have used "half balls" for hunting, in his escape from the Shawnee.

 

[paulvallandigham]

In a biography of Jim Bridger, he discussed his gun and equipment. He carried and used a Hawken Rifle in .54 caliber. I can be found in a museum on the Green River in the SW corner of Wyoming near the site of his home/fort. With it is his possibles bag, horn, and powder measure. The measure is reported to throw 50 grains of powder. In his biography, he told the author that he used one measure or " scoop" for deer and antelope, 2 scoops for elk and moose, and black bear, and 3 scoops for Grizzley bear !

Now, Old Abe was known to spin yarns, and most suspect that he was yarning a bit with this one. We do know that a 54 cal ball pushed by 50 grains of powder is going to penetrate through both sides of a white tail deer because of the weight of the ball. However, on mule deer, which are bigger, and larger boned, a ball that is purposely aimed to break a leg bone may stay inside the body, and can be recovered, provided that mild load is used. With the larger animals, and 100 grains, you can get pass throughs most of the time, but again, if you pick your shots, you may be able to recover the lead.

Hunting the Rockies is quite a bit different than hunting early Kentucky. You were weeks away from a resupply of lead and powder and caps in Kentucky; in the Rockies you were months away from a resupply. And everything had to be delivered on horseback. Kansas City was as close as steamboats could get in the 1820s, and the exploration of the Rockies began with the Lewis and Clark Expeditions in 2005-06. Percussion guns came on the scene in the 1830s. Many of the Mountain men in the early period used flintlocks, and switched to percussion when those became available.

So, there is no one answer to your question. Certainly if your supply of lead was low, and you were a long ways from getting any more, you husbanded your lead anyway you could. But, in general, I don't think much thought was given to saving the lead by most men. Perhaps on Boone's first trips to Kentucky, when he was largely alone, and knew he was hunting in Indian territory, he may have husbanded his lead, but not later when his fort was constructed and the more well known battles with the Indians occurred.