A fowler by any other name....

[Dave Marsh]

I don't always speak up as well however your input is very interesting and much appreciated.
When I see your posts I make sure I read them first.

Thanks,

Dave

 

[Cheyenne]

I'd bet there's at least six of us that appreciate your posts! :hatsoff: Keep 'em coming....I like learning things I didn't know.

 

[majg1234]

errr ahhhh make that eight,counting wife and I.Wife is not a hunter and only a casual shooter but I pointed her toward your site once and she continues to read on it.She often asks me what you've posted lately ...I point it out and she reads it....so yes keep up the education and research :hatsoff:

 

[Flintlock58]

I agree with that. He says what he knows from his study and perspective but never tells anyone else that their study or perspective is wrong. I dont respond much here either but I like reading Spence!

 

[George]

You guys are making me feel better with all your encouraging words. I suspect you are exaggerating when you say 8 guys out of a membership of 22,550 are interested in the history, but it's a nice thought. :haha:

I'm afraid some of you have misunderstood my meaning, so I know I worded it poorly. Sorry 'bout that. We old guys talk in an old-fashioned way. When I said not everyone appreciates my little historic tidbits, I didn't mean they didn't appreciate me for posting them. I meant they weren't interested in the history, so they didn't appreciate the information in the tidbits, didn't enjoy seeing it on the board.

I've been on these boards for many years, and that situation has been the same all that time. It is one of those puzzling things, for me. If we are going to spend so much time, money, effort and brain power trying to emulate the old ways, don't we first need to know what the old ways were?

Then again, maybe only 8 of us do. :grin:

Spence

 

[Stumpkiller]

He says what he knows from his study and perspective but never tells anyone else that their study or perspective is wrong.

Makes my job easy and I like learning, too. Wish we had 100 more like Spence. :hatsoff:

 

[david50]

i have posted this link to Spence's site before but here it is again for those that have not seen it http://home.insightbb.com/~bspen/ some very good reading and info here. i imagine ol' Spence has forgotten more about muzzleloading than most of us will ever know.

 

[jdkerstetter]

NINE (9) :thumbsup:

The Frontiersmen and Allan Eckert were introduced to me by an outstanding jr. high history teacher in rural Ohio....not to far from Bellefontaine (that's pronouced "Bellfountain" if your from there) where Mr. Eckert is from....and I was bitten.

Keep up the good work....and enjoy! J.D.

 

[Trench]

I don't usually wonder in to the Smoothbore section, but I'm glad I did today. Thanks, Spence!

 

[Captjoel]

I honestly believe that our problems with "proper nomenclature" comes from the english language itself. Talking to several exchange students from other countries, they all told me that learning to speak and understand english was one of the toughest languages in the world to master. So many of our words have different meanings and even different spellings.....there, their, which, witch, bare, bear. Foul could be a chicken or a ball hit out of bounds, or a bad smell. To top off these difficulties you add all of the regional dialects and slang termanology, it is a wonder how we ever truly communicate with one another! :idunno:

 

[Roguedog]

I also would like to add a few things to what has already been said about Bob Spencer. I credit Bob and his blackpowder notebook pages for turning me on to the blackpowder shotgun. While I grew up shooting muzzleloading rifles, I never gave the muzzleloading shotgun much thought. That is until Bob. I have spent countless hours reading and re-reading Bob's essays and stories and have learned much from them. As a result, a few years back I purchased a Pedersoli SxS, later a CVA Trapper and now I have the strongest of urges to purchase a 20 gauge flintlock fowler. I find hunting with a blackpowder shotgun to be extremely enjoyable. So much that I rarely if ever use my more modern shotguns. Thanks Bob. I have enjoyed your writing and have learned much from it.

Jeff

 

[hoochiepapa]

10....
Okay, Spence, since we're all learning from you, (at least 10 of us), what is swan shot??

 

[Stumpkiller]

It's the size between goose and buck.

(Apologies to Spence for jumping in).

:hatsoff:

 

[majg1234]

yep that's right :hatsoff: has nothing to do with shape

 

[George]

Okay, Spence, since we're all learning from you, (at least 10 of us), what is swan shot??

Eight, maybe, I doubt 10. :grin:

It was one of the sizes used in early times when they designated size by the game that size shot was generally used for. Mustard shot was usually the smallest, but they they had bird, dove, pigeon, squirrel, low and high duck, goose, swan, turkey and buck shot, plus others I can't recall.

The smaller shot were generally dropped shot, molten lead poured through a sieve, but the larger shot, including swan shot, were molded, usually in gang molds which held up to 30-50 shot for each pour.

Swan shot must have been a handy size for many things, because you find notation of its being used alone or with a ball for many civilian as well as military weapons, both long guns and pistols.


The Pennsylvania Gazette
October 27, 1768
Imported in the Brig Nancy, Captain Leech, and Ship Pennsylvania Packet, Captain Falconer, just arrived from LONDON,
...sleeve buttons; short pipes; F and FF gunpowder; mustard seed, bird, dove, squirrel, duck, goose and swan shot; guns from 4 and a half to 5 feet in the barrel for geese;


The Pennsylvania Gazette
May 27, 1756
PHILADELPHIA
The Indian, with a fine French Gun, mortally wounded Cresap with a Bullet and seven Swan shot in the Breast.

The Pennsylvania Gazette
October 3, 1765
To be sold by the Subscriber, living at the Crown, Cannister
.... bullet and swan shot moulds, quart and pint black jacks,

The Pennsylvania Packet
October 17, 1778
Title: May it please the CONGRESS.
The men of my regiment were armed with muskets and bayonets, they were no great marksmen, and were aukward at wood fighting. The bullet and three swan shot in each piece, made up in some measure for the want of skill.

The Pennsylvania Gazette
April 5, 1750
Annapolis, in Maryland February 7.
Some days ago, as a man in Talbot county was hammering the flint of a loaded gun, she went off, and shot an elderly man, who was near him, in one of his thighs, with seven swan shot, in a terrible manner; tho' its was thought he would recover.

The term swan shot was carried forward into the 19th century, designated as shot of 15 pellets to the ounce, 240 to the pound, .266" diameter in a chart by Ezekiel Baker in 1821.

Spence

 

[Roguedog]

Spence,
Have you ever given thought to publishing your essays and stories? It's obvious that you have a lot of knowledge to provide, especially regarding the history of muzzleloading weapons and their historical significance. If you've already published such a work, please forgive me.

Jeff

 

[George]

No, I haven't, Roguredog. I always thought I'd rather spend the time in the woods doing the hunting and trekking I enjoy so much. That has added a richness to my life which few things could equal, and I'm content to leave it at that. I'm no writer of books, can't fit that picture of myself into my head. :grin:

Spence

 

[Roguedog]

I can appreciate your sentiments. I cannot quite picture myself as a writer of books either. I had much rather be tramping away in the wild blue yonder than tapping away at a keyboard.

Jeff

 

[hoochiepapa]

And Spence, you have added a richness to our lives by the way you live and teach. Thank You.

 

[Joel/Calgary]

My dear sir,
May I, as another who has both enjoyed and learned from both your website and your postings, submit a proposal for a publishing possibility? Find some teenager or twenty-something (preferably in the family and thus amenable to requesting a favor of) to transcribe your website into a DVD which could then be duplicated, possibly at a digital print shop, and sold for a reasonable sum? If there are any of these threads which might make worthwhile additions, copy-and-paste could be used to transcribe them for editing down with (probably) minimal re-writing or new composition required. I am certain that I am not the only one here who would jump at teh chance for one.

Regards,
Joel