Amusing/Ridiculous Muzzleloading Misconceptions...

[toot]

listen to the man!!

 

[Tanglefoot]

Note to megasupermagnum: What you described sounds to me like a Crosman .177 Air Rifle, but that ain't a BB gun, amigo. It's BB caliber but has a rifled barrel. Accurate as all getout. I had one in .22 caliber and regularly hunted tree rats and bunnies with it when I was a kid. Now back to muzzleloading --- Sorry, Zonie.
One of my "favorite"myths about ML is that the guns aren't accurate. I was on the range one day with my .54 J&S Hawken Slantbreech, getting my eye calibrated for deer and hogs. A carload of 4 nimrods arrived to sight in their deer rifles, all of which appeared to be leverguns. They had apparently been to Wally World and got a couple cases of off-brand soft drinks in cans, which they were using for targets at 50 yards. Maybe I should have said "aiming points" instead of targets though. At that range,there was a Plinking Pit down at one end of the rifle area with some old railroad ties for target platforms, and that's where they set up --- maybe a dozen targets away from my bench. The breeze was from my left, and I was (of course) wearing earmuff type ear protectors, airport grade so their shooting was muffled pops to me. I was stepping around the bench to shoot off-hand and when I turned to come back to my loading area they were all standing by my bench. There was nobody else at that part of the range. Turned out they had a question: "Excuse me sir, but .... What in Billy-H*ll are you shooting anyway? Whenever you fire, a cloud of smoke drifts down across us, and that gun o'yours sounds like a cannon!"
Sensing a chance to convert some heathen to BP, I explained what the rifle was and let them look it over. Just a plain ol'
J&S Hawken replica, straight grain Maple stock and iron furniture, 34-inch Douglas Premium barrel. The ringleader of the group handed it back to me gently and commented that it was too bad "... them old guns... " ain't accurate `cause they look like they're fun to shoot. I told him that my rifle was probably more accurate than most leverguns and that ML shooters hand load every round. He laughed and said, "Naw! I know better than that! I'll bet you couldn't even hit one of those cans we're shooting at." I reached into my pocket and pulled out a $20 bill. "It's a bet," I said. "Pick your mark." They covered the bet, I loaded and fired and the red can of some kind of cherry cola exploded, flinging droplets of liquid over everything in a 10-yard radius.
Then they all wanted to try shooting my rifle, and afterwards they tried to buy it. I steered them some ML suppliers but kept
my own rifle, and No --- I didn't take their money. Told them to use it to buy powder and ball.

 

[TFoley]

Have people get a really nice surprise when they see what these guns can due. I normally shoot fainter, but have a Parker Hale Wentworth that is accurate out farther than I can find a place around here to use it.

Wentworth - the prestigious golf club in Southern England - often called Royal Wentworth.

Whitworth - the rifle - the invention of Sir Joseph Whitworth - from David Minshall's Research Press - with thanks.

 

[Nameless Hunter]

Wentworth - the prestigious golf club in Southern England - often called Royal Wentworth.

View attachment 60920

Whitworth - the rifle - the invention of Sir Joseph Whitworth - from David Minshall's Research Press - with thanks.

View attachment 60921

Yes, but... does Wentworth have a target range, and can you to shoot golf [balls] with a Whitworth at Wentworth?

 

[J. Paul]

I always loved the experts that claimed black powder was impact sensitive. If it was dropped or hit with a hammer it would explode. When I was in Scouting, our local firearms expert always set fields of fire up at 15 to 20 feet because a 50 cal ML would not be able to hit a 10" paper plate beyond 30 feet. 6 months later I was in charge of District Campout shooting activities involving ML because several other adults started listening to his foolishness about ML. (He was 26 years Military and had never shot ML until 6 months previous)

 

[TFoley]

Yes, but... does Wentworth have a target range, and can you to shoot golf [balls] with a Whitworth at Wentworth?

Alas, not that I know of..............sigh.............................................

 

[Whitworth]

You're not from Arkansas are you. Had several people question my using a riding cart in Wal-Mart. Like I'm supposed to stop and relate how I achieved each of my injuries on demand. I really have to bite my tongue and not invite them out to the car and offer to shoot them through one knee and use a sledge hammer to bust 6 inches off the opposite thigh bone and see how well they can walk later on in life. And live on the pittance I worked for and paid into for over 40 years. The gall of some folks. Don't even get me started on my smokepoles, LOL!

Like I always tell my wife, "if you expect nothing of people you are never disappointed".

 

[Whitworth]

Good one Mr. Foley Sir.

 

[theC525]

Me too Zonie. For me, loading is as enjoyable as shooting, whether it's a single shot pistol, revolver, flintlock rifle, percussion rifle or fowler, as long as it's a traditional muzzleloader. I really don't care that my home made patched round balls won't kill a deer at 50 yards.

Oh but they CAN and they WILL!

 

[megasupermagnum]

@Tanglefoot

No sir, barrel as smooth as a baby's bottom. Not accurate at all. It has been many years since I've seen that bb gun, but I remember it was rather tough to hit a pop can much past 10 or 15 yards. I honestly do not remember what the model was. It doesn't seem to come up on google. It has a rather long pump compared to that short blocky one that they have now. I have no idea the velocity from that. I do remember you could watch the BB fly down range. It was plenty fast to kill squirrels and rabbits.

 

[springfield art]

My only regret now about buying one - was not holding out for a flintlock model.
And these are not readily adaptable to a change - that darn snail crawling on the side would have to be dealt with.
I'm looking real hard at the new Pedersoli built one, just need a way to rationalize the expenditure.

Someone pointed out that for the same money, you could consider one of the fine authentic Kibler kits...the new Peder/Lymans seem to have a better looking snail...the photo of the flint version I saw in Muzzleloader looked pretty nice, just sayin'.

 

[springfield art]

Ball was roughened ‘ chewed ball. Today folks will do it with a rasp , back in the day it seems to be tooth. I e not tried it, range reports don’t seem to show improvement, but some folks swear by it, I wonder if this is where it comes from shot.

Ecch! Imagine the eventual lead poisoning!

 

[springfield art]

Ball was roughened ‘ chewed ball. Today folks will do it with a rasp , back in the day it seems to be tooth. I e not tried it, range reports don’t seem to show improvement, but some folks swear by it, I wonder if this is where it comes from shot.

There was an experiment run couple years back in one of the ML magazines, don't recall specifics, but they rolled the balls between sheets of something that roughened the surface of the ball to give it some "tooth"...what the heck, is it really worth all that trouble, and for what?

 

[tenngun]

There was an experiment run couple years back in one of the ML magazines, don't recall specifics, but they rolled the balls between sheets of something that roughened the surface of the ball to give it some "tooth"...what the heck, is it really worth all that trouble, and for what?

Dualist 54 has a vid on you tube on doing with a fitting on his drill press. Shooting it didn’t look to shoot any better. Several other traditional shooters have vid trying it that doesn’t seem, to me, to improve things.

 

[Cruzatte]

Good stories, Gents. I've laughed at quite a few of 'em. Here's one of mine, not exactly a knee slapper, but illustrative, nevertheless.

Over the last decade or so, I've really gotten into smoothbore shooting. It amazes me how many experienced shooters in my club look at me disbelieving when I step up to the hundred yard line, and hit paper, let alone put one in the black, which at that range looks like the period at the end of this sentence. I just turn, smile, and say "It can be done."

 

[SOLANCO]

What kind of BB gun doesn't go through cardboard? Many, many rabbits have been taken by my brother and I when we were kids with a cheap Crossman pump BB gun we found on the side of the road. We used to do all kinds of horrible things to that. One of my favorites was 3 BB's at once, and something like 30 pumps.

As kids, we were known to burn kitchen matches a little to harden the wood for the sharp points we carved. Pinned my brother in the outhouse using the matches in my Daisy. They didn't generally draw blood but they would stick in you!

 

[Whitworth]

As kids, we were known to burn kitchen matches a little to harden the wood for the sharp points we carved. Pinned my brother in the outhouse using the matches in my Daisy. They didn't generally draw blood but they would stick in you!

Damn, how did I miss that when I was a kid, Diamond fletchettes from a Daisy.

 

[Sparkitoff]

Today at the range I heard two "things":

One guy told me he was going to hunt muzzleloader season in Victoria County, TX but his friend was in a treestand and the "bullet" fell out of the barrel. When the deer came he just made smoke and noise. When he got down the "bullet" was on the ground at the base of the tree... . So now he's not interested in muzzleloaders.

Next person said his buddy was hunting with a muzzleloader in a box blind. He alleges the guy fired a shot and the spark and "blowback" lit his shirt sleeve and the carpeted wall of the blind on fire....

I guess these people will believe anything...

 

[jdw276]

Gee, that thing stinks. Me, yea.... grinning ear to ear.

 

[Cpt Flint]

The Revolutionary War was was won by the Americans because they all had Kentucky rifles and the British only had smoothbores.