Amusing/Ridiculous Muzzleloading Misconceptions...

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
Divorce's are so expensive, but they are worth it.

Which would you rather have, your money or your ex-wife back?
 
Re: post #291 - Mr Knowall was there again yesterday. He came over to me and asked me if I was still shooting my old-fashioned guns - obviously the fact that I was shooting a Musketoon eluded him. Yup, says I, and I have a few historically documented facts for ya.

1. Before the arrival of the White Man in the West, the Buffalo population was assessed to be around 30,000,000.

2. By 1884 that had somehow been reduced to 325. Read that again - THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE.

3. By breeding just twelve of the survivors, the now-widespread Buffalo locations can 'boast' a total of around 500,000.

Every single one of those animals was probably shot with a black powder rifle, like my Model of 1885 unmentionable, or one of Mr Sharps' designs.

In fact, there is a short movie on Youtube which clearly shows a buff dropping instantly on impact from a large BP bullet.

So, I went on, to me, the thought that the local deer here in UK [no elk, of course] weighing in at no more than 400# at most, were somehow resistant to a shot that could turn a half-ton buff into burger meat just didn't add up.

His answer would have amazed anybody here. It certainly shut ME up.

He said, animals in those days were not used to firearms, and had no in-built resistance. :rolleyes:

Clearly, he is a man to avoid in future.
And they let them breed……
 
Well there's dumb and then there's really dumb. Think you found the really dumb.
And then there's the smart ones with the really dumb answers. I mean, you can tell they put some thought into it (but failed to take into account an important basic fact)


Yeah, yeah, here we go...let's blame the white man for everything.
Also, fact is the Indians would run herds of Bison off cliffs by the thousands. So not all were shot with rifles by the WHITE GUYS!! And that 30,000,000 was not in the mid 1800's.
Well, yeah, the Indians killed some more than were needed sometimes, but they didn't wipe out the whole species - intentionally - like the whites methodically went about doing.

TFoley - thanks for those stats. I had no idea there had been that many, and then so few.
 
Re: post #291 - Mr Knowall was there again yesterday. He came over to me and asked me if I was still shooting my old-fashioned guns - obviously the fact that I was shooting a Musketoon eluded him. Yup, says I, and I have a few historically documented facts for ya.

1. Before the arrival of the White Man in the West, the Buffalo population was assessed to be around 30,000,000.

2. By 1884 that had somehow been reduced to 325. Read that again - THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FIVE.

3. By breeding just twelve of the survivors, the now-widespread Buffalo locations can 'boast' a total of around 500,000.

Every single one of those animals was probably shot with a black powder rifle, like my Model of 1885 unmentionable, or one of Mr Sharps' designs.

In fact, there is a short movie on Youtube which clearly shows a buff dropping instantly on impact from a large BP bullet.

So, I went on, to me, the thought that the local deer here in UK [no elk, of course] weighing in at no more than 400# at most, were somehow resistant to a shot that could turn a half-ton buff into burger meat just didn't add up.

His answer would have amazed anybody here. It certainly shut ME up.

He said, animals in those days were not used to firearms, and had no in-built resistance. :rolleyes:

Clearly, he is a man to avoid in future.
Ooo the temptation to issue a slap might of broken me!! I probably would of just burst out laughing though as it would be the safest policy but heck, he is going to be an expert one day for sure!!!
 
Thank you Britsmoothy for returning us to muzzleloading misconceptions..., I mean I could've chimed in with the time my wife told me, "Hey you were right last night during our discussion...." Whereupon I smiled the smile of the finally vindicated, but then she added, "..., It was your fault as you said." So let's not get too far off this, and it's gone 16 pages... pretty well covered so far.


LD
 
I was shooting my .577cal unmentionable one morning when a member turned up for his once-a-year zero shoot - something that cost him an annual membership fee the same as mine - and I shoot three or four times a week.

Turns out he was a professional deer-stalker, and as such was often used as an instructor by the British Deer Society. This organisation is the standards-setter for deer management in the UK, and to get a 'license' to take deer [no tags here, BTW] requires at least the lowest grade of competence in stalking deer, shooting them and dealing with the results afterwards.

Well, he watched me booming away with my 600gr bullets and eventually came over. How fast are those things going? I told him, about 1200 fps. Waaay too slow to do any damage to a deer then.... I remarked that bullets going the same speed, but 200gr lighter, were quite happily taking North American Bison today, to the point of them dropping in their hoofprints, right there.

He scratched his head in disbelief, couldn't believe I wasn't pulling his leg.

Very sad, I thought, as he walked off.
GOOD GRIEF, a .577 going 1200 FPS will keep you busy with sponges to get your meat.
 
Read the book "Taking a Stand." It is about how the buffalo were decimated in 18 months by the US government in order to deprive the Native American population of their food source.population
That was then....this is now. I didn't do it.......you didn't do it....I don't owe them or anyone else NOTHING!! That was the times...period!
 
Last edited:
Tons of misinformed Gun Shop lore and just well meaning people who refuse to listen to anything you tell them.

"Civil War soldiers had to "clean their guns" every 2 or 3 shots" , they abjectly refuse to believe that the Minie ball existed solely to allow soldiers to keep up a continuous rate of fire without having to clean their bores. I tell them I often fire 50 Minie balls , one after the other, no cleaning, and it's like they feel I'm lying to them or I don't know what I'm talking about. OK I don't know that I myself have fired nearly 100 Minies in one range session without cleaning the bore. I'm just a liar

"You can't hit anything with those" OK I guess I have never perforated a paper target with 5-10" groups at 300 with a muzzleloading target rifle.

"Muskets don't use cartridges you have to use a patched ball like my pap says" OK you're right , I gave up arguing with people when I'm at the range clearly using cartridges and they're like , what kind of patches are you using, those don't take cartridges it's a musket!! Basically at this point I'd just like them to go away so I can enjoy my range day
 
Not sure if I should add this but....
The other day at the Gunsmith a customer said there is no way he would use a muzzleloader because of all the time it took to reload.
Now this guy is competitive shooter.

I said I did not spend much time reloading. For a start I dont have to worry about case preparation.
He gave me a stunned look and said "I never thought of it like that before"
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top