Christened the .58cal Early Virginia this morning

[roundball]

You'll hear the phrase "frizzen cover" but that's a modern, contemporary phrase...because "back in the day" what we call the frizzen today was actually called the hammer...hence the unique, and accurate phrase "hammer stall".

And they work perfectly...a couple years ago in my excitement of having a 10 pointer appear in the low light at only 25yds, I quickly lined up the sights, squeezed the trigger and heard a dull thud...had forgotten to slip off the hammer stall !

The good news is that due to the acoustics of the woods, the buck snapped his head around completely in the opposite direction, I was able to quietly recock, slip off the stall, and shoot him where he stood...every time I look at that particular stall with the faint flint edge mark on it I flashback to that cold dark morning

 

[broknaero]

Wow. Way to start some great memories with a fine rifle!

 

[paulvallandigham]

Bobman: There are Hammerstalls for Percussion guns, too. You can use a .30 cal. Carbine cartridge, or a .32 auto casing, cut down to go over the nipple with the percussion cap in place. The casing has a tie around its rimless groove, and the other end is tied to the trigger guard, just as those used on Flintlocks.

In practice, the hammerstall is put over the cap and nipple, and the hammer is lowered down onto the stall, while you are walking, or sitting. Neither the stall nor the percussion cap can fall off the nipple held this way. The casing should be long enough to reach the bottom of the nipple where it joins the bolster. It should also seal the nipple against moisture in operation.

 

[Finnwolf]

Roundball,

Congrats on your hunting success and a beaut of a new rifle.
Finnwolf

 

[dbutch]

Outstanding!Congratulations!Nice shots!Great Picture! and the rifle looks great laying across those bucks...did the 58 cal. round balls pass through? if not what did they look like on recovery? Good luck with the squirrels....Dan

 

[PaulN/KS]

Congratulations roundball :thumbsup:
Good shooting and ,man, do you have the "Hunter's Luck"... :hatsoff:

 

[roundball]

Both were pass-throughs...the 6 point took a couple steps and dropped...the 8 point sprinted 20 yards and fell in sight.

( :redface: squirrels get a pass today...couldn't answer the 4:30am alarm )

 

[roundball]

Congratulations roundball :thumbsup:
Good shooting and ,man, do you have the "Hunter's Luck"... :hatsoff:

I've hunted this little woodlot for several years now and pretty well have their pattern figured out...I have a little ground blind at the edge of a 3-4 acre strip of fairly thick hard woods...mostly oaks and the acorns are a deer magnet during October into early November.

There's a very dense bedding-area thicket / gully on the north end of the oak flat...year after year during the pre-rut they come up out of that low thicket and fan out into the oaks, cruising for Does that are there or have been there feeding on acorns.

I sit on the ground against a huge pine tree that's also surrounded by evergreen Holly trees...with a 3' high natural blind of pine limbs stuck into the ground around me and the pine tree...about 50 yards from the exit point of the thicket. I don't hunt it unless the wind is from the north, and then its just a matter of the odds of me being there at a time when one of them decides to stroll out of the thicket. They're all on the move here now in the pre-rut.

 

[dalejrfan308]

DANG!! Nice deer and rifle! Congrats!! :hatsoff:

 

[GreyWhiskers]

Congrats! Great hunting story. Your decision to keep hunting and try a new rifle paid off. GW

 

[marwat06]

First off Congrats. I been reading about your hunting success for a while now and I have a question: If I mailed you a few roundballs with return postage, would you rub your luck on them? :bow:

 

[roundball]

If I mailed you a few roundballs with return postage, would you rub your luck on them?

I'm a lucky guy in too many ways to count for sure :grin:

 

[roundball]

Your decision to keep hunting and try a new rifle paid off.

Ahhhhh...you have a good memory...yeah, it was an opening day morning with a new rifle I won't forget any time soon.
I figure the Deer Gods must have taken pity on an old man and said:
"lets mess with his mind...send out two of them an hour apart"

 

[roundball]

Here's the view from the natural blind...in the very back center of the photo you'll see a tree leaning from right to left at a 45* angle...that tree is 50yards (48 good steps) and is where I tagged both of them as they followed a hot Doe trail out of the thicket.

The few acre dense thicket/gully is out of the frame on the left side of the photo and is where they hole up...during the rut they come out into the oak flat in good light.

 

[KyFlintlock]

Congrats on your bucks.

Wess :thumbsup:

 

[wvbuckbuster]

Way to go roundball! Was wondering how you were liking your new gun. Looks as if she did alright by you. :thumbsup: