I just got my first muzzle loading firearm and am so excited. It is an old repro of a Zouave .58 cal rifled musket. I shot it for the first time today and even felled my first quarry with it. It was kinda over-kill to put a .58 cal. hole in a half pound rabit but it was a fun shot.
I used to work at a museum when I was in highschool here in West Texas. Among other duties that I performed there, I worked as their early 20th century blacksmith apprentice. The fellow who taught me everything I know about blacksmithing always told me about how much fun shooting black powder was and at one point tried to get me started in it by selling me one of his hawken repros. However, at the time I did not have the funds nesseccary to do so. Well time went on and I had to leave the job to go off to college but I always missed getting to work in that old blacksmith shop. I constantly wished that I had taken my old instructor up on his offer simply because I would have liked to have a rifle that belonged to the man that had taught me so much of the craft which I enjoyed so much.
So after four years I finally ran into my old teacher again last weekend and asked him if I could come and swing a hammer with him. He and I were hanging out, pounding steel, and talking about all manner of things and the subject of black powder firearms came up. I asked if he still had any of his old repros for sale or trade. It turned out that he did and showed them all to me. After talking about what I wanted to use the gun for we both decided that his repro Zouave would be a good gun for him to pass on to me. So instead of using than fancy modern paper money we did something that meant something more instead; we traded guns as gentlemen. He gave me a quick tutorial on proper funcioning of the musket, some powder, primers and a few bullets, and told me to go home and give it a try.
So off I went to my old firing range to put the new arm through its paces. He told me that the accuracy from the bullets that he gave me would be less than what I should expect from the arm because he had sized them for his 1861 which had a sligntly undersized bore. I started shooting three shot strings between swabbings. First thing I noticed was that the bullets were going in the barrel way to easily and were keyholing on the target. I quit swabbing hoping that the fowling would eventually help the projectile grab the bore a little bit. I also bumped the powder charce about 5 grains in hopes that it would obuterate the bullet skirt more consistantly. Luck had it that after about the fourth "fowling shot" the adjustments worked and the groups started settling right in the way I wanted them.
With a fowled bore and one shot in the tube I set off to harvest my first quarry with the new gun. I walked around my old pasture hoping to come upon some small game or varmint to take but actually spent most of the evening sitting on the ridge of an old hill watching the sunset. As the last signs of the sun dissapeared over the horizon I turned to head back home. Much to my suprize as I turned I spotted my game. A cottontail rabbit nibbling on my wheat feild just twenty five yards ahead of me. I pulled the hammer, settled the sights, and squeezed the trigger until a column of smoke billowed from the end of the musket. When the smoke cleared, there laid the hare with no movement. It was my first kill with a muzzle loading arm.
I have to say that the over-all experience was the most satisfying I have ever had with a firearm, modern or otherwise. I have shot and reloaded ammunition for years but there is just someting different and extremely gratifying about these old front stuffers. The first time I loaded it I could hardly pour the powder charge because my hands were shaking with so much excitement. The fact that I was able to effectively and immediately adjust my load to be more accurate was also much more satisfying than experimenting with cartrige load batches and spending hours pulling bullets then throwing new charges to correct previous inacuracies.
Tomorrow I am going back to my old friend's to cast some new bullets which will be sized specifically for my bore. He also said he is going to donate a bullet mould and sizer to me to help me get started. We are also going to be hitting the anvils again to make a new French style trade knife and a small tommahawk to complement the rifle. Should be another really fun evening.
Neadless to say I am very excited about getting started in this new avenue of firearms sports. I hope to get good enough to join some of this forums member competitions and post some pics of my outings and game I may harvest with the new rifled musket.
Good day all, I hope you have as much fun as I have had today.
I used to work at a museum when I was in highschool here in West Texas. Among other duties that I performed there, I worked as their early 20th century blacksmith apprentice. The fellow who taught me everything I know about blacksmithing always told me about how much fun shooting black powder was and at one point tried to get me started in it by selling me one of his hawken repros. However, at the time I did not have the funds nesseccary to do so. Well time went on and I had to leave the job to go off to college but I always missed getting to work in that old blacksmith shop. I constantly wished that I had taken my old instructor up on his offer simply because I would have liked to have a rifle that belonged to the man that had taught me so much of the craft which I enjoyed so much.
So after four years I finally ran into my old teacher again last weekend and asked him if I could come and swing a hammer with him. He and I were hanging out, pounding steel, and talking about all manner of things and the subject of black powder firearms came up. I asked if he still had any of his old repros for sale or trade. It turned out that he did and showed them all to me. After talking about what I wanted to use the gun for we both decided that his repro Zouave would be a good gun for him to pass on to me. So instead of using than fancy modern paper money we did something that meant something more instead; we traded guns as gentlemen. He gave me a quick tutorial on proper funcioning of the musket, some powder, primers and a few bullets, and told me to go home and give it a try.
So off I went to my old firing range to put the new arm through its paces. He told me that the accuracy from the bullets that he gave me would be less than what I should expect from the arm because he had sized them for his 1861 which had a sligntly undersized bore. I started shooting three shot strings between swabbings. First thing I noticed was that the bullets were going in the barrel way to easily and were keyholing on the target. I quit swabbing hoping that the fowling would eventually help the projectile grab the bore a little bit. I also bumped the powder charce about 5 grains in hopes that it would obuterate the bullet skirt more consistantly. Luck had it that after about the fourth "fowling shot" the adjustments worked and the groups started settling right in the way I wanted them.
With a fowled bore and one shot in the tube I set off to harvest my first quarry with the new gun. I walked around my old pasture hoping to come upon some small game or varmint to take but actually spent most of the evening sitting on the ridge of an old hill watching the sunset. As the last signs of the sun dissapeared over the horizon I turned to head back home. Much to my suprize as I turned I spotted my game. A cottontail rabbit nibbling on my wheat feild just twenty five yards ahead of me. I pulled the hammer, settled the sights, and squeezed the trigger until a column of smoke billowed from the end of the musket. When the smoke cleared, there laid the hare with no movement. It was my first kill with a muzzle loading arm.
I have to say that the over-all experience was the most satisfying I have ever had with a firearm, modern or otherwise. I have shot and reloaded ammunition for years but there is just someting different and extremely gratifying about these old front stuffers. The first time I loaded it I could hardly pour the powder charge because my hands were shaking with so much excitement. The fact that I was able to effectively and immediately adjust my load to be more accurate was also much more satisfying than experimenting with cartrige load batches and spending hours pulling bullets then throwing new charges to correct previous inacuracies.
Tomorrow I am going back to my old friend's to cast some new bullets which will be sized specifically for my bore. He also said he is going to donate a bullet mould and sizer to me to help me get started. We are also going to be hitting the anvils again to make a new French style trade knife and a small tommahawk to complement the rifle. Should be another really fun evening.
Neadless to say I am very excited about getting started in this new avenue of firearms sports. I hope to get good enough to join some of this forums member competitions and post some pics of my outings and game I may harvest with the new rifled musket.
Good day all, I hope you have as much fun as I have had today.
