Ten days ago I bought my first muzzleloading smoothbore for shooting. I have an Enfield P1859 musket hanging on the wall but given the state of the stock I was happy for it to stay and even though there were times I looked at it wistfully the thought of putting it on licence and buying a new cabinet to fit meant muzzleloading was just another thing on my must do one day list.
I guess I was looking for a military carbine but when I saw and handled this I just knew it would make a fine introduction and I didn't think twice. It's an Ardesa percussion fowler dating from 1997 in 12 bore which meant I could both trust it and also find the parts I need to shoot it. I'm using Pyrodex to get me going before I get a black powder licence and my beginners load is 58gn Pyrodex RS, nitro card, lubed felt wad, 1oz No 5 shot and an over shot card.
The location is one of my older permissions where we keep a constant pressure on the rabbit population and remove the geese as and when required. This will not see use on geese but it will be used on the rabbits when all we want to do is remove a few at a time. I felt it would suit those times when I simply wanted to stalk through the woods and take a few for the pot rather than ambush greater numbers at longer ranges with guns that shall not be mentioned here.
The first rabbit appeared last Monday among some broken branches at about 20 yards, I cocked the hammer, raised the gun,drew a bead and fired, the rabbit dropped with barely a flicker of the leg. First shot, first kill. I took it to the top of a nearby badger set to reload the gun and decided on a photo, gun, rabbit, quarry and accoutrements. Had I thought more about it I would have made a better composition but I'm pleased with the result and it's a fine reminder of an important step on my shooting ladder.
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I reloaded the gun slowly and carefully, it was a pleasure rather than a chore and I found that the rhythm suited the slow reawakening of the woods from the shock of the awful boom that had just reverberated through.I waited a while until a pigeon in the trees announced peace by cooing and set off again along badger highway which joins the sets and is used by the badgers, foxes, rabbits and me. Eventually I reached a tree where I had made my first kill with the unmentionable HMR and standing at the same spot saw a second rabbit 25 yards away as it emerged from a burrow and reached the point of no return. Boom,it simply fell over.
I retrieved and reloaded but to be fair that was me. I thought it would feel like shooting an antique but it just felt like any other gun and that was good because it's not a novelty, it has become a tool for a job and a seemingly quite capable one although I haven't even tested it's limitations in any way. I'm not conveying this very well, I was grinning from ear to ear!
I've got a lot to think about now, loads to test, what gear do I need and why am I carrying powder for more shots I'll ever need in a day? When do I get a flintlock, should I join a club and get a rifle? Is it time to be thinking about getting rid of a couple of unmentionables that will now never see the light of day again?
I don't often post pictres of myself but I enjoyed myself so much and this seems to mark a real turning point so here we go:
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I met up with my mate who had been targeting a distant burrow with unmentionable and thermal scope and let him clear the third shot. He's a big bloke but it hurt his shoulder, yes he smiled but I doubt I have a convert. His loss!
ps. Those rabbits are small, they won't go in the pot but they will do for the dog.
