Today I went to a muzzleloader shoot outside of La Belle, MO. This was my first time shooting a muzzleloader with anyone besides my dad. The club is Indian Creek Muzzleloaders and they have shoots all over northeast missouri and southeast iowa. For competition I used my .50 traditions kentucky caplock. My dad used his .50 caplock t/c renegade. The club isn't very big and the shoots are just on club members farms and shooting at mostly steel spinner targets off-hand. Only about 12 guys actually shot today but it was a 3 day shoot so some shot friday and some will shoot tomorrow. It was set up as a firing line with barrels marked with which number of target you shoot at from that barrel. Most shots were anywhere from 5 to 40 yards. There were 25 targets and most were the spinner type but some were lengths of pipe and chains and even a chainsaw blade. For each time you hit a target you get 10 points and 0 for a miss. I shot 170. At the beginning the targets were only about 20 yards and were the size of a softball but then shooting lengths of chain moving in the wind was pretty tough. and there was a target at 10 yards that was about the size of a quarter. I brought my flinter to just shoot for fun and most guys at the club shoot percussion but no one today shot flint. I met a guy who shoots nothing but flint and he gave me some tips on my flintlock shooting. I even dryballed twice because I'm not used to shooting around other people. What I like about this club is that it's not a very serious shoot and there are a lot of nice people full of advice. Plus the perks of paying a $10 member fee for the year and $3 per shoot isn't bad at all. In these perks you can buy powder and caps cheap from the club. In fact next month I have a can of 4f coming my way. Needless to say I know I'm going to try to make as many shoots as possible. Some of the people say they've had young kids join the club but most of them have given it up and of course they assume I'm going to do the same. I don't think that's the case because I've been shooting for about 2 years now and am more addicted than ever. I think I might go next time in semi-period clothing because I realized it's not as expensive as I think. A guy told me to just go to wal-mart and buy a pair of brown work pants with the thick fabric and find a shirt and shoes and I could get into most rendezvous.
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First Rondezvous/Shoot
- Thread starter luieb45
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Skychief
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:applause: :thumbsup:
Muskeg Stomper
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Young man, you've already figured out the important stuff: all day fun, nice folks, iexpensive shooting. Yes, I would say that you are hooked! :thumbsup:
Well, I was trying to avoid answering that question. :rotf: Halfway through I took a break and got something to drink and shot my flintlock some. The only guy who dressed traditional was a guy I met today. He shoots only flintlocks and said he'd challenge anybody there with a cartridge rifle of any caliber and at any distance that he'd beat them with his flinter. So he knows his stuff about flinters. So he was tutoring me with the flintlock and I dryballed. I tried shooting it out with a little 4f and that didn't work. So I pulled it and we had a heck of a time pulling it out. It took 2 other guys and me to pull it. So after this I got really frustrated when I was shooting my percussion. So my dad beat me by 1 target(10 pts) :shake:R.M. said:
Good for you luie,,glad ya made it to one and found experianced shooters, :bow: the first one is tough because you don't know what too expect,,
It does nuthin but get easier and funner from here on out. It's a great way to hone yer shootin skills, an learn from others face ta face.. an Yup,,dryballin whilst yakin is pretty common. :grin:
Mention the forum,,chances are some of the members have links to places they share on too
"Hey, any of you guy's ever mess around on the puter'?"
I've met perhaps a half dozen folks from here,,
It does nuthin but get easier and funner from here on out. It's a great way to hone yer shootin skills, an learn from others face ta face.. an Yup,,dryballin whilst yakin is pretty common. :grin:
Mention the forum,,chances are some of the members have links to places they share on too
"Hey, any of you guy's ever mess around on the puter'?"
I've met perhaps a half dozen folks from here,,
Dave Rosenthal
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luie b said:
Way to go Lucas! :applause: :hatsoff: :thumbsup:
Just remember to say in your head (to yourself): Power, Patch, then Ball, or this thing don't FIRE AT ALL! Say it to yourself AS YOU LOAD, so even if someone is jabbering at you, YOU won't be distracted. If they keep jabberin', start saying it out loud, and they'll get the idea, in a nice way, and start the jabberin after you push the ball down onto the powder :wink: .I'd be willing to bet that if you didn't get frustrated dry-balling, and get your heart rate up, you would have maybe scored higher than that good Dad who brought you to that event! There's nothing quite like shooting with your Dad at an event, is there??
Fifteen is a good age to join the other adults on the common firing line at a Club Shoot. Always demonstrate good safety and courtesy, and you'll find that the adults will treat you like one of their own, NOT A KID! And once you break that 200 pts. barrier, you'll even get more respect! Trust me, I know, cause that's what happened with my Son, now 20 yrs old! Once they get used to you being there, and you go about your business un-noticed, you'll settle-down into your own "rhythm" and your scores will go up significantly, for you have the advantage of younger, sharper eyes. Just don't "blow-it" by getting too "juiced-up" on Red Bull or some other highly caffeinated drinks!
Congrats again on your achievement! Make sure to let your Dad know that we all think he's special for bringing you up this way!
I wish that I could have been there with you guys, watching you two shoot together
.Have FUN and keep up the good work!
Dave
Fellow Member of the American Dry-Ballers Association :grin: :redface:
What was relieving is when I went to the shoot some of the people knew a guy my dad works with and butchers our deer who gave me some tutoring on muzzleloaders. Yukon(a guy I met that gave me some flintlock tutoring) advised that I use the .535 ball on my trade rifle and use 4f in the pan. He said to use pillow ticking instead of cotton drill but I think the .535 ball will fit nicely in my rifle with .017 cotton drill. BTW I have a strategy to do better at next shoot and it's called an over powder wad which I'm going to try in my .50 and I'll use spit patches also because most shooters at my club use spit patches and cutting at the muzzle.
Dave Rosenthal
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Use what works for others in your area, with the materials purchased where they get there's. A 1/1000 of an inch difference is fabric isn't worth worrying about!
The use of a wonder-wad to protect the patch will lower your deviation in velocity, thus increasing your accuracy, so you have a good idea there!
One other "trick" is to take a shot at the ground, IF ALLOWED, to foul the bore. Doing this also lowers your deviation, and most rifles like to be slightly fouled for best accuracy. But check with your Dad and the Shoot Chairman at the Club BEFORE doing this on your own!! If it isn't allowed, you could be wasting a shot that you need for score, or worse yet, you could be asked to stop shooting! So it's real important to get permission to do this first BEFORE doing it!
Have fun and continued success!
Dave
The use of a wonder-wad to protect the patch will lower your deviation in velocity, thus increasing your accuracy, so you have a good idea there!
One other "trick" is to take a shot at the ground, IF ALLOWED, to foul the bore. Doing this also lowers your deviation, and most rifles like to be slightly fouled for best accuracy. But check with your Dad and the Shoot Chairman at the Club BEFORE doing this on your own!! If it isn't allowed, you could be wasting a shot that you need for score, or worse yet, you could be asked to stop shooting! So it's real important to get permission to do this first BEFORE doing it!
Have fun and continued success!
Dave
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