gun myths

[kjmillig]

perhaps the goodiest one i've heard was that the flintlock is so slow that if you see the flash of the pan, you can just step to the side and the ball will pass harmlessly beside you.

i allowed as how i really didn't want to have anything to do with the test of that theory.

You need to write that one up and send it to Mythbusters. You know how they love to test gun stuff. :thumbsup:

 

[Billnpatti]

We don't have Buckeyes here in Texas and folks around here seem to have a heck of a problem letting you dig up a relative to get a much needed used nail from a coffin. Go figure. Anyway, I figured that the serious lack of Buckeyes and used nails from coffins explained a lot about my shooting. Yesterday, our muzzleloading club had their monthy shoot. I had to stand up there with no Buckeyes and no used nails from a coffin and shoot at the targets. Immediately I saw a need for some kind of lucky doo hicky. The only nuts available (not counting the ones with guns in their hands) was acorns. So, I picked up an acorn and put it in my pocket and took a shot. Right away, I saw a need for another lucky acorn so I picked up another and put it in my pocket. This went on for a while where I'd shoot and pick up another lucky acorn and put it in my pocket. As time went on, the weight of acorns began to pull my pants down and I had to stand with my legs spread further and further apart to keep my pants up when I shot. Pretty soon, I had enough lucky acorns in my pockets that they looked like chipmunk cheeks and I could no longer spread my legs far enough apart to keep my pants up so I had to start crouching just a bit. The slight bend in my knees seemed to help. Another acorn and a bit more bend in my knees until I was disqualified for shooting in a sitting position. I soon figured out that the amount of good luck in an acorn is so small as to make it dang near worthless. Next time, I'm trying pecans. No wonder you folks in buckeye country are such good shots, you have an unfair advantage. :hmm: :haha:

 

[D Sanders]

I had the same problem with walnuts! :haha: :haha: :haha:

 

[Robby]

Man, the ground is still frozen, but I was able to dig up my old cat I buried thirty years ago. The nail is pretty rusted and looks more like an old orange brad, should work though. I was thinking one of those canine teeth might be really good mojo, thought again and passed on it. Dug through a huge rotting pile of leaves I've been stacking for almost forty years and found a horse chestnut, hopefully, the squirrel that got the best part of it will only enhance its effect.
I think I'm good to go! :thumbsup:
Robby

 

[Dean2]

In Germany, you take a leaf and dip it in the blood of the animal you killed and then pin that leaf to your hat. It honors the spirit of the animal you killed and brings luck in your later hunts.

P.S. Do any of you know how Chestnuts came to be called Buckeye?

 

[smo]

P.S. Do any of you know how Chestnuts came to be called Buckeye?

They are not the same thing...Chessnuts you can eat, Buckeyes are said to be poison :shocked2:

 

As far as being hexed, that's what old barrels are referred to. Have you ever heard of a "Hex" barrel, or the very corrupted "hexagon."

I always thought that some people referred to octagon barrels as “hex” barrels because they equated them with allen wrenches that actually are hexagon in cross-section. For years it has been one of the things that affects me like fingernails on a blackboard. (Another one is using the word ”˜ideal’ when the correct one should be ”˜idea’. What can I say, we all have our quirks.)
Anyway, I guess I’ll have to change my outlook and accept that an octagon barrel can be a hex barrel. Or at least, a hexed barrel.

 

[Robby]

I planted a few buckeye's and then read that they are poison, not chestnuts either. Something must eat them :idunno: . Maybe after they lay on the ground for a while something changes and makes them more edible, nature wastes nothing. Horse chestnuts are not edible either.
Either way, I'm expecting good things next time out! No hex but the barrel!
Robby

 

[jdkerstetter]

Poison to us....people....not animals. As we all know, accorns will make us sick too....unless repeatedly boiled, in fresh water each time....but animals love 'em. Same applies to Buckeyes.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[Little Wattsy]

I was warned as an beginning hunter, age 12 I was, "not to try and shoot 'to far' at a deer as it would strain my gun and possibly ruin it".....

 

[jdkerstetter]

I've heard that one too! I wonder if "gun strain" treatable with Buckeye remidies! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf: Enjoy, J.D.

 

[54ball]

I was warned as an beginning hunter, age 12 I was, "not to try and shoot 'to far' at a deer as it would strain my gun and possibly ruin it".....

Not if your rifle was "relaxed" when new.

It is said that when a new rifle was built, it's first shot was at the Moon. Since the Moon is so far away, this relaxed the barrel so a 100 yard shot at game would be no sweat.

 

[Robby]

Acorns were soaked in wood ash to make them edible. Buckeye's are not eaten by any game animal that I could find in my reading.
Robby

 

[54ball]

I always thought that some people referred to octagon barrels as “hex” barrels because they equated them with allen wrenches that actually are hexagon in cross-section. For years it has been one of the things that affects me like fingernails on a blackboard. (Another one is using the word ”˜ideal’ when the correct one should be ”˜idea’. What can I say, we all have our quirks.)
Anyway, I guess I’ll have to change my outlook and accept that an octagon barrel can be a hex barrel. Or at least, a hexed barrel.

Often the past is just below the surface, we hear it everyday and may not know it. Just like the "Hex" in referring to barrels.

You really need to listen to the oldtimers talk, or remember how your grandparents talked. If you can, try to write down some of their old phrases.

Being at the southern end of Appalachia, we drive English teachers nuts. Ironically some, not all of the phonics and verbiage that drive these teachers nuts, are words and remains of words that were correct 300 years ago.

For instance we still use "ye".
Instead of saying,

How are you doing. It's been a long time since I have heard from you.

A mountain southerner says.

How 'er ye doin. It's been a long time since I heard from ye.

The answer may be.

Oh I'm fare, fare to middling.

 

I always thought that some people referred to octagon barrels as “hex” barrels because they equated them with allen wrenches that actually are hexagon in cross-section. For years it has been one of the things that affects me like fingernails on a blackboard. (Another one is using the word ”˜ideal’ when the correct one should be ”˜idea’. What can I say, we all have our quirks.)
Anyway, I guess I’ll have to change my outlook and accept that an octagon barrel can be a hex barrel. Or at least, a hexed barrel.

Often the past is just below the surface, we hear it everyday and may not know it. Just like the "Hex" in referring to barrels.

You really need to listen to the oldtimers talk, or remember how your grandparents talked. If you can, try to write down some of their old phrases.

Being at the southern end of Appalachia, we drive English teachers nuts. Ironically some, not all of the phonics and verbiage that drive these teachers nuts, are words and remains of words that were correct 300 years ago.

For instance we still use "ye".
Instead of saying,

How are you doing. It's been a long time since I have heard from you.

A mountain southerner says.

How 'er ye doin. It's been a long time since I heard from ye.

The answer may be.

Oh I'm fare, fare to middling.

I spent my entire military career (all 3 1/2 years of it) in Louisiana, and as a result several ”˜southern’ phrases, like “fair to middlin” (dropping the G) have found their way into my speech.
Add to that some of the phrases I’ve picked up reading Mark Twain and other 19th century literature, and I have developed a way of talking that can be really hard to pin down.
I ain’t nowhere near as Yankee as I was when I was 18.

 

[jdkerstetter]

Acorns were soaked in wood ash to make them edible. Buckeye's are not eaten by any game animal that I could find in my reading.
Robby

Soaking in wood ashes may certainly be another alternative to leaching the tannins from acorns.....haven't tried that. I hear that early Americans use to leave them in baskets in a running stream....perhaps with their gun barrels. :haha:

I have read that fox squirrels will eat Buckeyes, though I've never caught one doing it, I have found them chewed on in the woods....um, the Buckeyes, not the squirrels.

Enjoy, J.D.

 

[hanshi]

I'm from Ga, originally, and it's weird the puzzled, confused looks I get from non-Southerners. For instance, we don't "press" buttons; we "mash" them. Had a lot of fun with that one. Now back to the topic. :v

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have live in the south since 1970 and have picked up many of the colloquilisms. But there are a few I still have trouble with. I cannot get used to the idea of lunch being called 'dinner'. I don't do Wednesday night church. And, grits :shocked2: don't even suggest. :barf: :wink:

 

[54ball]

Here we call dinner, supper, the big evening meal.

Used to when everybody farmed the big meal of the day may have been Lunch, so that may be why you hear it refereed to as dinner.

The big meal moved to the late afternoon or evening as folks worked because that's when daddy got home.

Back to the symbolism on rifles here some stuff I wrote a few years ago. Some of has been discussed, not all.

What must be remembered is that the Pennsylvania Dutch, Moravians and Quakers were deeply religious people. Some like the Pennsylvania Dutch were more than a little superstitious.

While some theorize that these decorations were just that, decoration, the frequency and amount found prove otherwise. Some of these decorations were even hidden. An examples of this is the INRI and DEO found on the bottom flat just behind the muzzle on some J.P. Beck rifles. In this same area you may find a cross or more commonly an X below the front sight. This is said to ward off a demon who would ride the ball causing an inaccurate rifle.

In case you are wondering, INRI and DEO are both Latin abbreviations. INRI was tacked on the cross by the Romans meaning " Jesus Christ King of the Jews". DEO means, " With the help of God". On Beck rifles some times this is found....... "J Deo Beck".

Concerning the fish. Inlays are more common on post 1800 rifles. As the 19th Century progresses inlays tend to replace carving as a decoration on longrifles. The fish symbol goes way back to the early Christian times when Christians had to meet in secret. Legend says that these meeting places in the catacombs of Rome were marked with a fish or the ichthus. One fish means Christ where three means the Trinity. Conestoga Wagons from the same region had a fish shaped axe holders.

Frontier lore does say that a rifle marked with a fish does shoot better. Also legend says that if a new barrel was inaccurate it was removed from the rifle and unbreached. It was then placed in a stream muzzle facing upstream , the same way a fish faces. It would remain here for a few days to wash the evil spirits out of it.

Think about this for a moment. This may very well have some merit. If there were burrs or areas of the barrel too sharp, a few days in fast moving stream where silt and corrosion worked on these areas. That and the vigorous cleaning the bore got after the barrel was removed from the stream, I'm sure it would shoot better. This could be just another method to lap the bore.

Here are some more Christian symbols..

Eight pointed or Hunters Star... Star of Bethlehem

Distlefink or thistle finch a small bird that makes it's nest in thistle... the thorny crown of Christ

Bleeding heart... the fifth wound of Christ

Acorn... strength, character, Christ or Mary

Serpent ... warning against the Devil or the healing serpent of Moses. If it is a rattle snake it takes a totally different meaning... Don't tread on me.

Daisy, Tradition calls it a Daisy but it bears a closer resemblance to the wild rose... Innocence

from 1970 edition Gun Digest

 

[gearheart]

We tend to over Anglicize things and forget that a very large segment of the population in Pennsylvania was German speaking. In German a Hexe is a witch. Hexerei is witchcraft. A Hex is a curse or a blessing applied by witchcraft. An item that is plagued with bad luck would be called verhexed or accursed. As far as the line about an angel whizzing in your touch hole that was Blucher, a Prussian general, who said "Alle Kunst ist Dunst wenn ein Engel in dein Zundloch brunst".