Loading While Sitting

[musketman]

I remember seeing a muzzleloader shooter who was in a wheelchair during my first and only trip to "Friendship" and I remembered trying to load while sitting down once I got home...

This is not that easy to do, and I had the Renegade at the time...

The man I seen was using a long barreled musket, every time he touched it off, the chair would move back a few inches due to the recoil...

Anyway, is there a different reloading process to loading in the sitting position?

It would be like loading a brown bess in a cramped tree stand with a roof on it, you would almost have to lay the gun down just to get the ramrod out...

I could see where the premeasured charges would really help out in this confined position...

Any other tips for loading whille sitting? (and don't say: STAND UP) :winking:

 

Musketman,.... I reckon it'd be easy'er to pour in powder if the muzzle was at a 45% angle to the bore while sit'n.

Canoe guns have a short barrel for this very reason, after bend'n the barrel a few times to reload,.... the 10"-12" be'n "bent" finally snaps off from metal fatigue!! :m2c: :shocking: :hmm:

 

[BrownBear]

I sit cross-legged, then extend my right leg out more or less straight (I'm left handed), then hook the buttstock on the back of that heel with the rifle barrel up and over my left shoulder. It's awkward, but you get the 45 degree angle and all the work happens on the side with the most coordination. Pre-measured charges are a definite plus. Kinda eerie though, pouring that charge right next to your ear! My new posting name: Sayitagain Sam.

 

[RussB]

Musketman seez;
"Any other tips for loading whille sitting? (and don't say: STAND UP) "......and that just put me out of the game after looking at it.

I've never given this a moments thought before I read this.

Then I thought, "why not"? and I went through the motions.
I think I can do okay when sitting in a chair.
Sitting on the floor / ground is a whole nother thing!
Sitting in a canoe, with it's low bar for a seat, would again be very hard, especially with a musket of any barrel length.

As mentioned before, the handicapped often do this with a certain regularity....they are to be commended! :thumbsup:

Russ

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Prerolled cartridges shine here, but I shoot a rifle mostly. So my powder measure is made with a slight "V" in the mouth...it works like the lip on a pitcher...helps me pour the powder into the bore.

This is also in a friends argument for useing overpowder card wads in a rifle. Pour the powder and use the card to scrape it down to the breech. Insert patched ball and ram it home.

 

[Dave Poss]

Just a tad off subject but I was at a woods walk once where your rifle had to be loaded while lying down behind a log and then shot at a target about 40 yds. out. If your head came above the log while loading...You were "dead" and got a zero for your shot. Three shots had to be fired in this manner. I put more powder on the ground than I got down my barrel. I'd swear that one of my shots barely had enough ummmph to dribble the ball out the end of the muzzle !!!! :cry: Of course, the purpose of this was to simulate a fire fight in the woods. I don't know how authentic it was, but it was fun to see just how enept most of us were at this exercise.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Sitting down is hard enough, but the prone load is near impossible due to the powder pour problems mentioned. It's a good exercise to try just to appreciate the effort. Like Doc Arroyo, I make all my measures with a narrow spout formed into the rim (bones tend to have this provided by nature). But when your barrel's level, ain't much helps but cursin and shakin.

I like the sounds of Longknife's course. Those are my favoritre kind of events . . . to watch. :haha:

We had a novelty archery shoot where one target had to be engaged from below a 18" horizontal obstacle. That sure showed who was overbowed and who had a flexible form.

 

[nvbirdman]

"Don't say stand up" Darn, now I gotta come up with another stupid answer.
I got it!
Tap out the barrel wedges, and remove the barrel from the stock.
Told'ja it was stupid. :sorry:

 

[musketman]

"Don't say stand up" Darn, now I gotta come up with another stupid answer.
I got it!
Tap out the barrel wedges, and remove the barrel from the stock.
Told'ja it was stupid. :sorry:

What if the barrel is pinned?

 

I ain't even gonna mention a "folding stock"!! :redface: :no: :huh: :what: ::

 

Just a tad off subject but I was at a woods walk once where your rifle had to be loaded while "lying down" behind a log and then shot

.

Yup, loading and priming while laying on your back, then shooting "over" the log the first tyme,and under the log the seconed tyme is fair topic round' these parts. seen it done it. The only conscetion is a spotter at that site' to help folks move,, up, down, roll'm over or all three. It's a pita ta load an shoot like that.