Sometimes I go to the local range and see young guys shooting every kind of AR clone under the sun. Then some old lion shows up, ragged mane, a little slower, a little more deliberate in the way he moves. He carries a well worn buck skin rifle bag, missing rows of tassels from years of protecting what's inside from damage. He flips open the end of the bag and withdraws the heavy octagonal barreled fire arm with the deep richly figured furniture accented by buttery smooth antique brass fixtures like decorations on a holiday tree. He pulls the color case hardened Hammer to half cock, flips the frizzen forward exposing the pan and touch hole, burnt black and grey from countless sparks like signals from the brain commanding it's heart to beat. A small puff of air into the pan and touch hole, more like a signal from one old lion to another, it's time!
He clears the weapon with gnarled hands sliding the ramrod home till it bounces just a touch off the face of the breech plug. His possibles bag hangs on his right side with his powder horn next to it. He pops the top off his horn and pours black powder into a hollowed out elk antler to the brim then pours it down the barrel tapping the but on the ground just once to settle the powder on the bottom. Next he grabs the small walnut block hanging around his neck with nine patched, lubed, lead balls in a neat three by three order and places a ball just over the muzzle. A practiced push with his thumb and the first patched ball is delivered to the muzzle. He lets the wood ball block fall to his chest at the end of the leather lanyard while simultaneously ramming the ball home to sit atop the powder load. Things move slower now. He grabs for a small brass tube on another lanyard and delivers a few grains of very fine powder to the pan. He flips the frizzen closed and gives the gun slight tap to insure the powder reaches the touch hole. He can hear his own heart beat between breaths as he raises the nearly 200 year old gun to his shoulder. He pulls the hammer to the fully cocked position and aquires his target and applies steady pressure to the trigger and like a surprise, for a second,
....just a second
........the old lions roar again!
