Back in the 1990's (yes in the previous century) I worked part time in a gunshop, and that was around the time that a lot of Russians and other folks from former Warsaw Pact nations began to come to America. So this nice Russian fellow was soooo delighted he could purchase a rifle, and then he saw a used TC Hawken, and it was love at first sight. One of the reasons I'd been hired was that I was well versed in black powder (well compared to the other guys
) so I waited on the customer. He got a can of BP, a tin of caps, targets, a "starter kit", an extra box of .50 caliber Buffalo bullets to go along with the bullets in his starter kit.... (iirc they were like 270 grain, lead, and pre-lubed), patches, oil, and a bottle of Hoppe's Black powder solvent. NOW I tried to steer him to a patched round ball and not all the over-the-counter-doo-dads, but he had read a magazine article somewhere and came in with a list. OH and goggles and ear plugs.
One of the nice things about this used Hawken is the fellow who owned it had never shot it..., it just hung on the wall, and when he wanted to sell it he had saved the original box and the manual. I encouraged the Russian Guy to fully read the manual, asked if he had any other questions, and told him to call the following day if after he read the book, if he had any confusion.
So that was a Friday night.....
Saturday afternoon, he returned, because he'd broken his ramrod. Well wood ramrods on factory guns will do that. So we sold him the wood replacement that he wanted, and a Delrin "range rod" for loading on the range.
Monday (we were normally closed on Sunday) he returns, he'd broken the second wood ramrod, AND broke the Delrin rod ???
Now the Delrin rod had lasted for about three shots, but....
So I asked him to walk me through how he loaded his rifle....
You guessed it..., didn't read the book, and
chose to leave the ramrod in, because he thought the bullet would simply plop out the front of the rifle if he didn't.
OK so, ordered him another wood ramrod to fit under his barrel, and sold him a second Delrin rod, and with the sincere promise that it was OK to remove the ramrod when firing. PLUS I stressed that he was to mark both ramrods to ensure he seated the bullet against the powder, but since he hadn't yet blown himself up, I figured at least the bullet and the ramrod on top, were tight agains the powder.
LD
