Holding the mouth up to the barrel and trying to spit a ball into the muzzle was found to be a good way to knock out a tooth or two while running over uneven terrain. Usually the ball failed to go into the muzzle during testing. The solution was found; the shooters "off" hand is held at the muzzle and the ball is spit into the hand, and the hand then guides the ball as it drops into the muzzle. Then the rifle butt is tapped several times against the ground while continuing to run (hopefully not breaking the stock at the wrist or causing other stock damage) which then hopefully seats the unpatched ball on the powder at the breech. The pan on the lock self-primes at the same time because..., the touch hole is overlarge from use. The rifleman need only to cock the piece, turn, and to fire. Not a very far shot, but one can hit a man sized target in the chest at 25 yards and perhaps farther with an unpatched ball in a rifle.
apply.. for overwatch duties
Perhaps the beginning of the overwatch position
I still ponder at trying to get powder in the bore while running. He practiced and it would have needed plenty too! Wetzel seemed like a very different character, wonder how much lead did play into that. I imagine some particles did get ingested having them rattle against his teeth while running. Better than the alternative. Thank you for the info, I forgot about him putting them in his cheek, but didn't know the rest.So the story is Wetzel could load and fire while fleeing from Indians. He allegedly did so killing or wounding several Indians chasing him . This was an emergency procedure.
Wetzel was reported to place several round balls in his mouth, and to spit the ball into the barrel, after adding powder, slam the butt of the rifle upon the ground, and then turn and shoot one of the pursuing Indians.
Folks have experimented and it has been found to work BUT..., there are some special conditions. First, the frizzen is shut on an empty pan. Next the powder is poured into the muzzle from the horn. This is dangerous especially because after the first shot followed with a rapid reload the shooter is risking a premature discharge. Next, the ball is spit from the mouth but NOT directly into the barrel.
Wetzel didn't carry ball all the time in his mouth, so he wasn't sucking on lead all day.
Another account is that some men would hold ball between fingers jammed where the fingers meet the hand, and over time the hand changed and it was possible to hold the balls in that hand without much discomfort.
LD
GOTCHA! I am one!
There are many books written about Wetzel that predate the internet by many years. Some historians suspect that James Fenimore Cooper's "Hawkeye" was based on Wetzel.
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That Dark and Bloody River by Expert, Notes on the Settlement and Indian Wars by Doddridge are two that I have read in the last couple months. I try to seek out the actual books vs the internet and especially first person accounts. The internet is a trove of info, but I agree, is it accurate?
That should have read Eckert, stupid smart phone and dumb user...
Awesome book. One of Eckert’s best researched works. I seem to recall he claimed Brady and Kenton could reload on the run as well but it was a skill few frontiersmen mastered.
With Wetzel, it was just fast enough to stay in front of the native chasing him so when he reloaded could turn and fire. He wasn't trying to get away and wanted them to pursue him. The native's name for Wetzel was "Death Wind".
