Royland Southgate Letter

[Urban Coyote]

I found this as part of the listing photos for a Southgate caplock on GB. I took a screen shot of the letter, that was a challenge but it solved the mystery of why screen shots keep showing up in my gallery. I guess my phone, the evil little device, is not possessed after all.

I found this pretty interesting, thought some of you might too.

 

[Dusty_Traveler]

I saw that listing as well. Very cool.

 

[nchawkeye]

Gem of a find...During one of the sessions we had at MSDA they had a similar letter from one of the Voglers to a customer, very similar...

 

[Urban Coyote]

In the letter Southgate recommends his patch lube as a mixture of liquid soap, but he doesn't say mixed with what. Also, back in the 1950s I wonder what liquid soap he might be referring to?

 

[Uncle Miltie]

I found this as part of the listing photos for a Southgate caplock on GB. I took a screen shot of the letter, that was a challenge but it solved the mystery of why screen shots keep showing up in my gallery. I guess my phone, the evil little device, is not possessed after all.

I found this pretty interesting, thought some of you might too.

Pretty cool, thanks for sharing this!

 

[Robin Henderson]

In the letter Southgate recommends his patch lube as a mixture of liquid soap, but he doesn't say mixed with what. Also, back in the 1950s I wonder what liquid soap he might be referring to?

That letter is too cool and penned a little over a year before I was born. I got involved in this sport back in the early 1970s with a lot of my education coming from Charlie Haffner's range at Owl Hollow a few miles south of Franklin, Tennessee. By this time, Southgate had moved there and had his shop on his piece of property I think he called it "Rebel Hill" which I visited a few times before South's stroke. Charlie's range was a hotbed of muzzleloading activity and many of the top shooters used Southgate rifles. I remember a few used a concoction of liquid ivory soap and water for lube with the mix being fairly heavy on the soap. They jokingly referred to it as "jack sperm".....jack being the critter that breeds a horse to make a mule.

 

[david58]

That letter is too cool and penned a little over a year before I was born. I got involved in this sport back in the early 1970s with a lot of my education coming from Charlie Haffner's range at Owl Hollow a few miles south of Franklin, Tennessee. By this time, Southgate had moved there and had his shop on his piece of property I think he called it "Rebel Hill" which I visited a few times before South's stroke. Charlie's range was a hotbed of muzzleloading activity and many of the top shooters used Southgate rifles. I remember a few used a concoction of liquid ivory soap and water for lube with the mix being fairly heavy on the soap. They jokingly referred to it as "jack sperm".....jack being the critter that breeds a horse to make a mule.

I grew up shooting at Mr. Charlie's range, and watching the ML folks shooting there. My dad was a pharmaceutical salesman, and he kept Mr. Charlie stocked with his meds and in return we got to shoot. Roland Southgate was a name I knew from childhood.

David
NM

 

[springfield art]

I grew up shooting at Mr. Charlie's range, and watching the ML folks shooting there. My dad was a pharmaceutical salesman, and he kept Mr. Charlie stocked with his meds and in return we got to shoot. Roland Southgate was a name I knew from childhood.

David
NM

Very interesting! Also had never heard of using the soap lube! If Mr. Southgate says it's OK, who am I to argue! Thanks for posting!

 

[dragnetbill]

In the letter Southgate recommends his patch lube as a mixture of liquid soap, but he doesn't say mixed with what. Also, back in the 1950s I wonder what liquid soap he might be referring to?

I remember that when I was a wee lad my grandma kept a jar with some water in it that she tossed all of the slivers of soap from nearly used up bars into, thus making a liquid soap. I would guess that that would have been quite common with those who grew up in the depression.

 

[Urban Coyote]

Robin Henderson wrote Southgate, for his patch lube, used Ivory liquid soap mixed with water. In preparation to experiment with Royland's suggestion I've been looking into Ivory to determine if it has been reformulated since the 1950s, so far I can't find anything suggesting it has.

Now I understand this is a muzzleloading, not homemaking, forum however I found the attached screen shot, I'm getting better at screenshots, of an old Ivory ad interesting. Keep in mind Ivory was invented in 1878 and one of it's attractions was in bar form it floats. At a time when many folks bathed in rivers, stream or lakes if the bar was dropped it would float making it easy to find. Anyway note the scene in the ad, tent, rifle, pistol on the user's hip and so on, reminiscent of an old Winchester or Remington ads. I doubt you'd ever find a gun in a soap ad today, unless the advertisement was for cleaning Chicago sidewalks.

 

[springfield art]

Robin Henderson wrote Southgate, for his patch lube, used Ivory liquid soap mixed with water. In preparation to experiment with Royland's suggestion I've been looking into Ivory to determine if it has been reformulated since the 1950s, so far I can't find anything suggesting it has.

Now I understand this is a muzzleloading, not homemaking, forum however I found the attached screen shot, I'm getting better at screenshots, of an old Ivory ad interesting. Keep in mind Ivory was invented in 1878 and one of it's attractions was in bar form it floats. At a time when many folks bathed in rivers, stream or lakes if the bar was dropped it would float making it easy to find. Anyway note the scene in the ad, tent, rifle, pistol on the user's hip and so on, reminiscent of an old Winchester or Remington ads. I doubt you'd ever find a gun in a soap ad today, unless the advertisement was for cleaning Chicago sidewalks.

Hey, this was a fun post! Very astute on your part! BTW, that floating bar would "take off" if caught in the current of a fast-running stream! Enjoyed seeing the old advertisement!