Shooting all by one’s lonesome

[N.Y. Yankee]

The thing about muzzleloading is that it is a multi-step process. Shooting with friends often involves talking, telling stories, jokes etc, or even just talking about what your'e doing at the moment. It is very easy to get distracted in the loading process and dry ball the gun or maybe even double -charge it. I know because I have done the former. I recommend keeping to yourself for a while unless you are with a mentor who can watch you and recognize if you did something wrong. Once you are experienced, the likelyhood of a mistake goes down but can still easily happen.

 

[Comfortably_Numb]

When I shoot alone, I prefer to be by myself.

 

[Zapadach]

I shoot 98% of the time alone. Sorta use to it these days.
That's all right, I have 2 video cameras as my friends...LOL
Unless I travel, I usually can't find anyone to shoot with.

I normally go way out into the desert and shoot by myself. It gets lonely sometimes but then I also have limitless space to make those long shots. How long? As long as I chose and can see out to.

 

[RobertsGunsmithing]

I volunteer at the local gun club, and I get to see a wide variety of shooters. New ones that sweep their partners and everyone else, with me, the RSO shouting "Muzzle!!!" or "Finger!!!". The plastic people that have Binary triggers that need to be told to slow down. Then there's the Hunters shooting the loudest, biggest guns using a Lab-radar, (nothing against them) and wait 5 minutes between shots. But I've only seen a BP muzzleloader once in the years I've been there. All that to say, I don't shoot there. My wife and I go out to the public lands on a weekday, weekly. She likes it as much as I do. Best shooting buddy in the world!! Only ever shot BP out of my 1873 45LC clones, and it was very fun and very dirty. I don't recommend a gun with that many moving parts. I am looking forward to building a couple. Gonna start with Flint, and a couple I like are percussion guns, so one of those. and who knows where it goes. It's Hickok45's fault I'm here. Been watching his videos for years. He just makes it look so fun. When My wife and I shoot, I do most of the loading and we talk about each gun we're shooting, sometimes some history about it. I lay things out in order when we shoot, so as not confuse what goes where. I figure, I'll lay out a loading pattern for ML as well. Powder, patch, ball, so hopefully I don't get lost. My wife is good at watching what I'm doing, so as she learns it's like insurance. I cast my own bullets so we can shoot steel at 50 yards with a 30-30, and 303 British. Totally looking forward to doing a Blunderbuss for pumpkin time, and a .50 for... who cares, just want to shoot it. Don't really like shooting with others much, but a couple of my customers are cool to shoot with. My 0.12-acre lot doesn't support shooting, neither do city ordinances. I keep my eye on Idaho for good lot with a good enough home. There it's more about quantity over quality. I can always change the home, can't grow more land.
The biggest intrigue is building something that one could make everything in order to shoot. Allthough I don't plan on blacksmithing a barrel. I'll use kits.

 

[bubba.50]

Everybody I ever had to shoot with has either died or moved away except for my one remaining friend, Bill. And every time I say let's go shooting or fishing or hunting or to the gun show it's always, without fail the same reply. 'Yeah, we'll hafta do that some day'.

 

[TDM]

Except for rare occasions that I get to shoot with my Sons I always shoot alone. I’m blessed to have my own range. Bad thing is I take it for granted and don’t shoot as much as I should. But when it’s nice and cool I shoot several times a week.

 

[Hatman/2nd line]

I have a friend that I use to work with who I shoot with, he's a regular pistol guy and I shoot my flintlocks. I let him shoot the flinter one day and he did a pretty good job, I was impressed! The range is about 20minutes away and seems almost deserted during the week but weekends is a different story, we shoot during the week, old guys!

 

[William P Sepessy]

I enjoy the comradeship of shooting with friends at events like Cowboy Shoots. However when I go to the range with a friend I spend more time talking than shooting! Since I like to experiment with black powder, I usually go alone as I'm interested in specific results.

 

[Piquant]

I shoot with some life long friends at the Parish police department shooting range. It's free and open to the public twice a month. We usually have it to ourselves. We shoot everything with a trigger.

 

[katsumushi]

Shadowwalker164,
I see your in Tampa, I am in Largo and shoot at the Wyoming Antelope Club in Clearwater, its an outdoor range and they have a black powder club/shoots there.
Info....

BLACK POWDER​

Come join the Wyoming Antelope Club black powder shooters for fun, competition and a chance to learn more about this entertaining and challenging discipline. We meet the 4th Sunday  at 8:30 AM on the Bullseye Range. We have a 30 minute session prior to the start of our matches to practice, adjust sights and generally “warm-upâ€. This is a relaxed, informal match, with emphasis on safe shooting with plenty of good competition. We welcome new shooters, or even those who don’t have a black powder rifle but are interesting in learning about this type of shooting. There are no time limits so if you need a little help, there are always plenty of experienced shooters willing and able to help you out with any problems. Many shooters have an old CVA, Thompson Center or similar rifle that they may have played with at one time but now sits unused on the rack. Well, dust her off, (the gun that is) and bring her out to join us for a good time. We fire at a variety of targets every month, from double bullseye buffalos to the ever challenging inverted “V†which will test your confidence in your shooting.
For more information on our matches please contact:
Dale Nincehelser

(813) 814-4018
[email protected]
Or
Dan Klawinski
(727) 744-7096
[email protected]




Best regards,
Frank

 

[mushka]

I have a desert canyon I frequent to shoot. About half the time I'm alone and the other times there will be just myself or one or two others. Few others go there as it's not the most convenient place to get into. Some times I'll just go there alone which I like, other times company is good to have. Just depends on how I feel about things that day.

 

[BigAl52]

I'd take you up on that!

See another reason to go west young man. Id go to Omaha to shoot with you guys. I shoot alone most of the time but occasionally I can get together with one of the local members here on the forum. Rock Isle Home, RonC and a couple others I have shot with at the local range.

 

[nkbj]

In Texas it was just the range rabbit that came over to watch.
Up here on the corn tundra they aren't that friendly 'cept when the garden gate is left open.

 

[SciAggie]

I shoot by myself most of the time. Sometimes I get to hunt with my grown son. I do text with shooting friends - and you folks...

 

[Bill Bryan]

I started shooting black powder in Charleston S.C. as a teenager in the late 1960's. There was a lot of activity at multiple ranges. After joining the military I ended up in California, Utah and Georgia. Frequently out west I was the only one shooting my flintlock at a range and usually asked to move down the end of the line. I found a good NMLRA Club in Georgia and been with them ever since. Good luck. Bill

 

[JB Books]

You sound a lot like me. I actually prefer to shoot alone, and since I normally go to the club during weekdays I'm often the only one there.

Our club has a pretty large black powder contingent and they hold shoots once or twice a month on Saturdays. Those shoots often attract 20+ entries and I've gone to watch a couple of them. The guy who runs them is always trying to get me to participate but I just don't have any desire to do that.

I like to go, spread out my stuff and take my good old time shooting. I can spend a couple hours on 30 shots or so if the weather is nice. Maybe I'm just anti-social?

Me too!! There's only 4 people that I actually enjoy to have with me shooting, hunting, archery, fishing, hiking. 2 are now to old and infirm and 2 now live to far away. So now for the last 2 decades+ its just me and I've never been disappointed with the results. And usually I'll call one of the 4 to talk about the day and it's all good.

 

[The Damned Yankee]

Thanks Cruzatte…
I joined NMLRA a couple of weeks ago, I will search it for clubs nearby.
Larry I live in Tampa, FL, and the range I shoot at is in South Clearwater. There is another outdoor range in Brandon or Ruskin. But I’ve never tried it

Shadowalker164,
If you live in Tampa, you gotta visit the Alafia River Rendezvous in January! It's in your back yard in Homeland! It is put on by the Florida Frontiersmen (as someone mentioned). Good range, well organized camp! Oh and fun people too.
https://www.alafiariverrendezvous.org/
There are times when I prefer to shoot alone. Like with a new gun, or working up a new load. I shoot traditional flintlock rifles and muskets. I use a state open range. I don't like distractions.

 

[hanshi]

I've always done my powder burning alone except when I had friends with the same interest; and that's only been recently for the most part.

 

[flntlokr]

I am new to muzzleloading, and enjoying it very much! And like the newbie I am, I walked into an indoor range with my smoke pole. Big mistake! They looked at me like I was nuts, and promptly showed me the door. I located one of only two outdoor ranges, and taught myself how to charge and discharge my weapon. I was the only guy with a muzzleloader. I have been back several times, everybody was and is very cool, but I appear to be the only guy sporting a front stuffer. The club had one morning a month set aside for a bragging rights only muzzleloading match. But not anymore. It would be more fun to shoot with other black powder guys, but I take what I can get.

Question: short of a rendezvous, do most of you guys shoot alone?
Shadowalker

I only shoot alone when I am doing serious target work. The rest of the time I shoot with my club or at r'voos.

 

[bladegrinder]

Shadow, I lived in Clearwater till last year and moved to 30 acres in the panhandle. is the range you went to the Antelope club? I used to shoot there years ago and usually I was the only one there with a smoke pole when I brought it. I stopped going for a few reasons, I bought my property 300 miles away so when I went there through the year I'd pack a bunch of guns and shoot them all, that range just got too crowded for me, sometimes you had to wait in a line to get a spot at the bench, and lastly....it was just plain dangerous, lots of idiots doing bad things.
one time a guy was there with his girl with one cheap semi auto pistol between them, it jammed and he swept me with the barrel as he was trying to rack the slide. that was the last time I went.

I've looked around and there's really no black powder supplies or clubs around me either. I did find some stuff at Bass Pro shop in Tallahassee
but when I asked the guy there about real black powder he walked me over to the Pyrodex. I said no, real black powder, he said, that is real
black powder....back and forth a few times and finally another customer came over and tried to explain to the guy I was looking for real black powder, not Pyrodex. after all that...he said...well, that's real black powder and that's all we have.
un-friggin believable, anyway, they did have Remington percussion caps so I bough some of them and haven't been back since.