Some people, other day i was showing a customer my best flintlock with as pretty a piece of tiger maple as I've ever seen, Tight stripe all the way from the buttplate to the end of the 42" barrel. I'd already told him that I made it when he said "you know how they put those stripes on there?, they wrap a string soaked in gasoline around it and then burn it". I tried to explain but it was a lost cause. :shake:
Squirrel Practice and Idiots
- Thread starter roundball
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pennsyltucky
40 Cal.
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in PA most people i run into at the club when we go shoot skeet know what a flintlock is. what they cant believe is that i hit the clays with it! 
i get alot of, "U HIT THAT WITH A LEAD BALL?????, WOW" or "how do u shoot that brute all day?" after i explain and shoot a couple times they kinda get the idea.... and every once in a while someone even gets up the nerve to shoot it.
its alot of fun to get these guys (and girls) interested in shootin flintlocks. its too bad some people are too ignorant to listen and learn about our little sport. truly their loss...
i get alot of, "U HIT THAT WITH A LEAD BALL?????, WOW" or "how do u shoot that brute all day?" after i explain and shoot a couple times they kinda get the idea.... and every once in a while someone even gets up the nerve to shoot it.its alot of fun to get these guys (and girls) interested in shootin flintlocks. its too bad some people are too ignorant to listen and learn about our little sport. truly their loss...
didn't roundball say he introduced his wife and sister and one woman was standing there :shocking:...."sorry bout that lord" but i had to "git er done"....just got done watching white coller comedy tour....can't let that stuff wear off on me
..............bobSKS_madman
40 Cal.
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AZ, I ain't outa high-school yet but I usually abhorr (sp) scopes, irons are just so much more comfortable... :blah: :crackup:
nchawkeye
58 Cal.
I'm going to play "devils advocate"....Yea the guy was an idiot...but, how many of you have taken the time to educate the younger generation on the use of firearms???
I have given dozens of talks at schools about American History...bringing a couple of flintlocks, wing bone turkey calls, showing how to make fire with flint and steel, etc...
the kids love it...one school has started having a day each spring that they call Heritage Day...they have period cooking, soap making, wagon rides etc...I show my flinters....and we have stations for the kids to visit....After telling the kids about Daniel Morgan, Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, David Crockett etc, and the stories that go with them they are fasinated by the guns that they carried every day...One of the local Boy Scout troups has me help with their shooting merit badge every few years...they get a kick out of shooting my flinters...and are amazed at their accuracy...
Just a thought...
I have given dozens of talks at schools about American History...bringing a couple of flintlocks, wing bone turkey calls, showing how to make fire with flint and steel, etc...
the kids love it...one school has started having a day each spring that they call Heritage Day...they have period cooking, soap making, wagon rides etc...I show my flinters....and we have stations for the kids to visit....After telling the kids about Daniel Morgan, Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, David Crockett etc, and the stories that go with them they are fasinated by the guns that they carried every day...One of the local Boy Scout troups has me help with their shooting merit badge every few years...they get a kick out of shooting my flinters...and are amazed at their accuracy...
Just a thought...
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No, haven't taught any kids in schools...surprised there are still schools in the US that would allow anyone to bring rifles into them.
People who go to this range are adults...I always volunteer explanations, offers to shoot, etc, to anyone who approaches me at the range inquiring about muzzleloaders...a number of people have now shot one of my Flintlocks.
The point of my post was the behavior of this adult individual...he displayed the attitude that he already knew everything he wanted to know about muzzleloading, rudely interrupted me as I was tactfully trying to explain, then strode off.
I've since thought that it might have been as simple as him shooting his mouth off in front of someone he wanted to impress (wife/girlfriend?), but when calm reasoning & questioning began, he had to turn and break it off before the inaccuracies were exposed in front of that person.
We humans are a strange lot...
Peter A Meyer
32 Cal.
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Roundball - I think there's hardly a school left Down Under that would even let you take a PICTURE of a firearm into it!
You are not alone in the US with idiots like your know-all pal. We get them here too, unfortunately, but the best I saw was in Edmonton, Alberta when I was living and shooting black powder there in the early '70s. Friend and I were shooting at an outdoor range, and he had gone down to patch targets at 25 yards. Fellow and his young son (about 12) drove up to the range where we were, son jumped out with a .22, whacked in a magazine, ran one up the spout and proceeded to aim it down range while Paul was still down at the targets!
After picking my jaw up off the ground I absolutely went ballistic, grabbed and safed the rifle and ordered them off the range. I had no authority whatsoever to do this, but they could see I was so incensed and liable to do something physical and quite appropriate involving their rifle and a part of their anatomy where the sun never shines, they just jumped back in the car and cleared off! I didn't have time to try to educate them or take the p*** out of them as it was an extremely dangerous situation requiring an instant response. Which it got, but it took quite a while for my shakes to settle down afterwards!
If something had happened here, or your pal blew his or someone else's face off, most people would call it an accident. Not so. IMHO an incident caused by such stupidity is NOT an accident, it's sheer bloody criminal negligence!
I know this is not pertinent to flintlocks, but we can never be too safety conscious. A good way to destroy our hobby/sport is to allow such idiots to proliferate, especially in countries like Australia, Canada and the UK where firearm ownership is a privilege, NOT a right as it is in the US.
Pete.
You are not alone in the US with idiots like your know-all pal. We get them here too, unfortunately, but the best I saw was in Edmonton, Alberta when I was living and shooting black powder there in the early '70s. Friend and I were shooting at an outdoor range, and he had gone down to patch targets at 25 yards. Fellow and his young son (about 12) drove up to the range where we were, son jumped out with a .22, whacked in a magazine, ran one up the spout and proceeded to aim it down range while Paul was still down at the targets!
After picking my jaw up off the ground I absolutely went ballistic, grabbed and safed the rifle and ordered them off the range. I had no authority whatsoever to do this, but they could see I was so incensed and liable to do something physical and quite appropriate involving their rifle and a part of their anatomy where the sun never shines, they just jumped back in the car and cleared off! I didn't have time to try to educate them or take the p*** out of them as it was an extremely dangerous situation requiring an instant response. Which it got, but it took quite a while for my shakes to settle down afterwards!
If something had happened here, or your pal blew his or someone else's face off, most people would call it an accident. Not so. IMHO an incident caused by such stupidity is NOT an accident, it's sheer bloody criminal negligence!
I know this is not pertinent to flintlocks, but we can never be too safety conscious. A good way to destroy our hobby/sport is to allow such idiots to proliferate, especially in countries like Australia, Canada and the UK where firearm ownership is a privilege, NOT a right as it is in the US.
Pete.
Yup, Had a couple out from the city two weekends ago. Wife was scared of the rifle that hangs over the door. She thought it might somehow go off by itself, even though it wasn't loaded. Showed husband how it worked, he was skeptical that the sparks would really set off the powder. Offered to let him shoot it, but wife was too afraid he would hurt himself with it. Kicker is, I live in the heart of Texas, did not know people like this even lived in this state...(of ignorance)...
Regards,
Ivery
Regards,
Ivery
Texas is now just another urban state, population wise.. just a few left in the rural areas, and people leaving them as fast as they can
if you are in the heart of Texas, you may be near Austin, which is NOT in Texas, it has become an annex of california.. :imo:
and maybe responsible for the gun response you witnessed...
:m2c:
rayb
born and raised in the Lone Star State
if you are in the heart of Texas, you may be near Austin, which is NOT in Texas, it has become an annex of california.. :imo:
and maybe responsible for the gun response you witnessed...
:m2c:
rayb
born and raised in the Lone Star State
Peter A Meyer
32 Cal.
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Ivery - unfortunately you will have to get used to the fact that they are everywhere!
Pete.
Pete.
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Remember when.... a scope was an "optional" accessory on even a modern rifle?
dont understand why people use scopes in my part of pa...all brush....u cant ever have more than ahunert an fifty yd shot...but they all have them
not me too cheap :hmm:
Remember when.... a scope was an "optional" accessory on even a modern rifle?
dont understand why people use scopes in my part of pa...all brush....u cant ever have more than ahunert an fifty yd shot...but they all have them
not me too cheap :hmm:
