The did you ever thread......

[Britsmoothy]

...I know I did!
Today I set off to see if the Geese would give me a shot.
Only a 7 mile drive.
Just put my bag over my shoulder that I prepared the whole day before (!) and instantly remembered I had not put any caps in

So there, I said it and got it out.

So how about you, did you ever.....?
Keep it muzzleloading. No stories of too much gas and accidents in your shorts, well, unless it was while muzzleloading of course.
Did you ever royally screw up? Now's the time to spill the beans, clear the air and get it off your chest

 

[Grimord]

I once went to a trail walk shoot and forgot my shooting bag. I became a scorer for the other guys that brought all of the required shooting gear.

 

[dragnetbill]

...I know I did!
Today I set off to see if the Geese would give me a shot.
Only a 7 mile drive.
Just put my bag over my shoulder that I prepared the whole day before (!) and instantly remembered I had not put any caps in

So there, I said it and got it out.

So how about you, did you ever.....?
Keep it muzzleloading. No stories of too much gas and accidents in your shorts, well, unless it was while muzzleloading of course.
Did you ever royally screw up? Now's the time to spill the beans, clear the air and get it off your chest

Nate, Nate, Nate, I would never forget to put caps in my bag............now, I might forget to bring the bag..........

So, did you ever go to the range and after one string of shots perform a cursory cleaning losing a patch in the breech only to discover that you didn't bring a worm or screw that would fit in the bore? Muttering to yourself as your mind races about a million things unrelated to the issue that you have just created you pack up and head home.
Upon venting to a friend of course you recieve the reply of, "Why didn't you just pop a cap to blow the patch out?"
Have you ever heard such lunacy? Waste a cap just to get a patch out of the barrel?
Am I suppose to feel better now?

 

[Walkingeagle]

Shoot my ramrod? Yes, after it broke off in the bore while trying to seat a too tight patch/ball combo. Couldn’t get it back out.

Dry ball a load? Far too many times to count. Sigh…

Will post more once I remember more.
Walk

 

[oldwood]

Had an emergency sight in to do on a cold icy day in Feb.. Fired one shot into target to see what adjustment needed done. Attempted to file front sight down to raise the point of impact , and the front sight blade fell out of the base. Back home , and next blistering cold day , having soldered the blade into the front sight base , began filing and shooting with success until a dryball happened, and though I have the best equipment , ball very stuck. Back home , and another bad storm . Next morning , took reinforcement , young strong neighbor guy with me , to ax chop the 2 " ice from the steps to the range , and continue the sight-in process. At last , fired another 10 shots , gun sighted in. Think I'm getting too old to go on fool's missions, like that one. Hunted in cold like that , many times before, but never had to spend range time in that environment before. ..............oldwood

 

[Ozark Mtn Muzzleloader]

Just yesterday I fired my Navy Arms SXS at a rooster & reloaded. The catch was that the tip of my ramrod was gone….No big deal except that the thin over shot card wouldn’t go down flat but only sideways. I ended up improvising & stuffing green leaves & once a piece of old dried up cow patty on top to hold the shot in. I told the guys with me that I had bagged that rooster with a load of BS!

 

[azmntman]

Its more rare I dont forget a component anymore!

Worst was turkey about 6 years ago. Took 12GA shotgun an 20GA components. Sucks really bad as I called in a double for my son who I sat away from me so less chance they would see movement. Closest birds yet, called em in to 5 feet.....they stopped right behind the large ponderosa pine I was leaning on. Had I a gun we would likely have bagged my first double.

 

[user 31257]

I once shot at a deer and knocked it down, then I kneeled and reloaded my rifle and then noticed the deer was beginning to stir. I was going to shoot it again from where I was but then decided to circle around some blow downs and get closer. By the time I got around the deer had it’s head up so I tried to shoot it in the head from 10 feet. I missed. Went to reload and then realized that I didn’t have a ramrod because I’d left it on the ground when I reloaded previously. About then the deer got up on it’s feet…

 

[TFoley]

I cross-threaded a Whitworth bullet on the very first loading in an all-day shoot. I, too, became an expert scorer that day.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Always keep it pointing in a safe direction!
New to flintlocks I wanted to check the flint would spark.
Only problem was the gun was loaded.

No problem at all. Just dump the prime.

Time to see if the flint is good........BOOM!

Okayyyy, won't do that again!

Now, if you wanted or needed the darn thing to go without any prime....oh no, no chance .

 

[oldwood]

A friend , and nubee to m/ling across town , tried to quiet his tell-all wife , not to tell about the odd stick sticking out of the ceiling in the bedroom. Guess friend nubee was going to clean his new m/l rifle down the cellar , and "snapped" the lock after inserting the r/r into the muzzle. No one seems to know where the ball went , or if the rifle even had a ball in the gun barrel. Wife knows where the r/r went. Don't think I'll hunt w/him , w/o him attending "Charlie's" M/L rifle university , at the range...........Luck to all.........oldwood

 

[Steel Hayes]

This past weekend, took my youngest son to do a little squirrel hunting.
Grabbed my bag and horn, listened to my son load his stuff in the trunk and shut it, off we went.
Got to our state game area and opened the trunk…..hummm, no firearms at all, just our gear.
Things were very silent on the way home.

 

[jdw276]

Never went to the range with the wrong size roundball......not....

 

[deermanok]

I shot at a deer once. Climbed down from the stand to look for blood.
I found plenty, so I decided to reload before looking for the deer.
When I started to dip in my bag, I realized I had plenty of powder and caps but forgot to bring any extra bullets.
Lucky for me that as it turns out, I didn't need a second shot.

 

[mushka]

I've made every error or omission that there could be except accidentally shooting someone.

 

[Maven]

When I was new to this sport I managed to shoot my ramrod into who knows where. Also, a few years ago, I had all my stuff together (I use a checklist) for a woods walk the next day, but grabbed patches that were too thick for the .492" RB I was using. I hammered a few RB's + too thick patch down my Lyman GPR's bbl., but soon had enough of that. Fortunately, I had a long strip of 100% cotton flannel cleaning material with me that loaded real easily and saved the day. I didn't do too badly at the woods walk either.

 

[2 shots]

drove 7 hours to hunting spot, set up camp got up next day to go out deer hunting............. no powder .lucky for me there was a guy a few spots over that was kind enough to give me some of his..

 

[JD Peppergrinder]

Just a month ago I’ve forgotten to pick the vent after swabbing only to realize what I forgot to do after loading and it hit me after the forth flash in the pan. It resulted in pulling a ball. Whats worse is I wish this was the only time it has happened but in my defense I hadn’t shot in few years.

 

[waarp8nt]

I was fairly young, couldn't drive yet so likely 14 or 15 years old. I had taken my dad's boxlock action muzzleloader out shooting. While cleaning the rifle I used too large a patch and the ramrod got stuck in the barrel and wouldn't pull back up. I grabbed a piece of leather from the garage, a nut cracker from the kitchen drawer and managed to pull the ramrod from the barrel. However, the patch and ramrod tip stayed in the barrel. I removed the nipple and dried the anti-chamber with compressed air, unfortunately the compressed air wouldn't blow out the patch and ramrod tip. I oiled and wiped down what I could of the barrel and waited for dad to get off work. When dad got home, I met him in the driveway and confessed my mistake...it was always better to be straight forward with the old man rather than beat around the bush. He instructed me to grab the rifle, some powder, the nipple and nipple wrench, then meet him at the kitch table. While he wasn't mad, I could tell he was somewhat disappointed as this was his favorite muzzleloader at the time. He carefully poured a little powder in the nipple hole, put the nipple back in and had me step onto the patio to shoot the rifle. I shot into the ground in hopes to recover the ramrod tip, the rifle went off with a mild report, but I'll be dammed if I could find that ramrod tip. I dug up a pretty decent size hole about a foot deep, sifted through the dirt and was willing to go farther when he asked me to come in the house for supper. We ate supper and he asked me if I knew what I had done wrong, yes sir I replied...I cut the patch too big. He said ok, next gunshow you pick me up a ramrod tip so we can fix it. Since then I have pinned all my ramrod tips, no reason not too. Dad later told me he was proud of what I had tried to do to fix it. He would always be pretty fair if us boys tried to fix an issue and needed help, not so much if we didn't try at all. That rifle has earned a special place in my heart. It's not the prettiest or best, but it will never leave the family.

 

[oldwood]

A true hunting story. My hunting partner's teen age son , was told by dad , his m/l rifle was laid out for him. Dad wanted to teach son to be responsible , and get his own hunting stuff ready , and make sure it was loaded in the truck. Well , we parked the truck in the Game Land parking lot and prepared to walk in to where the deer lived. In a sheepish tone , junior asked dad if he had put his gun in the truck. Dad , said No , didn't you?. I laid it out for you. Junior was disappointed , and walked behind us on the way into the deer woods. I let him stew about his forgetfulness , and took him to a stand in the woods , I wanted to use that morning. We sat for a while , no deer. I had an idea where a deer might be , and if he took my .62 Jaeger rifle , and shot pouch , maybe I could make some luck for junior. We were seeing no deer , and I had a hunch , that if I sneaked over to a high point overlooking a laurel patch , there could be a deer there , that I could chase back to junior in the stand. I went to the escarpment , and there were 18 deer laying and standing in the laurel a hundred yds. below me. I decided to go for broke and scare the herd so profoundly , that some would scatter back around the hill . I summoned my best 18th century war whoop , and it worked to perfection. The herd broke , and ran all directions . One of the bunch , went back around to junior , and I heard him shoot. Got back to him , and he had the best grin on his face standing over a large freshly killed doe. Doesn't get any better than that. He never forgot his shot pouch and gun , again. ...........oldwood