Getting back into muzzle loaders. I ordered my first rifle when I was 12 from DGW. A Lyman trade rifle. I had been directed to the Tennessee poor boy they sold at that time but as I was using my own money couldn't afford it. Funny thing is I really wanted a lever action rifle but my dad wouldn't get one for me because I was too young. He didn't know much about muzzle loaders and must of thought it more of a step up from a air rifle instead of a powerful weapon in it's own right.
I remember him watching me shoot a chunk of hedge wood and exclaiming "that's a real gun!" To late at that point. He would have had to pry it from my cold dead fingers. Good times were had. I had to get my powder from an old retired gunsmith that still had a gunshop in a back room of his house. He would sell me Goex 2f with a wink, "you ain't going to blow up the courthouse, now are you?" I ordered a mold and bought plumbers lead from the scrap yard to melt into round balls. I used scrap material from my moms sewing room for patches. Never new what the thickness was or cared until much older.
Anyways I digress. My oldest son turned twelve and I was telling him the above story. I decided to buy him a parts set from TOTW and get him started in this great way of life. The Vincent Ohio rifle kit looked like a great way to go. 800+ later we had a kit on the way with a few other things I couldn't pass up. Now I feel like a kid again with the old excitement welling up as I look at the components.
Luckily for me I have a smith friend who has built several muzzleloaders in the past who is willing to let me use his shop in the evenings and supervise us as we put assemble this rifle. In fact I have a half built Leman type trade rifle that I started 5 years ago that I may get to finish while we're there. Wish us luck.
I remember him watching me shoot a chunk of hedge wood and exclaiming "that's a real gun!" To late at that point. He would have had to pry it from my cold dead fingers. Good times were had. I had to get my powder from an old retired gunsmith that still had a gunshop in a back room of his house. He would sell me Goex 2f with a wink, "you ain't going to blow up the courthouse, now are you?" I ordered a mold and bought plumbers lead from the scrap yard to melt into round balls. I used scrap material from my moms sewing room for patches. Never new what the thickness was or cared until much older.
Anyways I digress. My oldest son turned twelve and I was telling him the above story. I decided to buy him a parts set from TOTW and get him started in this great way of life. The Vincent Ohio rifle kit looked like a great way to go. 800+ later we had a kit on the way with a few other things I couldn't pass up. Now I feel like a kid again with the old excitement welling up as I look at the components.
Luckily for me I have a smith friend who has built several muzzleloaders in the past who is willing to let me use his shop in the evenings and supervise us as we put assemble this rifle. In fact I have a half built Leman type trade rifle that I started 5 years ago that I may get to finish while we're there. Wish us luck.
