Waiting for the other shoe to fall

[Alberta Black]

I was at my public range the other day. I got their early and took the first rifle bench on the downwind side of the range as I was shooting my Pedersoli Frontier flintlock. As the day went on more and more shooters showed up and they had to pass my bench on the way to their shooting positions.

I began to notice a rythm to the shooting. On each relay I would always fire the first shot followed by everyone else as I reloaded. When I was ready to shoot the range would get quiet, I would fire my shot and then the shooting would commence again. I was the only one shooting black powder.

Curious about this on my next shot I quickly looked up from my rifle at the other shooters and saw that they were looking at me. I figured out that they were expecting my flintlock to misfire.

I had to disappoint them and perhaps challenged the myth that flintlocks are unreliable. At the end of the day two shooters came over to ask questions about the rifle and I let them have a couple of shots.

AB

 

[The Kansan]

Atta' Boy!

The best thing about educating the general public is that it's usually by accident.
And the best thing about public education is that it's almost invariably the public who gets educated.

How commendable of you to take the time to let others "try a few shots" as well.

:redthumb: :thumbsup: :redthumb: :thumbsup: :RO:


...The Kansan...

 

[Doc Arroyo]

Yep - same thing almost everytime I take the flinter or the percussion revolvers. There are only a few responses from the non-BP shooters....

"Why does he want to shoot that stinky stuff?" Usually from a wife or girlfriend of a shooter. Then they see the wood or an inlay, and they are hooked with the beauty of the guns, then the say to thier husband "When are you going to get one of these?" :thumbsup:

Then there is the tactical rifle or high capacity 9mm shooter. See the flinter roll their eyes and snort. Rip through a magazine, throw a smirk over the shoulder and look at their "group" through the spotting scope. That is ususally when they also see the flinter group on the next target. They get group envy, get ****** and go home. ::

Then there are the shooters you describe. I have ran into these folks enough that I one more box of bullets than I plan to shoot, just to have extra ammo fo the folks that take me up on the offer..."Ya want to try a shot?" eace:

 

[BLAHMAN]

"Why does he want to shoot that stinky stuff?" Usually from a wife or girlfriend of a shooter. Then they see the wood or an inlay, and they are hooked with the beauty of the guns, then the say to thier husband "When are you going to get one of these?" :thumbsup:

:what:Stinky stuff???? Ever been with the little women to one of them 'beauty parlors'? (there's an oxymoron) Them places will get ya higher'n a kite by takin' a simple breath!

 

[jaybeach]

....two shooters came over to ask questions about the rifle and I let them have a couple of shots.

Yeah, but did they flinch? :haha:
I have yet to shoot a flinter, but I suspect when I do, I'll have my head up and lookin' downrange when it goes off :redface:

 

[Alberta Black]

yup, they flinched, and the set trigger came as a bit of a suprise as well. They both enjoyed the experience though.

AB

 

Yesterday I was at my usual Sunday range session in the morning shooting my rock lock and there was a fella with one of the centerfire inlines with a jag stuck in the barrel on top of a 100gr pyrodex / roundball charge.
I let them come down to the end table where I normaly use to shoot and set my gear so they would be away from the other people at the range.
The reason the rod and jag got stuck was the crud in the barrel from the pyrodex. They did not clean it out before loading after 4 shots.
I told them they needed to get a real gun and shoot real BP and that they would not have that problem.
Finally they pulled hard enough with some vise-grips and the rod and jag came out. Checked the seat of the round depth and then shot it off.
They then looked at my 50 cal and started to ask some question as to how much powder I was useing , lube , balls ect.
I then loaded it with 70 gr. 3fff and primed with the same and handed the gun to the guys son to shoot.
Yep he flinched but was hooked from the first shot.
His Dad then took a shot and I believe he as well will be soon getting a flinter too.
I let them both shoot about 10 more times ecah with out haveing to have to swab out the barrel useing bore butter and no miss fires. If nothing else they became a believer in Real BP (Goex).
I will have to tell them the truth when they show up with their new flinters that they can shoot real BP in them centerfire guns too. I am sure they think it will only use pyrodex. But then again my telling them to get a flinter so they can shoot real BP didn't help either :crackup:
Just seems funny that once someone shoots a flinter they are hooked from the very start.
oh forgot to mention.. they didn't clea that so called easier to clean centerfire gun out and shoot it any more while at the range. Bet it may be up for sale or traded in the near future. :thumbsup:

Woody