What keeps you interested?

[nhmoose]

Euwwwww, That Smell.

Can't you smell that smell?

:thumbsup: :hatsoff: atriot:

Yep And LOVE IT!! :thumbsup: :hatsoff:

 

[hanshi]

I've always been interested in American history and the technology of that era. I got my first muzzleloader back in the mid 1960s and many more of them followed after that.

Reloading for and hunting with modern rifles were not truly challenging me; and I mixed my BP hunting with modern quite a bit. Even when I started taking my deer with various revolvers, I kept going back to black powder. The idea of a challenge and especially the taking game with an unforgiving small caliber or a handgun held my attention.

I love the whole process of using a muzzleloader. It requires MORE of and from the shooter than anything modern - flintlocks epitomize this. I rarely even take a modern gun to the range nowadays and for years have hunted exclusively with flintlocks. Can't beat the belching smoke and fire.

 

[Pete G]

The next build.....

That and the sense of wonder that some people express. I once had a young guy look at my target and exclaim,
"That things shoots as good as a real rifle!!!" :hatsoff:

 

[SgtErv]

It's history, certainly. Ive had a lifelong passion of learning about the past, and there's monbetter way to do it than to actually live it a little bit.

One of the best things about it is that it's made subtle changes in my everyday life. I use candles more often, I appreciate a fire a bit more, know that reading an old book is better than watching any number of things, and that vensison is a superior meat. It just reinforces simplicity

That and blackpowder shooting is challenging. Scoring a hit with a flintlock is much more gratifying than with anything else.

 

[BillinOregon]

Heeler, always great to see you post.
FlintSmoothie, do you have any photos or youtubes of you in your 1740 French milicien gear, and or of your matchlocks? Love to see them!

 

[mooman76]

I first got into it for the hunting part and a little fun as a bonus. I really go into it more later because I joined a club that shoots and it was really a lot more fun, but there are no clubs here close by. I would be in it allot more if I had a club or group of people to shoot with. Hopefully when I retire in a couple years and move I will find a group to shoot with.

 

[Cruzatte]

A whole bunch of reasons, all of which are good excuses to get out of town and into the outdoors. Certainly the challenge of shooting well is ever present. I also very much enjoy the primitive style of camping; cooking over a fire, starting the fire using flint and steel, even simple things like the feel of the earth beneath my moccasined feet are a real joy.

 

[Louisk]

All you blokes who have already commented, thave stated the multitude of reasons that keep me interested. It is just a passion, and has been since I was old enough to recognise a muzzle loader. We may all be just old souls !

cheers

That's me. I just got started last summer with muzzleloading, but I've owned a copy of Sam Fadala's Black Powder handbook for about the last 20 years and have been interested in if for as long as I can remember. I'm just more drawn to old stuff. I'd rather have an old biplane than a jet and the sight of a sailing ship stirs up something in my soul.

 

[Cowboy]

Have an incurable disease known as the Black Powder Bug! :haha:

Respectfully, Cowboy

 

[Col. Batguano]

That says it. The older stuff lets you appreciate the past, and how we got here, but I sure wouldn't want to have to depend on a sailing ship for intercontinental travel, or a muzzle loader to defend a nation. Understanding the past however gives you a appreciation for the present.

That said, American Long rifles tend to be 1-off guns, and distinctly American, and in many cases, an art form. There are other guns that say "American" too; (Colt Peacemaker, Winchester `73, M1 Garand, Colt 1911, Thompson sub machine gun, M-16, among others) but those are generally military guns, and mass produced in factories. They don't have the "soul" of the Long Rifle.

 

[coloradoclyde]

What keeps you interested?

My participation in muzzleloading ebbs and flows, but my interest is as constant as the tides. What brings me back again and again is the history in it -- using perhaps the most iconic tool in a free man's or woman's tool chest and trying to use it just as my ancestors might have. Plastic, stainless steel, substitute powders, chrome tanned deer hide -- all have been put aside, or never taken up. I'll never please a stitch counter, and have a hard time staying focused long-term on a single era or persona, but I deeply appreciate the experience of those who have gone before, and hope my efforts express how much I honor their memory, and their struggles to survive and prosper.

Well! at the end of the day it has nothing to do with history or some sense of nationalistic constitutional pride....or freedom.

Simply put!....Muzzleloaders are neat, aesthetically pleasing and a blast to shoot. Each muzzleloader takes on its own "individuality" given by it's owner. It offers a personal challenge and opportunity for growth, not paralleled by other guns. They are simplistic yet functional works of elegant art and engineering.

For those wishing to make a historical connection, you have more to work with....Muzzleloaders were around centuries before the cartridge gun....which has only been around for roughly 150 years...

From the moment I first saw one, I was interested.....And once I fired one, the consummation was complete....A love for a lifetime.

 

[Don Steele]

The question being: "What KEEPS me interested..??"
It is a desire to achieve Proficiency with a flintlock.
I find that in any match, or informal range session there are always enough great shots and groups to validate most of what I'm doing. Problem is...there's also enough shots clear out of the group that have me saying "how'd that get over there...???" :redface: :youcrazy:
Those remind me that I'm not quite "There" yet. Might never be..it's about the journey...the quest if you will....that keeps me interested.

 

[rmark]

Smoking out all the AR shooters downwind of me.

 

[Grumpa]

A really nice thread, Bill, Thank you. :hatsoff:

You put it well, everyone else has added to it. But... I love my cartridge guns as much as I do my flinters, and caplock revolvers. Bottom line for me - I just love guns.

I'll leave it at that, or I'll get very long-winded and ff . :grin:

Richard/Grumpa

PS: I no longer have any friends who shoot BP, so you folks mean more to me than I could ever tell you.

 

[Tinker2]

I love my cartridge guns as much as I do my flinters, and caplock revolvers. Bottom line for me - I just love guns.

Yep, that’s me too. Most any gun.







William Alexander

 

[hanshi]

I've also really liked guns starting from when I was a kid. I'm not into the plastic/modern ones but I do love fine wood stocks which my flintlocks have in spades.

 

[azmntman]

A really nice thread, Bill, Thank you. :hatsoff:

You put it well, everyone else has added to it. But... I love my cartridge guns as much as I do my flinters, and caplock revolvers. Bottom line for me - I just love guns.

I'll leave it at that, or I'll get very long-winded and ff . :grin:

Richard/Grumpa

PS: I no longer have any friends who shoot BP, so you folks mean more to me than I could ever tell you.

:metoo: Ditto. Only one or two "buddies" and they have the unmentionables. I know only one guy that shoots traditional here in town and he is not a "buddy" and has only one.

FWIW I was excited to get to Mesa few weeks ago and stopped at bass pro. VERY disappointing....I truly have more BP stuff in my 5-6 boxes than they offer on the shelf. I need to get to Dixxies or somewhere similiar!

 

[FishDFly]

In 1996 I was going to Chicago and detoured my trip to stop at Dixie Gun Works, very disappointed.

The interesting things were roped off so you could not get to stuff and is was very hard to get waited on. Total waste of time for me.

 

[BullRunBear]

My home town was established shortly after Plymouth and I was lucky to grow up exposed to colonial and early American artifacts and history. When I started shooting as an adult I just gravitated to MLs.

What keeps me interested? History; the ongoing learning about the skills and attitudes of those times; the pace of using single shot guns (BP or modern) truly suits me; the surprising accuracy of this 'old' technology; and a sense of self reliance even if I never have to use it. Nothing unique about these matters.

What I didn't realize when I started was the wonderful, generous people I would meet. I like most gun enthusiasts but the BP community offers fine comraderie beyond that.

Jeff

 

[jrmflintlock]

What keeps me interested is there is always something more to make!

I love doing things for myself. When I started It was a Traditions Kit, and of course everything that goes with it minus the powder (My wife says I'm not allowed to blow myself up :shocked2: )

Then I was lucky enough to meet a fine Gentleman, Mr. Dennis McCandles down in Las Cruces who taught me how to actually Build Rifles. Thanks Dennis!?!?!?

Every time I see a Purdy rifle or pistol or fowler, any flintlock really, another goes on the list of what to build!

Nevada unfortunately does not have very many clubs so I don't Rendezvous much but I hope to be moving soon so I hope to change that!

And Hunting with a Flinter in My "old timey" clothes is the best! I love the looks I get from the Sinline hunters when I walk out with my pack heavy with Meat!!