What Muzzleloading Stuff Did You Do Today?

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Just bid £162 on a cracked up stock Percussion rusty 8 bore at holts uk sealed bid auction. Valued £75 to £150. But it’s got a nice hammer & action and loads of metal bits , It’s a good buy compared with £140 crappy made in India actions And original 1850 . An L&R lock would have cost me that
 

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Well fiddle dee! Tried to look up some information on a particular rifle but only came up with several threads of folks arguing back and forth about who’s right and who’s wrong. Not much useful info, just a lot of bickering. Bah! 😖

Why must it be so?
 
The snow is still hip deep, but it was a sunny day and temp was a balmy 36F (2C) on the mountain today. So, I put on snowshoes and trekked out to the southeast corner of the meadow, scratched a steel plate out of the snow and shot a cylinder's worth out of the Uberti 1860 Army that a couple of months ago I had loaded with my first batch of paper cartridges that I made.
The first cartridges I made are butt-ugly, look like they were made by a drunk one-eyed monkey, but they worked. Not a single misfire or hang fire. 25 yards offhand, all hits but a sorry spread. I attribute the poor pattern to skipping breakfast, sun glaring off of the snow, a light cross breeze, the slight rotational wobble of the earth on its axis and an abnormally high level of quantum tunneling in the meadow this morning.
That axis rotation will get ya every time
 
The snow is still hip deep, but it was a sunny day and temp was a balmy 36F (2C) on the mountain today. So, I put on snowshoes and trekked out to the southeast corner of the meadow, scratched a steel plate out of the snow and shot a cylinder's worth out of the Uberti 1860 Army that a couple of months ago I had loaded with my first batch of paper cartridges that I made.
The first cartridges I made are butt-ugly, look like they were made by a drunk one-eyed monkey, but they worked. Not a single misfire or hang fire. 25 yards offhand, all hits but a sorry spread. I attribute the poor pattern to skipping breakfast, sun glaring off of the snow, a light cross breeze, the slight rotational wobble of the earth on its axis and an abnormally high level of quantum tunneling in the meadow this morning.
So.... how didja measure the level of quantum tunneling? ;)
 
Took the T/C Renegade .50 caliber flintlock down and did a bit of shooting in the back yard. That old toaster is about 50% holes now... time to recycle it more conventionally I guess.

Got my order from AG Russel today which contained my new "Woodswalker" and my "Skipper". Did a little rearrangement of my possibles bag to make room for the newcomers. The Woodswalker knife is quite small and lends itself well to getting stiched into a possibles bag carry strap. My shooter's necklace no longer gets tangled. Even the Buck 110 in it's sheath sticks out too far from my chest and tangles the leather thong(s). In the end, I decided to put the Buck on the front edge of the possibles bag. It's easy to access and is out of the way.

The Skipper knife has a marlinspike in it. It it had only that "blade", I would still have bought it. Seems I spend entirely too much time trying to untangle knots these days. A marlinspike works really well for thinks like that.

Said g'bye to my little bottle of honing oil and put another knife in it's loop. In the field I can always spit on the stone if I need to sharpen something, but as I have now five knives in or on the possibles bag, plus a couple more normally in pockets, I can't imagine needing to sharpen anything. Might also get rid of the Washita stones.

Maybe I have too many knives? Nah.

Some years back, I acquired an Ontario Knives "Old Hickory" butcher knife from a second hand store... or maybe a rummage sale. It is quite old and is made from carbon steel, not stainless. Discovered today that they market pretty much the same knife in stainless steel with a sheath. I've decided that this knife needs a sheath. Might get done before the snow is gone. We'll see.
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Mounted up & headed out to Brierfield, Alabama for the N-SSA match there. Got a third the way there at my farm, checked on mom & will leave in the AM for the rest of the drive.
Busted trip.:confused: Got recalled to the house because a special needs cousin is having issues with her cochlear implant and having cerebral fluid drain from her nose. Doctors want to do surgery to remove the implant and yours truly is the family resident medical expert; so, appearance at the scene is mandatory.
 
Went to the mailbox and got a few .32 caliber Maxi Balls someone sent me to try in my Crockett rifle. Very curious to see how they shoot.
 
I have a gun builder acquaitance that will have tables at the Fort Fred market faire in 3 weeks. I have been forging lots of items to help fill empty spots on his table. Today I forged 4 more small hooks with integrated nails you can tap into the wall. I also made a couple large pot hooks for someone for their iron ware in their camp. I'll make Larry a dozen of these to sell. These are the first two.
 

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You’ll never have everything you’ll need…
That’s the great thing about the muzzle loading hobby..👍
That's the great difference about need and want. I think it was in "The Count of Monte Cristo" when Edmond Dantes was asking Mercedes about why she gave up on him and married another. She said it was because of her need to have security in a marriage. His reply was that she had what she needed to be secure, but she wanted more than what she needed.

Most of us have what we need to shoot our muzzleloaders. However, none of us have all that we want.
 
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