Your Blackpowder Hunting Mentor?

[KyFlintlock]

I thought it might be interesting to hear about your Blackpowder Hunting mentor, if you had one.

So, who was it that helped you or got you started? Share with us who started the FIRE!

What was it they did that made the largest impression on you?

 

[brushbuster]

my first experience with b/p was 25 years ago a co worker named shandy(butch) hale ,he lived in devine and had both percussion,and flint rifles as well as pistols i shot them all and was hooked forever but i didn't buy my first m/l til 5 years later,then i hooked up with old man dietz in new braunfels who then became my mentor.i havent seen him in many years but hope to go and see him soon.every time i think of him i am reminded of the time i set a celotex back stop on fire from one of my patches :shocking: :redface:and he also had a b/p rifle he built out of a ruger#1 action and used 209 primers .this was ten years before inlines showes upon the open marketand fifteen years before they were marketed with 209 primers :shocking: :shocking:

 

[Stumpkiller]

George Nonte, Sam Fadala, Turner Kirkland. No, I don't know any of them but read everything I could find of their works. In the mid 70's there weren't many other warm bodies shooting blackpowder in my region. I drew spectators when I went to shoot at my club.

I'm not kidding when I say I've already made all the mistakes.

 

[Pasquinel]

I learned what I know by reading, reading, reading. My Mentor was Robert redford or should I say Jeremiah Johnson.
Seen that movie and had to have a 54cal. T/C Hawkens. I've learned thru trial and error. Percussion was easy but flint is harder yet so much more fun.!!!!!

 

[sneakon]

I'm still looking for a mentor or at least a shooting partner, but I sure have learned allot from folks on this forum. Stumpkiller, Musketman, Zonie, Roundball, Ohio Joe all have increased my knowledge of the art and science of blackpowder, and have my respect. Hunting skills I have mostly learned on my own, but Captchee has contributed a thing or two. I know there are others I should mention, thanks to all.

 

[rayb]

4 primary influences

1. The friend that gave me a knife and 5 pounds of loose swartzpulver as he was leaving Germany for the states. Having the powder, had to get something to shoot it. Only thing i found in the Rod & Gun system was a Ruger Old Army. Bought it, shot it and was hooked.

2. The Mountaineer Flintlock Club vicinity Charleston West Virginia. They ran a monthly shoot during the time i was stationed in Huntington West Virginia (early 80's). They were very patient with me as a beginning flintlock shooter. (Not that I'm any better a shooter now, but they were very gracious)

3. As others have stated, anything published. I have been accused by several ex-wives of reading too much. The reading thing is genetic, all my siblings are similarly afflicted, as were my parents and grandparents.

4. This forum, which has rekindled interest after i was led away by the dark side of cartridges devices......

rayb

 

[roundball]

Got caught up in the Knight MK85 inline advertising campaign in the 80's, saw an opportunity for an earlier week of deer hunting like a lot of people did and jumped on it. Couple years later saw & handled a TC Hawken caplock, was immediately taken with it's looks (which I thought was like a real old fashioned rifle), got one and have been going backwards in technology ever since.

I've read the half dozen basic ML books you can usually find in most good stores, plus web site articles, plus ML forums like this...and eventually worked my way through additional calibers, then conicals, then patched balls, and finally the flintlocks that I've been enjoying for 3 years. Except during hunting season I've shot flintlocks year round on Saturdays for those 3 years, can't seem to get enough time with them, and they're all I hunt with anymore...really enjoy them.

Oddly, while my interest in ML history grows stronger each year, I don't seem to have that degree of interest that some do, to cross over the line and become a purist...my TC Hawken rifles are all from "the last century" :: ...they're perfect and reliable for my enjoyment and hunting, so I'm not sure I'll be going any further back at my age (but you never know!)

I've gradually sold off all but a couple of percussion RB rifles and am now thinking about selling the MK85...already began selling my centerfire rifles that have laid in their cases for years now...love those flintlocks!!

:redthumb:

 

[Huntinfool]

I first got started back in the early 70s. Met my present mentor Bob Walden I was shooting a TC Hawkens .50 cal per. He said the same stuff he says nowadays. "That's a nice rifle ya got there but ya ought to try one of these."
"This is a real gun!" referring to his flintlock longrifle of course. "It was made to fit the human anatomy, perfect balance for off hand shootin'" "A nipple has it's place but it ain't on a gun." All this said with a big grin on is face. Trouble was in all my ignorance I liked my TC nipple gun.

I got out of muzzleloading for a while. A few years ago I read some of Allan W. Eckert's books which triggered a need for living history in me I didn't know existed. Ran into Bob again and he was still spoutin' the same stuff only now I'm all ears!

Well the old feller ain't changed much at all. He's still turnin' out longrifles on a consistent basis. He's a walking encyclopedia for Living History and especially for original guns which he dearly loves and loves to duplicate. He owns more period correct clothes than modern ones.

Here he is with a few of the guns he built. He uses them for demo purposes when he gives a talk about the history of firearms to thousands of school kids every year. As a matter of fact he just received a call from the local school wanting him to bring in all of his guns and accoutrements for a day of historical education for the youngsters. That's rare in this day and age but it's true!

Here he is just last weekend, holding a recently built Tennessee rifle with iron furniture.

Chuck Goodall
The Original Huntin' Fool :redthumb:
&
Kanawha Ranger Scribe

 

[tx50cal]

Well, I have a couple of mentors in the wonderful world of muzzleloading. The first is my captain at the fire station. We have been shooting together for years, he is the one that helped me develop the load for my .50 Hawken. Once we both shooting at his home with some other friends and we were making so much noise that someone called the law on us. He lives out in the country but I guess a neighber heard the noise and called. When the deputy arrived we all knew him, since we are all fire fighters, he said that someone had reported several explosions in the area. We invited him to shoot with use but he said he couldn't because he was on duty. :blah:
My second mentor is an uncle of mine, we always have a competion to see who came shoot the best and kill the most deer, he usually wins. When he visits from Arkansas we usually shoot some.
I am hooked for life on this stuff now. I get flack at work for using a "old inferior gun", they say I should shoot a modern centerfire. :yakyak: I just tell them "to each there own", then I tell them that they arn't coordinated enough to shoot a muzzle loader without hurting themselves. :haha:

 

[IronMan]

My Mentor was and still is my Dad. He first let me shoot his C&B 1860 New Model Armie's back in the earlie 70's when I still lived at home then last year he gave me those same pistols for Christmas. Was a total suprise when he put that case in my lap and said Merry Christmas. A 51yr old man almost cried like a baby. He gave me my first pistol when I was 8 and I have been collecting and shooting ever since.

IronMan

 

[Halftail]

I got a couple of mentors when it comes to Muzzleloading.One mainly is a friend of mine Wayne Smith,he is 20 years my senior and we have been shooting together pretty much ever since I started.14 years ago.He has built a few longguns and Boy are they shooters!We have travelled all over the province to hunt and shoot.
I was out at the local range (Which I have mostly all to myself for 11 months of the year)last year just before deer season.I was banging away with my flintlock when along came a bunch of locals with their Bolt action stainless high power Sewer Pipe sized scopes and all in 300 magnum.
They all had a chuckle and offered to "buy me a NEW gun" .
I shot a 5 shot group off the bench at 75 yards when I retrived my target you could have covered the group with a Loonie(Canadian 1 dollor coin).I stayed to watch these snipers shoot and let me say.......It left me with a chuckle of my own! :: ::

 

[kentucky bucky]

When I started shooting with muzzleloaders about 35 years ago, I didn't have anybody to show me anything. It's a wonder I didn't blow myself up. Luckily I made it through my "try it and see" period without losing any body parts. I believe I was more cautious because I was shooting an old original, and didn't use much of a charge starting out. I learned everything on my own, that's why I'm so dumb now! :haha: Over the years I watched and listened enough to learn what not to do. I got my first Dixie Gun Works catalog in the 80's, and it scared me to death when I read some of the blackpowder safety rules!....still learning , by the way!!!

 

[CrackStock]

I started on my own with putting together a few kits, but it all really gelled when I met Tom Cogburn of the Bayou Muzzleloaders. Louisiana

YMHS,
CrackStock

 

Well,I guess that at its core I would say that Sam Fadalla's writings were, and still are, my mentor. Long ago and on the few ocasions I went to the local range to particiapate in what was called "An Introduction to ML Shooting Instructions" the person in charge was an overbearing individual that was very much more interested in his own "Persona" that showing the new folks the ropes. But the real reason I got involved with ML was because I have been shooting rifles and studying ballistics since I was in my teens. Frankly, I was looking for something different in the shooting arena, and ML was just the ticket. Not that I was bored with modern rifles and and the technology, but ML has so many nuances and there is always something new and interesting. And it seems to me that the ML community is somehow more laid back and just cooler than the crowd I was used to.

 

[muzzman]

I just got started way back a few days ago.I did everything myself no help just been reading these forums, thats how i got all my knowledge about bp guns.When i shot her i felt great, i can shoot her 55 yards right on da bullseye standing up.I got 60 acres of woods i own, and alot of huntin to do with her.I think im olny gona use this gun forever,im hooked. :winking:

 

[Maynerd62411]

I can't really say I have a "mentor", but the first time I saw a Hawken percussion in the Sears & Roebuck catalog was when I started asking for one. I was probably about 8 or 9. I would ask for one every Christmas. Never did get one.:curse:
My oldest brother had a Hawken down at the house when I was about 11. I wanted to shoot it, so bad. My Dad told me he didn't think I could handle it. I begged my brother and he gave in. It was love at first smoke. I never forgot that, but it took a long time before I had a chance to get my own.
A couple of years ago, I was in a gun shop that had a used ( and somewhat abused) CVA Hawken for $90. I had to get it.
That was the first, but not the last. :thumbsup:

 

[ndbilly]

In the mid-'70's, PA introduced the flintlock only season and the rules were rather strict. Had to use a rifle of the type commonly available before a certain date, 1840, perhaps. Had to be authentic right down to the sights and type of projectile. Having no money then it was left to one of my friends to buy the CVA kit and cobble a firearm together. He was good enough to let his buddies share in the experience. It was trial and a lot of error, particularly trying to get the thing to fire consistently. I admit to being far more impressed with large bore handguns at the time until my friend, the owner of the ML, killed a deer with it. We helped him skin and butcher it and I was surprised to see that the round ball had done a complete pass through on a broadside shot. The lightbulb went on and I've owned and shot some sort of BP arm ever since. It wasn't until this past year, however, that a lifetime of dabbling all came together and I find myself contemplating a novitiate to the Order of Muzzleloaders Only. Nature has already performed the tonsure.

 

[CrackStock]

Ya know? Actually, a buddy found out that I knew a bit about shooting and fixing MLs and invited me to a fancy deer camp if I would keep all of the guns up and firing. I did that for about 6 years, so I must have been my own mentor! LOL

On the other hand, the buddy who invited me put me on to many great situations and I killed a lot of deer because of it. That would be Mike Lawton.

CS

 

[squirrelgourmet]

I would have too say it was a few people who got the fire started. First was my dad, we built a 45 cal. Kentucky rifle from a kit when I was 13. From that point on I decided I would one day have my own. Years passed, and when I was 23 I found Bob Spencers web page and from reading it I decided to buy my first Bp rifle. Then I found this forum and got bit by the smoothbore bug. It just keeps growing and seems incurable.

 

[RussB]

I have followed this thread with interest since it started, thinking all the while of what a fluke it was that I even got started, and especially why I have stayed as long as I have.

Back in the mid.1950's, I knew a old fellow by the name of Bill Grady, affectionaly know locally as "Shady Grady", because he refused to work in the hot Texas sun. He prefered the environment of a shop, of sorts.

Anyway, old shady projected the image that he knew all there was to know about muzzleloading, telling stories that young fellers like my self couldn't get enough of. All we had to do was help him with odds and ends around the place, and he would rattle for hours on those wonderful muzzleloaders of the "good old days".

Well, my Granddad was somewhat knowledgeable on the subject and suggested I should get myself a muzzleloader if I had an interest in them, he told me I could work it off around the ranch in about a month or so, ....Well, that was all it took! Three weeks later I owned a .45 caliber muzzleloader, and all the makings!

It was about the same time that I got my muzzleloader, and started asking old man "shady" a few questions, that he got the worse case of CRS you've ever seen....If he ever knew anything more than a good story, he certainly forgot it.
He was as amazed as my self that I finally got it loaded, shot it, and hit a piece of firewood at about 40 / 50 yards....knocked that heavy piece of firewood about 10 feet up in the air...quite impressive! I'll never forget what shady said..."I wouldn't believe it, if I hadn't seen it"!

Learning about muzzleloaders didn't come easy for a young fellow back in those days. Everybody thought you were off your rocker just a bit by even the mention of such a silly thing.

Reflecting back, I must thank a higher power that I didn't get hurt, or hurt somebody else. It took me years to learn a little respect for the muzzleloader, it took many more years to learn how little I really knew.

Today, in this "information age", it is possible to learn in one week what I "thought" I had figured out in a couple years time.
If I could melt it down into a round ball, I would shoot it! Thank God, I lucked onto a stout rifle for those learning years.

Mentor? I guess you could say it was Grandpa....he not only "floated" the loan to get my first one, but he offered the encouragement to keep at it.

Russ