Hopefully.... a good introduction to the holy black

[Ratdog68]

Saturday morning (8th), a close friend of mine and I helped out to introduce a group of 13 guys to the fun of muzzle loaders. Three of them had fired front stuffers before... the other ten were familar with modern firearms only.

We gathered at their church and had a nice time sharing some coffee/muffins which they graciously provided (collectively) us... and we shared some information with them on the varied types of, and use of muzzle loaders. I had a number of my revolvers with me, along with my .54 Renegade. I had a LOT of fingerprints to clean off the revolvers that evening... they were all asking: "Can I hold that one?... Are we gonna shoot these?" (Not today) After some basic "here's what to expect", some basic range safety topics and such... and some good questions to discuss... we all loaded up and headed to the range.

We met up there with a third shooter, and between the three of us... had three .54 percussion sidelocks and all the needed gear to give them a chance to get acquinted. The group was gracious enough to reimburse us for the powder/ball/patch supplies and everyone got a chance to shoot three rounds with one-on-one help, get back in line and rotate the group until everyone had a chance to shoot at least three times through. I think most everyone had a chance to shoot more than one rifle and to get the input from more than one instructor's perspective. I saw a lot of satisfied smiles on faces as the day progressed.

The range staff were great... they made their needs clear and were patient with our little hoarde of shooters, and we did our best to make the unusual event as smooth as we could on our end. Everyone loaded/shot safely, and got their loading sequences correct. A few failure to fires were cleared nicely with a little ffffg in the nipple hole (after a good brushing got residue settled between the charge and the percussion cap)... so, another aspect of shooting muzzle loaders was demonstrated (I kept forgetting to pop a cap to clear the dust). :banghead:

My good friend (Roy) and I did a thorough cleaning of our two rifles at his place that evening... and I got to enjoy having dinner with he and his wife too.

Kind of odd to spend a number of hours at the range and not send one bullet downrange. But... a chance to introduce a few folks to the sport is what the day was about and I enjoyed every bit of it.

Sorry... I was so occupied with helping the shooters... I didn't even take my camera out of the bag... but, I'd brought it.

 

[sltm1]

Nice range report Ratdog!! I went to my local gully to shoot Sunday and a young local police officer and his 3 sons were there. I introduced them to bp and the (he), was astounded at the holes made by a Rogers & Spencer 44 vs his Glock 40. They all got to shoot a bit and after they left I continued to shoot till it was time to go home and feed the horses and dogs. Guess which one is the 44 LOL!!

 

[scrat]

Good Story and Good Job

 

[arcticap]

Hi Ratdog68,
It's nice to hear that you're back in good health and helped to sponsor such a "blessed" BP event.
I'm not sure how it all got organized but it sounds like there may be the makings to start a BP shooting club of some sort.
Maybe some of those new folks will get interested enough to take up the sport and share it with their family and friends and then interest will spiral.
What kind of range were you shooting at, a commercial one or a private club?
Are there any established muzzle loading clubs located near you?
It sounds like the event was well organized and best of all everyone went home safe and in one piece.

 

[Ratdog68]

I was one SICK puppy (what's new?) last fall... that H1N1 with complications put me down hard for quite a spell. More gooder now though... thanks.

My buddy (Roy) knows some of the group from his involvement with Royal Rangers/"FCF" (frontiersman group). The group wanted to get together for a "manly" event and picked BP shooting... and asked Roy to help teach it. Roy called me to lend a hand.

I'm hoping some of them will get a desire sparked for it. I posted this on a local WA State hunting forum in hopes that some of them would sign up/log in and participate in a "debrief" sort of dialogue. I figure that AFTER the event... some might have questions... so after posting it, sent an email to a couple of the ones who set it all up. No replies thus far.

It was a public range, a small one... but friendly and well run. I think 100yds is about as far as they go... our bunch (that day) did 25 and 50yds. We started 'em out with 50gr loads out of the .54s and later upped it to 75gr.

There is a muzzleloaders association for the State, but I haven't looked 'em up yet... too many hobbies I think (between archery, holy black, "black rifle disease", motorcycles, leatherwork...).

It did go well... and we had young teens, young adult, middle aged, retired, even one fella in a motorized chair. Good mix and a good group.

We had a nice mix of stuff to show 'em, from Hawkens/Renegades to inlines, to revolvers(Pocket .31, 1858, Walker Colt, ROA, 3rd Dragoon), and Kantukeee pistols. The one who has a rock-lock was a no-show, so they didn't get to see that one (that day).

I'm hoping they decide to do it again... I suspect requests will go out to shoot the revolvers... there was a lot of interest in them. No injuries or close calls... everyone used common sense too, which was nice to see.

 

[Ratdog68]

Nice range report Ratdog!! I went to my local gully to shoot Sunday and a young local police officer and his 3 sons were there. I introduced them to bp and the (he), was astounded at the holes made by a Rogers & Spencer 44 vs his Glock 40. They all got to shoot a bit and after they left I continued to shoot till it was time to go home and feed the horses and dogs. Guess which one is the 44 LOL!!

LOL It is nice to have folks gathering a clue as to what these ol' girls are capable of. Good on ya for sparkin' their interest like that.

 

[Ratdog68]

Good Story and Good Job

Thanks... at the end of that day... that's the first time I got to try the ol' "Murphy's Oil Soap, Alcohol, Hydrogen Peroxide" mix. It worked quite well, I liked it.

 

[R.Clem]

Great experience Ratdog, I haven't shot a "front stuffer" in a number of years, the last time was only 3 rounds because the owner said his rifle didn't shoot good, 3 rounds with a strange rifle and all 3 touching told him it was the shooter not the rifle.
We need to teach more of our youth the art of shooting and doing so safely, no matter what the weapon maybe.

Ray

 

[Ratdog68]

Great experience Ratdog, I haven't shot a "front stuffer" in a number of years, the last time was only 3 rounds because the owner said his rifle didn't shoot good, 3 rounds with a strange rifle and all 3 touching told him it was the shooter not the rifle.
We need to teach more of our youth the art of shooting and doing so safely, no matter what the weapon maybe.

Ray

LOL Didja offer to buy it for a song before shooting it?

 

[R.Clem]

Ratdog:
No. I should have, but didn't.
The story goes, a friend (Dave) and I were burning up a 100 or so rounds a week threw a .300 Win. Mag. and a 7mm Rem. Mag. in preparation for the desert deer hunt. A friend of Dave's has a .54 Hawkin (don't remember the manufacturer, but really a beautiful rifle, I would have been hard pressed to use it for hunting) that he couldn't hit the paper with at a 100 yds., Dave suggested he bring it up and let me shoot it. So Tiny shows up with his rifle and possibles bag for the old man to show him how it was done. I have never been sensitive to recoil, but that rifle really got my attention, the first round was an inch or so high and inline, the second was half the hole to the right and the third was 3/4 of the hole upper left, (all were shot from a bench). I ask Tiny "how much powder you putting in that", he handed me his measure, it was set at 120 grains, he said "they recommend 90 grains and that is what I use", I readjusted his measure and showed him his mistake. He shot a few rounds with the "reduced" load and was pleased with the results, they hit the target under 2 inches after he quit flinching.
I saw Tiny last summer and ask if he still had the rifle, he does and is going to give it to his son in the next year or so. He also said he had won 2 turkey shoots and placed in a number of others + has gotten a deer with it every year except one since our session together.
Another friend has informed me that he has a "new" Kentucky rock ignition that is just aching to be shot, we'll see what happens with that.
Good shooting to all.

Ray

 

[Ratdog68]

LOL I'll bet he'd still buy ya a cold one today for helpin' him sort it out. LOL 120gr is a good/stout load... no wonder it demanded respect like it did. My .54 is a Renegade... my Hawkens are both of the .50 flavor... wouldn't part with any of 'em.