Muzzleloader for Home Defense

[Steel Horse Rider]

This story came across my news feed today. You have to ask, did he load it to shoot the intruders or does he keep it loaded by the door?

75-year-old Vermont homeowner opens fire with muzzleloader after he says 3 armed men tried breaking in | Blaze Media

A 75-year-old Vermont homeowner opened fire with a muzzleloader allegedly after three armed men tried to breaking into his residence late Tuesday night.What are the details?Gordon Richard Sr. told investigators the trio tried breaking into his home on Sandy Hill Road in the town of Georgia...

www.theblaze.com

 

[AlexanderA]

Lots of questions:

1. Looks like the "intruders" were friends of the man's son. And the "break-in" was from one part of the house into another part of the house. Was the shooter justified in shooting under these murky circumstances?

2. "Muzzleloader" covers quite a range of weapons. Was this a revolver, a long gun, flintlock, or percussion? And why did he have it, or use it, in preference to a more modern gun? Convicted felon perhaps? Ineligible?

3. The story treats a 75-year-old as if he's a helpless oldster. Being 78 myself, I don't buy the excuse of diminished capability.

4. From the looks of the house, there was nothing in there worth stealing. Nor were they intent on sexually molesting the old guy. Were the three guys drunk and simply disoriented?

From the looks of things, I'm almost willing to bet that the shooter is the one that eventually faces charges.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

11:30 pm, 30 Jan 2024, Georgia, Vermont.
The old man Gordon Richard Sr. (75) shared a house with his son Matthew Richard (40).
Senior's part was separated from his son's part by a locked door.
According to Senior, three armed men tried to break through the door into senior's part.
Senior fired a shot from a muzzleloader, hit one of the men, shut the door and dialed 911.
Responding state police (troopers) found Paul Brown (40) wounded in a neighboring yard.
Senior cooperated and allowed a search of the house.
The son is missing and there is a search for him. No charges or arrests as of Wednesday.
If you've watched too many true crime recaps, the too little in the story allows for multiple scenarios.

Time, date, place, names, in case anyone wants to follow this.

back to OP: Muzzle loader for home defense.
Not my first choice to have ready for self-defense, but if I felt the need for self-defense and nothing else was available, I would have one of my muzzleloaders loaded, uncapped, with a capper handy.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

#2 is the question. I'd be curious to know. If it was Brown Bess, dude wouldn't have made it to the hospital. But yes, overall, looks like more to it than a robbery gone wrong.

I ran into a guy once, when muzzle loading hunting, which he was doing. This guy was at least 90 years old. Seriously, made Willie Nelson look like a pup. At least. He didn't seem diminished at all. He was with a 30ish old guy, who I assumed was his grandson. Still, nothing diminished about him at all. Out in the woods hiking and hunting. Talked to them for some time.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

back to OP: Muzzle loader for home defense.
Not my first choice to have ready for self-defense, but if I felt the need for self-defense, I would have one of my muzzleloaders loaded, uncapped, with a capper handy

Right, not a "first choice", but if I had any of my revolvers in my lap, when watching a movie, and the door came crashing down, I would not feel defenseless at all. (most of my revolvers are loaded, most of the time. If I handle them, I don't cock them or fiddle-fidget around with the action in any way) With any warning, the cap-N-ball would certainly get me safely to something more "appropriate".

 

[.38 Special]

I can't find much in the way of details, but several sites are reporting it as a rifle.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Dang. I'd pity the fool who stood in front of my Jeager. I sheared a steel fence post in half with it once.

 

[Nodakdad]

Had a cousin put his 50 cal in his truck, didn't take off the cap. Seatbelt caught the hammer pulled it far enough but not enough to lock it back. Shot a hole through his floor of his Durango and made a nice hole in the ground. I would not want to be hit point blank with one.

 

[armoredman]

I have no doubt that if I used my T/C Renegade in .54 against a ruffian at the gate, it would most likely do quite a number...but only once. The gent in question was VERY lucky to be right at a door he could close and secure. Also, the BOOM of a BP rifle is nothing to sneeze at either - when my son and I fire a "volley" at the range, it always gets attention.
But if I HAD to, I would keep the Remington New Model Army fully stoked with hot loads, not the FIRST choice, but a choice...and you have to wonder how smokey the inside of a home will get with multiple black powder discharges...talk about fog of war...

 

[Nasty Canasta]

I thought about keeping this one handy around the house, must have watched too much Addams Family as a kid. It remains unloaded but would absolutely clear a doorway with a stout load of buck & ball.

 

[tarosean]

You have to ask, did he load it to shoot the intruders or does he keep it loaded by the door?

GA is not exactly a low humidity area of the country. I would assume it wasn't loaded for very long due to the hygroscopicity of black powder.

 

[StrawHat]

While he was out of the battle, he lived to tell of it.



Kevin

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

GA is not exactly a low humidity area of the country. I would assume it wasn't loaded for very long due to the hygroscopicity of black powder.

Georgia is the town the state is VT

 

[tarosean]

Georgia is the town the state is VT

Reading 101.. Perhaps I should try it.

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

If one or more armed intruders broke into my home and the options within reaching distance were my cell phone, bottle of whiskey, firewood, candlestick, and loaded muzzleloader (pistol, revolver, rifle or smoothbore, regardless) I'd choose the muzzleloader, and be glad it was there, but I wouldn't walk past my 1911 to get to it.

 

[Mercy Me]

If all I had left was a muzzle-loader, in an emergency? Sure, I'd use one. But it's a single-shot deal. I'd hate to have that be my last option. If I were a muzzle loader house, I'd surely want several other options available. A bayonet on the gun might be sensible, given the realities. Overall, I'd say it's about as risky as, say, relying upon a Ruger #1 single-shot for defense.

I'm a bit less concerned with a multi-shot modern pistol, revolver or rifle at hand, but I still want backup methods (knives, sprays, clubs, etc

 

[theotherwaldo]

I've had several touchy situations where the only gun at hand was a '58 Remington... .

 

[AlexanderA]

If it was Brown Bess, dude wouldn't have made it to the hospital.

Yup. That .75 caliber loaded with buck and ball would sure do a job at close range.

 

[AlexanderA]

But if I HAD to, I would keep the Remington New Model Army fully stoked with hot loads, not the FIRST choice, but a choice...and you have to wonder how smokey the inside of a home will get with multiple black powder discharges...talk about fog of war...

This reminds me of the time I took part in a Civil War reenactment "tactical" which involved defending an abandoned house way out in the country, at night. I was impressed with how LOUD the revolver reports were within the house. The other thing that impressed me was that in the absolute darkness, the only way of locating the "enemy" was by their muzzle flashes. And, yes, the house filled with smoke rather quickly. (Needless to say, only blanks were used. I had quite a time making functional blanks for my Henry rifle, but that's another story.)

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Yup. That .75 caliber loaded with buck and ball would sure do a job at close range.

At ANY range!!!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I would assume it wasn't loaded for very long due to the hygroscopicity of black powder.

Black powder is not hydroscopic, it will not "absorb moisture from the air" as some say. It will however, absorb oils and solvents from poor preparation when loaded. That is where the myth comes from. Properly cleaned and "prepped", a black powder firearm can be left loaded "forever" and be counted on to fire reliably, on par with any smokeless powder cartridge. Consider that black powder is made with water, and then allowed to dry in open air.

 

[doubleh]

That is all our ancestors had and they did well enough with them to live to produce all of us. Old technology but still viable today. It certainly wouldn't be my first choice now but I can see a Ruger Old Army stuffed to the gills with 4f as discouraging about anyone receiving a ball from it and you have 6 of them. I have seen what a 50 caliber rifle will do a deer that is the size of a medium human. DRT. Don't sell BP firearms short.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

That is all our ancestors had and they did well enough with them to live to produce all of us. Old technology but still viable today. It certainly wouldn't be my first choice now but I can see a Ruger Old Army stuffed to the gills with 4f as discouraging about anyone receiving a ball from it and you have 6 of them. I have seen what a 50 caliber rifle will do a deer that is the size of a medium human. DRT. Don't sell BP firearms short.

Yes that, and they can be 100% reliable. It's not that they aren't, just that many don't possess the attention to detail, knowledge, and patience it requires to make them so. The .44/.45 caliber pistols certainly have the power, I believe a 180 grain ball going 1000fps trumps a 115 grain 9mm bullet going 1100fps. (just general numbers there)(and the long barreled 1860's and Remington Revolvers will hit 1100+fps with full loads of Swiss Pixie dust) Soft lead round balls also have good terminal performance. So yeah, what's not to like?

However, it would be interesting, to us BP Geeks, to know what the load was in the rifle used, in the "incident". But that info will probably never be known to the general public.

 

[Frulk]

Interesting article. If the anti’s were able to ban center fire arms using the rationale that the Second Amendment only applied to arms available at the time it was written these occurrences with primitive weapons would start to show up frequently in the news. We of course know what the next course of action would be.

A solid take away from this encounter is an insightful response to the linked article.

“Them old guys always have one good fight left in them. Best to leave 'em alone."

That’s a very profound observation and extremely good advice considering there are still some men walking around that were at Chosin Reservoir, Khe Sanh, etc as well as our current SE Asia vets that are aging into this demographic.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Them old guys always have one good fight left in them. Best to leave 'em alone."

Reminds me of a meme I saw the other day, about messing with old men, went something like: Old men can't run, so they fight to the death, and then go have coffee." or something like that.