November Muzzle Blast article on buffalo hunting

[Pancho]

The Nov. 2013 issue of Muzzleblast has an article about an Irish adventurer that came to America in the 1840's to tour the midwest and hunt buffalo. The man's name was John Palliser and he wrote a book about his adventures. The most interesting part to me was that he chose to hunt buffalo the indian way from horse back and described in detail the method of hunting from horseback using a rifle. He writes that he would carry loose powder in his pocket and scoop out a measure in his palm and hold roundballs in his mouth he used no patch or ramrod and was only mildly concerned about the ball not reaching the breech and depended on his spit to keep the ball from migrating. To achieve this on horseback he would slow the horse from a run to a gallop.
Our forefathers were MEN that were ------- you fill in the blanks fearless, crazy, wild, lucky to survive. We're lucky to have a linage.

 

[ivankerley]

ive often wondered about things like this, just the differences between the way things might have been done then vs. now? and wondered just how much of whats written might be tall tales, etc.
like the friend showing me the ropes in all things black and sooty was shocked when i asked him why patches had to be round and couldnt be square... he finally admitted it was the way he learned from an old timer back in the '70s and thats just the way its done
So i shot round patches that day, but i will shoot square sometime just because i like being difficult
Gene

 

[4v50 Gary]

Back then lead poisoning meant you were shot.

 

[Pancho]

There's a lot about this article that makes me wonder about being too careful and trying to live forever. Who would carry their speed loader second round in their mouth today? Who would deer hunt with a pocket full of powder and measure with what you could scoop out of your pocket while riding at a gallop on horse back while hunting a 1000+lb. animal?
Actually I'd prefer a bow to a rifle if hunting buffalo on horse back.

 

[Pancho]

Locally we declared a hazardous emergency because a high school football field was once used as a range. Can you imagine what our future generations will think about the grounds surrounding Friendship Ind.? There must be 1000's of pounds of lead in those ridges along that creek. Everything downstream of Friendship will be declared an EPA supersite.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

My next door neighbor's house was temporarily declared unfit for occupancy and underwent expensive remediation because a can of oil paint in the basement rusted through and leaked. Ole white lead oil paint. Cost almost four grand for remediation. 20 days living in a hotel. When I was a kid, we painted outdoor stuff with creosote, the municipalities dumped oil on the dirt roads to keep dust down and cars didn't have seat belts. And only disabled kids wore helmets to ride a bike. Beer whiskey and tobacco was all advertised on TV.

Heck if Bloomberg had his way, Soft drink companies and candy makers would be barred from advertising on tv.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

It has not been that long ago that white lead was used as a lubricant for steady rests in a machining operation. The pants wetters will be the death of us all.

 

[jcwit]

I used to carry lead pellets in my mouth when squirrel hunting with my Benjamin air rifle.

 

[Pancho]

JC, you have been offically declared a super site by Osha. Some would state that you're alright and will live a long life as long as didn't hold in your mouth oxidiezed lead. Personally I can't worry about it as much as the bean counters can

 

[ivankerley]

Locally we declared a hazardous emergency because a high school football field was once used as a range. Can you imagine what our future generations will think about the grounds surrounding Friendship Ind.? There must be 1000's of pounds of lead in those ridges along that creek. Everything downstream of Friendship will be declared an EPA supersite.

funny you mentioned that as i read this summer they were doing excavating/lead reclamation at friendship first time in 80 years if i remember the article... thars lead in them thar hills!
Gene

 

[Rattus58]

Back then lead poisoning meant you were shot.

 

[IROCZ]

Muzzle Blasts is still in print?

 

[[email protected]]

I have shot in musket matches , this was 40 years ago, where everybody
put a handful of 58 caliber balls in their mouth and after pouring the charge
of powder down the barrel, we would spit a ball down the barrel. The spit would
hold the bare ball down. This was a team match of 5 of us on a team, trying
to shoot a log in two. This was a state vs state shoot. The log we shot in two
is on display in our club house. We all used the Zolie musket at the time.

 

[Patocazador]

My brother-in-law got the shakes and had to undergo chelation therapy from scraping the old paint off his 1912 era house.

Lead is most dangerous in kids where exposure can cause a permanent drop in the IQ of developing youngsters. Children who have been exposed to lead while growing up drop out of school at a much higher rate than those who are lead-free.

 

[MBB]

Haven't received the latest Muzzle Blast yet, but runnin buff on horseback is something just short of a rodeo. Yep, throw down some powder, spit the ball down on top of it, then slam the butt of the gun down on top of the saddle pommel to seat the ball.
It works much better with a flintlock smoothbore trade musket than with a rifled barrel. The touch hole needs to be large enough that a quick snap of the writs will self prime the pan. Quickly stick that muzzle up against the critter's vitals and pull down before the ball has a chance to dislodge down the barrel.
No doubt that more than one of these old fuzees blew up in the chase.

 

[Pancho]

In one quote from the book he states that after his first hunt he switched from caps to flint. He also gives a brief description about aiming from horseback, standing in the stirrups to steady, not bringing the gun to your shoulder but holding it low and level to prevent ball migration.
It's humbling to read about the men our forefathers were.
Suck it up, shut up, and git the job done.

 

[jcwit]

JC, you have been offically declared a super site by Osha. Some would state that you're alright and will live a long life as long as didn't hold in your mouth oxidiezed lead. Personally I can't worry about it as much as the bean counters can

Being as I reached 70 this past October I believe I've reached the old man status.

 

[grter]

I think I would stick to patched round ball.