Handsome Rob

We are a muzzleloading/black powder club, NMLRA affiliated, & we meet & shoot the second Saturday of every month, between Tullahoma & Estill Springs (just off of AEDC) Anyone who shoots, or is interested in shooting, muzzleloaders, black powder or BPCR is more than welcome to come along & have a shoot. We have our own private 100yd range that is open 7 days a week to members ($40 per year) Guest are always welcome to our monthly shoots, at a cost of 50c per target shot (You can shoot all day long on 1 target, if you like!) We have a vast array of traditional front-stuffers/BPCRs that 99% of members would be happy to let you try out. So even if you don't actually own a muzzleloader, you can still enjoy a day at the range! If anyone is at all interested, you are more than welcome to call me at (931)581-5350 Let me know what you are interested in & I'll make sure there is a suitable firearm there for your use. We have only a few members (31 I think) but between us, I believe there are more than 300 flintlocks, caplocks, mule-ears, underhammers, Shiloh Sharps, High-Walls, Cimmarrons, Ubertis, Ballards, Colts, Winchesters etc..... Basically, if it is patterned on something built before 1900, (or actually built before 1900!) chances are one of us has one!

Hell, I use a 1 gallon paint-can & a sock full of dry sand! I support the heel of the butt on my clenched, left fist. Been doing it this way for 20+ years & I've yet to find a reason to buy/build something better.

Hmm. I don't even know where Seymor is. Guess I have one less reason to find out now. Clownshoes. Just clownshoes.

Yep, starting to see a few rubs around. WD, you're not completely alone. There are a few rocklockers here. Well, 3 of us that I know of! I'll be honest though, my flinter is not my primary muzzleloader. I'm still too in love with my percussion Plains Rifle!

Okay, this is just a whinge & probably an unjustified one at that, but I NEED to vent. We are hosting a small charity event at our Kennels on Vetran's Day, 'Pets for Vets' offering free dog grooming for all serving & ex-military personnel. There's other stuff going on, but I'm not a paying sponsor & I don't want to offend any sponsors or David by advertising here. We've been plastering posters all over the place trying to promote the event, all around Manchester, Winchester & Tullahoma so far, but we're going further afield every day. Ever single gun store I've visited has been more than happy to post a flyer for us, in fact several owners have already booked their dog in for the day. All without fail have thanked us for doing something to help & support US Veterans My Wife was just on her way upto Murfreesboro & decided to drop by The Outpost, to see if they'd take a poster. She's just called me in disbelief that they flat out refused to even entertain the idea. Now, I know that a lot of large stores won't allow posters, even for charity events, but I just can't believe a place like The Outpost will not put up a poster for a charity event to help Veterans!!! I know it's only dog grooming, we're not raising millions for the VA or VFW, but we just really wanted to do something to show our support. Anyway, like I said, it's probably an unjustified rant. I'm just dumbstruck.

I always sight in for 'maximum point blank range' which, if you don't know, is the maximum range you are able to keep your cross hairs on a deer & still hit it in the goodies. Usually it'll get you hitting in a 6" vertical string from 20yds out to the Maximum PBR. If you look on Chuck Hawk's site, you can find trajectory info for most calibers giving you your maximum point blank, trajectory at 100, 200 & most importantly, your mid-point trajectory. Like TnShooter, I find out what my 100yd trajectory is for the specific bullet & set at that. Just to get on paper, I take a couple of shots at 20yds & make rough adjustments from there. Rifle Trajectory Table

I've got a '96 7.3 F250..........wouldn't part with it It had a new tranny at 198K, new A/C compressor at 220K & now it needs a new steering box, but I paid a lot for it & I figured I'll just run it into the ground. Had a 4" lift fitted last spring & is wearing 35" Dick Cepeck's. 2 new batteries this year, glow plugs (A VERY expensive job, so make sure when you buy one, it starts from cold easily) & solenoid. I change the oil every 6000 miles & filter ever other oil change. The motor is absolutely as it left the factory. No chips, standard turbo & a PROPER silenced exhaust. It ain't going to win any races, but it'll climb the side of a house in 4WD low It's done 4 non-stop trips to West Texas, Wyoming and back, Montana & back, the UP of Michigan & back & I'd trust it to do it all over again! Last time I had it to Texas, it looked like this (pre-lift)......

I own & live at a boarding kennel....... I'll trade you your one, for my fifty six. I am super serious.

Lyman Great Plains Rifle, .54 cal with a .530 round ball clothed in a .018 pillow ticking patch. I lube with a mixture of beeswax, deer tallow & Murphy's Oil soap. 90gn of Goex FFG and a CCI #11 cap My backup is a customised Investarms Hawken. .54 cal flinchlock shooting a .530 ball in a .022 denim patch. Same lube. I load it with 80gn of FFFG Blackpowder, prime with the same powder & ignite the whole shebang with an English flint. I have another sidelock that I'm loaning out to a friend this year. A T/C White Mountain carbine, loaded up with 85gn of FFFG & a 370gn Maxi Ball. IT has a 1 in 20" twist & I can't really find anything else that shoots well, but it kicks like a 3-legged ninja!

You could do a lot worse than to check out the classified adverts on Traditional Muzzleloading Forum Flintlock Musket Reenactor There are a lot of fowlers & smooth rifles that show up for sale. You may also want to check Gunbroker for Thompson Center Renegades. There are usually a few on there that have the .56 smoothbore barrel & they're usually priced pretty well What's your budget? PM me if you like. There are several not-too-spendy options available if it's a smoothbored rifle you want. As a quick aside, just be aware that the 'kits' from Sitting Fox aren't really kits. They are simply a collection of unfinished parts. You'll need to de-seam & polish all the parts, inlet & shape your stock, assemble the lock & triggers etc... quite a bit of skilled gunsmithing is involved. Not trying to put you off, if you've got the skill & experience they're very rewarding to build, but they are definately not for the faint of heart!

You've got Terry Walden's range, just of exit 114 on I24 (Manchester) He has a 300yd rifle range. It's a bit scrappy & you'll need to pace off your targets (unless you only shoot at 300) but it's $5 for all you can shoot. Bring your own target stands too. There's also Viola, if you don't mind coming a little further south. It's a better setup range than Terry's, but you've only got 100yds to play with (IIRC) There are berms laid out at 25, 50 & 100yds with railroad-tie butts for your targets. All the benches are under cover. $6 for the day.

I'll take a lighter barreled, less accurate gun any day, if I'm hunting. If I'm punching paper for points, either benched or offhand, a heavy barrel would be for me. A friend of mine shoots a Rem700 .22-250 with a heavy barrel & is constantly bragging on his & it's accuracy. He has a point. It is ridiculously precise way beyond any distance I could shoot it & to be fair, he's a hell of a shot. One of those bast....guys who can & does regularly break clays at 400+ yards. That said, his Remmy with it's long bull barrel, 6-24x 56 scope & 9-13" bipod weighs a lot. A helluva lot. Conversely my horrible old Enfield with it's shortened, lightweight barrel, 4-16x42 scope & nothing else is painfully inaccurate past 300yds ( I can probably hit a basketball 5 or 6 times out of 10 at 300) But, (& it's a very big but) when we're out hunting together, climbing the same hills, walking the same trails & shooting at the same stuff, I can beat his shooting, hands down, 9 times out of ten. We're both unfit, he smokes & I'm a fat bastard, but after carrying his 21lb monster, compared to me carrying my 10lb Bubba, he is far more winded & less able to bring his rifle to bear with any degree of accuracy. Just something to bear in mind.

A couple spring to mind. The Chauchat. Funnily enough another French failure.... The original SA80, the L85A1 IW, is one of the worst I've ever been forced to deal with. Unreliable to the point of literally falling apart in use. Nice idea behind the SUSAT sight, but they fogged up at anything above 1% humidity. We were issued with these original versions during Basic Training & mine got me so much punishment detail it's not even funny. I actually broke my Leiutenant's thumb during an inspection because the bolt handle sheared off & I accidentally hit him with it. The newer A2 version, however, is a dream & I'd love to own one now

What's the .50 you've got? You may want to look into a replacement smoothbore barrel. T/C do a .56 caliber smoothy barrel & Green Mountain do a range of drop-in replacements in common calibers for quite a few factory muzzleloaders.

Lord no! I'll eat the shells on hot fried nuts, but not boiled. That goes against God & Nature, man!

There's tons on Gunbroker, prices range from high to 'Oh my God, you're kidding!' BP Shotguns tend to run high in the price range, but you definately get what you pay for. If you're wanting something reliable to hunt with, rather than a wall-hanger, you really want to be looking at Pedersoli or Investarms (Lyman/Cabelas) for factory guns or look into a custom build. The lock quality in the cheaper guns (Newer CVA & Traditions especially) can be poor & it'll turn you off black powder very quickly. It's guns like this that have earned traditional muzzleloaders the 'Click............BANG!' reputation. A good lock is as close to instantaneous as you can get. Almost indiscernable from a centerfire. Half of the problem with buying used, is that a lot of people get it into their head that they want to go the BP route, but don't have the discipline, or possibly the knowledge, to clean their firearm properly. This leads to badly pitted bores, rusty & brittle lock springs, fouling buildup in the flash channels, seized nipples & the belief that muzzleloaders are unreliable. They then get sick of them, never clean them & hock them at pawn shops & gunshows where they are re-sold for a lot more that they're now worth. Just a tip, if you do find one second hand, be sure to thoroughly check the bore with a bore-light & run a tight cleaning patch down it on the correct jag. You'll be able to feel any pitting, gouges or bulges. Remove the lockplates & check for rust & fouling around ALL the springs, tumbler & bridle. If you feel any kind of bulge in the barrel (The jag will be tight up to the bulge & then loose, then it'll tighten again) walk away. If the lock is corroded, walk away. If the barrel is pitted, you can salvage it, possibly, by lapping, but it may still be junk. Oh and forget taking it to your regular gunsmith. A lot of smiths aren't interested or versed in sidelocks. You'll need to find a good BP smith. Realistically, to get a good, reliable cap-snapper, you want to be looking at spending $600 minimum. Double that if you want a flinter.

Oh my word....they're like red hot, fattening crack. A bowl full of hot salty nuts (shut up) and a six-pack of Newcastle Brown & I'm in happy-fatty heaven! Yep, even we ferriners love hot boiled peanuts!

'fraid I can't narrow it down to just one, but these 2 I will never part with. First is my Lyman Great Plains Rifle in .54 Shoots a patched round ball into 3" groups out to 100yds. At 50yds, I can print a one-hole group, offhand. It just balances so perfectly for offhand shooting.... Next up is my professionally bubba'd Long Branch Lee Enfield. I had the barrel lapped, shortened to 19¾" & recrowned by Hero Gear. They also headspaced it for the Prvi Partisan 150gn ammunition it seems to love. The scope is a cheapy Barska 4-12x42 that has held zero for the last 2 years. It shoots way better than I can at 300yds.....

I have a seemingly obvious question, but I can't seem to find the answer. Other than optical clarity, what is the advantage of an expensive riflescope, over a cheaper model, all other things being equal? Say I'm looking for a non-adjustable AO, fixed power scope to fit a hunting rifle, a .308 for argument's sake. What advantage would I have picking a Swarovski/Zeiss/Leupold scope over a Bushnell/Tasco/Barska with the same basic specs? The reason I ask, is that my eyesight is such that I can't notice a discernable difference in optical clarity between cheap & spendy glass. Do I have any reason to spend several hundred on a scope, when a sub-$100 model looks exactly the same to me?

I think 'shine & distilling of moonshine is one of the most fascinating subjects going. I have sampled various illicit spirits over the years & experimented with distilling myself a few times, on a tiny scale. I sincerely believe that it ought to be legal to produce a small amount of liquor for personal consumption. A good friend of mine in east TN gave me a pint of Popcorn Sutton's brew a couple of years back. Uncut 160 proof (I tested it) & apart from a very subtle oiliness, it's pretty much tasteless. I would happily pay to spend a few days with some knowledgeable 'shiners (hint, hint) & learn the craft.

Depends where I'm hunting & which weapon I'm taking along. My 'ready to go' pack is a leather possibles bag I made containing at least; 1 bottle of water bow hanger cellphone flashlight Lifesavers (Wintermint) 20' camo paracord puffer bottle (wind detector) If I'm going to be out all day, I'll add an extra bottle of water & a couple of granola bars. My smokepole hunting involves throwing in a pre-loaded ball block (6 patched balls) my powder measure & a capper with 24 #11 caps. 10 cleaning patches, a ball-puller & nipple pick. If I'm taking the rifle, I'll throw in 6 rounds of whichever ammunition fits If I'm bowhunting, I throw in a broadhead sharpener (file), spare string, flagging tape & a cork & lighter (face camo) Usually though, if I'm just going out for 2 or 3 hours, I cram a bottle of water in my pocket & I'm good to go.

Hunt as far downhill from your truck as humanly possible. The farther & steeper, the better. If rappelling gear is needed, awesome. I guarantee you'll kill a 300 pounder & have to drag the heavy sumbitch all the way back out. Somebody once told me a story of an old guy who supposedly shot a 200lb deer at the top of a hill, allowing him to drag it dowhill all the way to his truck, but I call BS on that.

For a plain gray color (like shown above) go to your local hardware store a buy a bottle of Naval Jelly. It'll have it looking like that in 10 minutes.

Easiest way (I've done this on a lot of knife blades & muzzleloaders) is plain Clorox bleach. Strip off the paint & spray on a good coat of Clorox. Run your shower until the room is humid & steamy & then leave your hammer in there for 10-15 minutes. It'll be very rusty & it'll be starting to get pitted. 'Card' off the rust with a rough cloth & see where it's at. Be careful, because this works VERY quickly. You can rinse & repeat as much as you like to get it as rough-looking as you need. Once it's where you want it to be, patina-wise, wash very thoroughly with a baking soda

Please don't take any offence at this, I mean none by it, but those of us with private land to hunt have had to do all the leg-work involved in getting it, up to & including paying out craploads of money each year. It is hard come by & hard won & expecting someone to ask a complete stranger to come in & join the fun is unreasonable. There are millions of acres of public land in the State, but again, those who hunt it successfully have spent many hours, days & weeks walking it, learning it & scouting it. Those of us with pre-scouted public land or private land or leases are very defensive & secretive about it. If there's a chance that I may see one nice deer on a piece of TVA/TWRA land that I've scouted, you couldn't torture it out of me! You need to get onto the TWRA website & find out what public land is available in your area. Once you've found it, get on Google Earth & do some virtual scouting. When you have an area picked out, get your boots on & go walk the land. Look for sign. Try & jump deer out of their beds & remember where their bedding areas are. Find their food sources & try to establish trails & travel corridors between the food & the bedroom. If you get setup on these trails with the wind in your favor, you'll find deer. You really need to be staring your scouting the day after deer season closes & then continue it until the opening day the next year. This is what the rest of us have to do, year in & year out to be able to fill our freezers. It's a lot more work than the TV would have you believe, IF you want to be successful. Again, please take this as advise, not criticism, but you'll be hard pressed to find someone who's prepared to do all of this work & then just hand it over to someone else.