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Thread: The Compleat Black Powder Marksman

  1. #1
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
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    69

    The Compleat Black Powder Marksman

    Life's been good. Over the years, courtesy of good fortune and my Maker, I've been able to amass a humble but respectable armament of honest guns that run on The Holy Black. I love them all, even the beaters.

    When ya do a sport like this for years and years as I have done, one gets cocky and arrogant despite his best efforts. He sees stuff work a certain way in enough circumstances - and he starts thinking 'that's the way things are' and accepts it as a fact. It's become my conviction that it is practically impossible to effectively manage a muzzle loading rifle AND a percussion pistol at the same time. There's just too much friggin junk involved with possibles bags, flasks, horns, ball, patch - and all the rest a that plunder that goes into making these things shoot! That, boys, is my conviction.

    And I would dearly appreciate it if one a you fellas could prove me wrong on this. Any pics of your set up and gear is also sincerely appreciated.

    Hope the weekend was good to ya! God bless and shoot straight!

  2. #2
    Boolit Buddy
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Alberta, Canada
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    158
    If you are referring to carrying that gear on your person and being an effective one man fighting force (walking a trailwalk requiring multiple reloads of each for instance) I might agree that it can be a challenge.
    That said it can be streamlined in many ways - use the same caliber in each with an adjustable powder measure and it's almost entirely done with just one set of possibles.
    A revolver would make things more complex unless you are willing to carry multiple cylinders.

    If you are referring to owning, transporting and shooting a multitude of charcoal burners in a more general way I would say it presents challenges but is certainly not out of the question. The Missus and I regularly venture out with a compliment of 10-12 various black powder firearms of various sorts and often not the same dozen from one outing to another. Seperate boxes or bags for ML/cartridge shotguns, rifles and handguns with a quick look in each to make sure that the contents match the specific shooting irons of the day.

  3. #3
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
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    69
    I am talking about doing the trail walk - where the unwary can be accosted by multiple gongs, rabid pop cans and other perils. I would love to shoot my trusty .54 Spaghetti Plains rifle and my C&B revolver if I could...

  4. #4
    Moderator Emeritus / Trusted loob groove dealer

    waksupi's Avatar
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    Somers, Montana, a quaint little drinking village,with a severe hunting and fishing problem.
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    You would have problems with the revolver in this area. Only one chamber at a time is permitted to be loaded at a time, due to a stupid accident by a pilgrim a few years ago. Managed to shoot himself putting the gun in a shoulder holster.
    The solid soft lead bullet is undoubtably the best and most satisfactory expanding bullet that has ever been designed. It invariably mushrooms perfectly, and never breaks up. With the metal base that is essential for velocities of 2000 f.s. and upwards to protect the naked base, these metal-based soft lead bullets are splendid.
    John Taylor - "African Rifles and Cartridges"

    Forget everything you know about loading jacketed bullets. This is a whole new ball game!


  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Mar 2005
    Location
    Bloomfield, Nebraska
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    6,073
    When I built my target rifle I had the barrel cut with a matching pistol barrel. I built the guns together and thy shot for target the same load ball and patch and powder. The pistol had a belt hook and was the only additional item I carried.

  6. #6
    Banned


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    Feb 2013
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    NJ via TX
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    the only difficulty will be human related and not gun related. trad muzzleloaders are easy to feed, shoot, and maintain - even on an out-of-the-pouch woods walk. thousands of such shooters have no problem, so it all comes down to personal subjectively effective knowledge and use.

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Jul 2013
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    Florida
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    Same caliber for a pistol and rifle along with a separate powder measure for each would streamline the possible bag. Never done a wood walk but I can see one in my future, never thought about bringing a rifle and a pistol, humm. I have a CVA Frontier carbine that is light enough to carry along with my Traditions Kentucky pistol, maybe a sling would help with the rifle and a belt hook for the pistol. Ball holders pre loaded with patched balls would speed things up. Just some thoughts

  8. #8
    Banned


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    woods walks are great fun. think: self sufficiency. be as prepared as possible. i go out with a flintlock long gun, be it rifle or smoothbore.

    a length of string off the gun's trigger guard holds the touch hole pick. a strapped powder horn loaded with 3F for both tube and pan. a strapped shooting bag - on the strap is a sheathed patch knife and sheath for the combination cock turnscrew and flint knapper, and on a lanyard string is a powder measure made from an expanded .45-70 brass case. around my neck is a ball board, loaded with greased patched balls, typically 6 to 16 balls. in the shooting bag is one or more other loaded ball boards, extra greased and rolled patch strips, a bag of loose balls, an ante-chamber swab (for patent breech plugs), a ball puller and screw in "T" handle for easy ball removal, a flint wallet with 4 spare Sharp english flints, a 2oz spray bottle of nantucket spider for bug control, some bandaids, and a flannel rag for cleaning whatever. if the walk be a long one, a strapped tartan wool bag might be included for toting vittles and a libation.




  9. #9
    Boolit Master
    kens's Avatar
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    May 2013
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    Yes, for trail walk , use same balls for rifle & pistol.
    Use same powder measure too. Why not 40gr for both??
    For a trail walk shooting gongs & rabid cans 40gr will do the trick. just sight 'er in as such.

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Las Cruces, NM
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    4,535
    Cap and ball? Easy peasy. Just use paper "cartridges" and a brass capper. The hard part of a woods walk is finding a way to brace the pistol when using the ram.

    Sent from my SM-P580 using Tapatalk

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check