I think I turned another to the black side

[Boerrancher]

Yesterday my buddy Dave called me wanting to know if I would come shooting with him. Well duh, that was a stupid question. He was bringing his boy who is good friends with my oldest boy, so I brought my oldest with me. My oldest boy is not a gun nut like his youngest sister and younger brother. He has a single shot 22 and goes out squirrel hunting every now and then but he just isn't into it like the other kids who aren't happy unless they are shooting.

I wanted to check the zero one final time, so I told him to wait and let me shoot a couple of times then I would show him how to load and shoot it. I shot it 3 times and had a nice little group you could cover with a dime at 30 yards just in the top of the 1 inch bull's eye. I then walked him through the loading process and let him shoot. I watched him a couple more times to make sure he was doing it right and then I went to my T/C Hawken. I shot it a few times and loaded it for my boy and let him shoot it a couple of times. He didn't comment much on the 50 cal.

Dave's boy had been bugging me for months about shooting my 50 cal KY pistol. So I loaded it for him once and let him have a go at it. He has his own ML so I didn't worry about watching him much. The both boys took turns shooting the KY pistol and I started chatting with Dave, before long I noticed my boy had picked up the Crockett and was back to working on a tin can with it at 30 yards. He shot 1/4 lb of powder 20 grains at a time through that gun, and when it was time to pack it up for the day he was getting pretty good with it.

My wife told me that on the way to and from church that is all he talked about was shooting that little muzzleloader and how much fun it was. That boy has never been that excited about a gun in his life. I didn't mind spending the evening cleaning guns because I think I have finally found a type of gun the boy is really interested in. I think I have brought someone else over to the Holy Black.

Best wishes,

Joe

[felix]

Prolly not the gun, Joe! Bet it's more about quality time in that your enthusiasm was the vehicle. ... felix

[DIRT Farmer]

Good point Felix, but M/Ls are the stuff of dreams. I still have hopes of tramping around in the marrow bone of the earth, have visited the site of a few battles between my forbearers and the locals who did not like them shooting all of the game. A boy who reasd history and has a real rifle in his hands soon enough dreams of heading west through St Lious.

[Boerrancher]

I still have hopes of tramping around in the marrow bone of the earth, have visited the site of a few battles between my forbearers and the locals who did not like them shooting all of the game.

If those battle sites were in Indiana it was most likely my fore bearers that didn't like your fore bearers shooting all of the game. My Grandparents 6 generations back were killed at Prophets Village, only one of their daughters and her maternal uncle escaped. Even if that is the case I would still like to have a good old fashioned pow wow and burn some Holy Black together someday.

Felix, that could be it. The boy has always been a little backwards growing up and I think the slower pace of the front stuffer gives him more time to actually appreciate the concept of shooting. His mind has always run a mile a minute, and because of this shooting regular guns was kind of dull to him because you loaded a shell in and pulled the trigger. Not as much thought goes into it as does that of a muzzle loader. Even though he didn't care for the 50 cal as much, he was intrigued by the fact that if I wanted to shoot farther I just added more powder.

Another thing he liked is the way they pointed. He has never been a great shot with any of the 22's that we have. He does alright but not great. The front heavy ML made holding the sight picture easier for him. He is a tall large framed boy like his grandpa and many of the other guns he has shot in the past felt like toys while he was shooting them. The MLs on the other hand felt like a real gun he said.

Best wishes,

Joe

[waksupi]

Joe, take him to a rendezvous, he will be ruined for life! I think my first $125 muzzle loader has cost me well over a quarter million dollars by now.

[451 Pete]

A boy who reasd history and has a real rifle in his hands soon enough dreams of heading west through St Lious.

Joe,
That is great that your boy has picked up your hobby and has found an interest in the old style rifles. Dirt Farmer mentioned to me that you and the family may be coming to Friendship the second weekend of June when we have our Spring Shoot. I sure hope you can make it. Bring the kids over to the Youth Range and we will have them shooting air rifle, .22's and muzzle loaders. There is no charge for this and the Youth Range will be open from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. You will find me over there. As an added note besides our primitive area we will be having an exhibit in the Education Building on Lewis and Clark that should get the history angle and your youngsters dreaming of going west off to a good start.

Take care .... Pete

[Boerrancher]

Joe, take him to a rendezvous, he will be ruined for life! I think my first $125 muzzle loader has cost me well over a quarter million dollars by now.

The middle of April, Dave and I are going to take the two boys to their first Rendezvous. It will be an over night stay in Dave's early 1800's period style tent. It should be interesting to say the least. I will probably do some knapping while I am there. I am thinking if the weather is nice enough I will dress in a breech clot, war **** and mocs. I can pull the half breed scout off pretty well. I will put the boy in a pair of painters pants and a wool shirt so he will fit in. I think he will get a kick out of hanging out with a bunch of guys shooting MLs and living in an early 1800's camp for a weekend.

Pete, I hope we can make it to Friendship this year. I think it would be good for the entire family to spend a few days in a frontier village. I know my oldest would enjoy the youth shoot. I was surprised at how quickly he adapted to my 32cal and was consistently hitting a 2 inch bulls eye off hand at 30 yards. It was interesting to watch him shoot for a bit, then put the gun down and talk, then pick it up again and go back to shooting. Every other time I have taken him to the range to shoot he would shoot a couple of times and then go play in the creek. It would seem that after the first boom and billow of smoke, all thoughts of the creek were soon dismissed and he was wanting to shoot again. He had even told me on the way up to the range he would probably go to the creek after he shot a bit. The trip to the creek never happened. He never sat the gun down long enough to make the 50 yard walk to it.

Best wishes,

Joe

[DIRT Farmer]

Joe I don't think my family got that far North in Indiana till my parents decided the kids would go to Purdue. There were some incidents in the Chesapeak Bay reigon though and the rest of the path here. The last hostile action in Indiana was at Meeks Ford on Pidgon creek about 9 miles west of me.

[451 Pete]

Joe it sure does sound like your boy is doing a lot of thinking about that black powder rifle and from what you have said he is definitely enjoying the experiance of what is going on. Just a thought for you. You may want to start looking around and and either start rounding up some parts or better yet try and locate a small caliber muzzle loader that may need a little TLC that you can work on with him as a project. For him either helping to make his own rifle or having you and him help to fix up one up for himself is a great way to seal the deal and better cement his interest.

Remember that to a youngster it is really cool to be able to shoot dads rifle but when he has one of his own he will feel like he has taken another step towards growing up and manhood. Going out to the woods to hunt or out to shoot with dad becomes a completely different experiance.

To him now the old dead fall from a lightning strike just became a bear den and that log in the pond ... well, it could be a gator, I swear I think I saw it move.....every hawk becomes an eagle ... and if I had just been born a couple hundred years back I would have been teaching old Crockette and Boone a thing or two about hunting and shooting.

You have opened up a world of possibilities to your son Joe. As someone who likes to work with kids thanks.

Just my thoughts ..... Pete

[mooman76]

A friend of mine approached me last year because I was the only one he knew that shot BP. I showed him and he got hooked. I gave him a cheap gun to get him going but he went out and bought his own Lyman 54 and gave me the gun back. I cast for him now because ha hasn't got into that......yet.

[starmac]

It sounds to me like you may need to be scouting for you a new smallbore, if you want to shoot. lol
Traditional mlers are not for everyone, but when a guy decides he likes them, there is not much going to change his mind.

[torpedoman]

shooting accurate modern guns can be a bit of a bore, think how many you have dialed in and now just sit because they are boringly accurate to shoot, The muzzle loader really involves the shooter to a bigger degree and is a bit of a challenge

[Boerrancher]

shooting accurate modern guns can be a bit of a bore, think how many you have dialed in and now just sit because they are boringly accurate to shoot, The muzzle loader really involves the shooter to a bigger degree and is a bit of a challenge

I pretty much agree 100% with you. I have a heavy barreled, custom built 6mm-284 that I haven't shot in 15 years. When I put it in the hard case, it would shoot a 5 shot group at 100 yds that you could cover with a cigarette butt, it had a weighted stock, and all you had to do is toss it on the sand bags, look through the scope at the target and pull the trigger. It would easily smoke ground hogs out to 600 yds with no effort on the shooter's part. Not much of a challenge to shoot it well.

On the flip side of that, my little 32cal ML if you get everything right it will cut bullet holes at 30 yards, but just the slightest difference in loads or loading procedure and it can shoot all over the map. I can change the point of impact by 3 inches just by changing the amount of pressure I put on the powder when seating the ball. How accurate any of my ML's shoot is not just based on my ability to shoot them, but also as dependent on how well I load them. There is no mechanical powder measure, or loading press that makes sure everything is the same. Each time the ML is loaded it is all me. If I fail to fill the powder measure exactly the same, or don't use enough or too much seating pressure on the ball, my cutting bullet holes can go to a 3 inch group.

Best wishes,

Joe