44-1/2 caliber?

[Tatume]

Hi Folks,

Today I was shooting my CPA 44-1/2 and a fellow came by and asked me "what kind of rifle is that?" I explained that it is a Stevens 44-1/2, designed around the turn of the 20th century. I was going to say more about the history of the design, but he said "that's a big bullet" and walked away. It wasn't until I was driving home that I realized he was really asking "what cartridge is that rifle chambered for?" He already knew all he wanted to know about the rifle itself; it was an old-fashioned gun. Oh well.

Take care, Tom

[rhbrink]

Hey! I get that stuff all the time I really need to write down all of the questions and pictures of the stupid looks. Have you done any breech seating yet? That will really draw some blank looks. I've had a number of people that have never heard of a 32-40. Then there are more than a few that even question the safety of breech seating, I explain to them that it's been going on for about 150 years where have they been. I really like it when someone walks down the the 200 yd line and takes a gander at one of my targets. They just can't get over that a lead boolit will shoot that good at 200 yards. So I just stand there kind of dejected about my groups and say something like "yeh ain't shootin real well today too much wind and mirage sometimes I do a lot better than that" their look is priceless!

Keep up the good work!

Richard

[John Allen]

I get the same thing with my Shilohs. I shoot blackpowder I always get told you know you can use smokeless in that. I just say thanks and keep shooting.

[rhbrink]

I was shooting a 40-65 one day blackpowder of course and this guy asked what I was shooting? So I showed it to him he gets the blank look in his eyes and asks what is it? 40-65, he then asks why did they make it look like that? Now I have the blank look, cause they made that way that's why. OH, he didn't come back.

I had a real smart one one day, I was shooting the 40-65 again on a Highwall and he ask me if that's a Sharps. Nope it's a Highwall. Highwall what? I says a Winchester Highwall. He then says oh yeh Winchester invented rifling didn't he? Another bank look.

RB

[uscra112]

I get the same thing with my Shilohs. I shoot blackpowder I always get told you know you can use smokeless in that. I just say thanks and keep shooting.

That suggestion always seems to come from the guys who are downwind. . . . .

[John Allen]

RB, nice I have one more. I was shooting my one shiloh that has a kelley soule sight on it with a lyman front sight. The guy swore to me that there was no way I could hit a target with open sights beyond 100 yards. He had a fancy bolt action with big target scope on it.

[SchuetzenMiester]

. The guy swore to me that there was no way I could hit a target with open sights beyond 100 yards.

That is funny. I have a 1000 yard BP Bulls-eye patch form Ottawa Arms Collectors that proves they work at least 10x that far!

[DIRT Farmer]

Wait till you tell them that your muzzle loader will shoot that far.

[Nobade]

Yep, I like the "Why is your rifle so loud?" questions when I am shooting black powder in cartridge guns. The paper patched boolits really confound them as well.

-Nobade

[NickSS]

I get asked all the time the same questions and get the same blank look when I answer them. I was shooting one of my Sharps rifles testing a new batch of powder at 200 yards from a bench rest and a guy comes over and says can that old gun shoot that far? I told him that it could shoot a lot further than 200 yards. About 10 minutes later we go down to patch our targets. I had a nice centered group of around 3.5 inches for 10 rounds and he had a nice buckshot pattern fired from a remington varmint rifle with a 24X scope. He pulled his target and left.

[rhbrink]

I love that when that happens sort of "Makes My Day".

RB

[JHeath]

Go ahead and laugh. I am sure original owners of shiny-new Sharps rifles asked old hillbillies with hand-me-down flintlocks how a small rock could possibly serve as a primer . . .

[johnson1942]

i love this post as every one has a good one to tell, and you all make me feel real good. the truth is a lot of them that laughed for years after awhile started comming around. it started for me after 15 years of being the odd duck in this cowboy wilderness i live in here when i sold 2 or 3 muzzleloaders to a fellow in the area who gets around and likes to show his stuff off. no body could believe on how good they shoot and how any body could build some thing that pretty. i like to tell them what inspired me years ago, the first shot fired in the battle of neworeleans was about 216 yards and it was a headshot. i took a coyote at 200 yards once and he was running away from me and it was with one of my .50 cal roundball guns i built. i gave that gun to my son in n.dak and his brother in law did the same thing with it at 200 yards in n.dak. that same gun got a better group at 100 yards that a weatherby 300 mag with a scope on the same range that day. we have all got stories if we stick with it long enough. keep them comming im haveing fun reading them

[x101airborne]

My dad is wanting to start a squirrel sanctuary, I think. Every time I say I shot one he gets cross eyed. So I started using a flintlock trade rifle for squirrel hunting. I let him shoot it a couple times and he said "If you kill em with that, you earned the squirrel". I didn't point out that I did it for the fun!