Which Paul Matthews book?

[Nardoo]

I feel the need to buy one of Paul Matthews books for reference. Which one do I get?

Nardoo

[EDK]

I got the black powder books in a package from Wolfe Publishing several years ago. They're all good, but a little dated now...but he's within "spittin' distance" of 90 and was still shooting and active, last I heard. THE PAPER JACKET is supposed to be bringing a hefty premium on the auction sites. I wish he lived closer...I talk him into autographing all mine, shake his hand and buy him and his wife lunch.

Other authors would be Venturino and Garbe's SPG reloading primer, Venturino's SHOOTING BUFFALO RIFLES OF THE OLD WEST and my current favorite, Randolph Wright's LOADING AND SHOOTING PAPER PATCH BULLLETS, A BEGINNERS GUIDE.

:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[Black Prince]

Nardoo

If I had to pick only one as you request, it would be Shooting the Black Powder Cartridge Rifle. It covers all of the basics. His other books deal with more specific parts of shooting and go into more detail on them.

It is interesting to read that Mathew's books are dated. I've also seen some people say that Elmer Keith's books are dated, or that Towsend Whelen's books are dated, or that P.O. Ackley's loading manuals are dated. The only problem with all of that is that what those guys said when they said it is as true and accurate today as it was then. The principles and physics of shooting black powder do not change with time.

[EDK]

Mr. Matthews' books are "dated" as in there is more information....and guns....and components available than when he and other people were doing their research...and to some extent, "re-inventing the wheel." There was no Buffalo Arms or SPG or Sagebrush Products. You had to do a lot of work to get what we can simply call and order now. No Internet to shop or get the vast amounts of information.

Now, at 10 or 15 or 20 years after he wrote them, the books are "dated" in that they are no longer state of the art. People who follow behind us will have a lot of written or otherwise preserved information. Paul Matthews and his peers didn't have that luxury. The shooters of the 1860s and forward did not record their information for future generations of shooters.

The concepts are valid, but "the devil is in the details." Paper patched bullets are a good example; bullet lubes for black powder another. Slightly OT, I've owned Appaloosa horses for over 40 years. There is a lot of horse gear in the Russell and Remington western paintings that have unclear purposes for today. A lot of old timers failed to record/pass on their hard earned knowledge; what they knew, they regarded as "so common, so basic, that everyone would surely know it." There was no thought of a future and "lost techniques and technology."

We owe Paul and his peers a debt for the knowledge they have saved for us. His books are classics, as those of Elmer Keith or Jeff Cooper. BUT none of them hold the knowledge gained since they were published...and that's been awhile.


:Fire::cbpour::redneck:

[floodgate]

...and he is still shooting and writing! I saw an article of his within the past year in (I think; they don't have a proper index) "Single-Shot Exchange".

floodgate

[Black Prince]

Matthew's copyright on the book I recommended is 1994. His book, How To's for the Black Powder Rifle Shooter, is copyright in 1995. Matthews likely used a computer and Microsoft Word to type his manuscripts for those books and submitted them to Wolfe Publishing on-line, or via floppy discs, or CD's.

Those dates are not what a reasonable and prudent person would call ancient history. I still wear several pairs of Tony Lama and Nocona boots that are older than that. Track of the Wolf and Buffalo Arms were on-line then. Computers, e-mail, and the internet were in common every day use. Some of us even had modern automobiles and had given up the horse and buggy by then.

[Southern Son]

Nardoo,
Do yourself a favour, get all of them, some of his ideas are not what the in crowd are preaching at the moment, but in general each book will give you ideas. If you are shooting BPCR silhouettes, then "BP, Pig Lead and Steel Silhouettes will give you good tips, if you are shooting paper patch, then "The Paper Jacket" is good reading " (although many of the in crowd at the moment are preaching things that are not quite the same).

As to the information being dated, I don't know about that. However, in "How-To's for the BPCR Shooter", he reccomends using Federal 215s or WLRM primers, indicating that you need the hotter primer to get a cleaner burn of the powder, but many of the current hot shots are using bench rest primers or even large Pistol primers, I have even read of some folk using an over primer wad to reduce the primers blast (I am stuffed if I can understand how a newspaper wad will reduce the blast by any significant amount, I think that it would have more effect in keeping the powder out of the flash hole, and that may be where they are getting a difference in performance).

Just my $0.02 worth, and it ain't even cost you that.

[Black Prince]

Southern Son

I think you are spot on about some of the shooters in the sport today. To their credit, there is nothing wrong with people trying different things thinking their way is better. And if they can show me where putting a newspaper wad over the primer improves accuracy, I'll gladly give them credit and use NP wads over my primers. But I am not afraid that doing that will give anyone enough of an accuracy advantage over me to beat me if I do the basics of rifle shooting better than he does.

There are some universal principles to doing this stuff and Matthews covers them in his books. Once those are accomplished, it all comes down to the man behind the sights and is not dependent of some gimmick he has developed. If you have a good rifle, equiped with good sights, shooting good bullets, properly loaded, then it's all in the sight alignment and trigger control. At that point, we only count the holes in the target, and we don't allow any whining. Just shoot and shut up until the score keeper posts the match results.

Back in another life, I used to drag race super stock Chevys. It never failed that after every race some guy would lose because he was late getting off the line, or missed a shift, and he world say something profound like, "well just wait until next week because I'm building a new motor at home and I'll be back and beat you."

The reply was always the same: You race what you brung buddy. Just lay your money down and go when the staging lights say go. The first one to trip the timer across that line down there at a quarter mile wins, and that is all there is to it.

[Bigjohn]

I feel the need to buy one of Paul Matthews books for reference. Which one do I get?

Nardoo

Nardoo,
I believe you are here downunder with me and a few other members of the forum?

I would get them all, Paul Matthews casts quite a broad net over the subject of shooting BP cartridge rifles.

Now, I may be biased as I have purchased just about everything written by Paul and refer back to them often.

There is a local importer available:

http://www.bundukibooks.com/

Peter Moncrieff is in Mont ALBERT and visits most gun and knife shows.

John

[Nardoo]

Excellent advice one and all. I thank ye and will get on with the purchase.

Nardoo