The Compleat Black Powder Marksman

[Guy La Pourqe]

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!

[vagrantviking]

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.

[Guy La Pourqe]

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...

[waksupi]

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.

[KCSO]

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.

[rfd]

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.

[Eddie2002]

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 ;)

[rfd]

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.

https://i.imgur.com/4z1ZrdO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/2JcZVhn.jpg

[kens]

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.

[charlie b]

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.

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