enfield musket, 1861 navy, and an old peacemaker

[Magwa45]

Well, I am headed to the range tomorrow to do some shooting. My dad passed away less than 15 months ago and I have his old guns. This includes a repro 3 band enfield musket, uberti 1861 navy, and an original SAA circa 1898. So a good deal of black powder will be burned and I will be thinking of old times on the range, burning the holy black, back in my younger days, and don't we all learn these thing from our fathers, or uncles, or other caring older folks? Don't forget the ones who taught you to shoot straight, who were happy to guide a young one and be there for you. Time is passing and will you pass it on to the younger generation? Don't forget what you have learned and what it has meant to you. Teach a kid to shoot and love the outdoors. You will live a long while in their memories. Just a thought of a young one getting older.

 

[BullRunBear]

Magwa,

Good thoughts and I hope you have a great time with your dad's old guns. My best friend introduced me to shooting when we were in our twenties but had to teach ourselves about MLers. This was before the internet. We used our ML rifles to teach his little boys how to shoot and over 20 years later they still enjoy it. Whenever I take a newby to the range I include some BP guns in the session. Often, it is the BP stuff that captures their interest and keeps them coming back.

We have a great opportunity coming up to get folks, especially young ones, interested in shooting generally and BP specifically. This year marks the start of the 150th anniversary of many Civil War battles. We have a huge reenactment of 1st Manassas (Bull Run for the Yankees here) coming up this summer and I bet there will be others over the next few years. (Antietem and Gettysburg come to mind.) There will be more public awareness of the old weapons and ways of life than is usual. People don't have to become reenactors (nice if they do) to want to shoot and learn history. Here's hoping.

Jeff

 

[Foto Joe]

Last weekend out Motorcycle Club had our anniversary run and a few of the boys suggested we shoot in the afternoon. Numerous weapsons showed up including an AK and a couple of AR's. One of the guys got convinced that he should shoot the modern weapons of war after which he commented that he was going to have to have one of those.

I finally convinced him to shoulder my 1894 Marlin loaded with 44 Special Black Powder rounds. After five rounds he lowered the lever gun with a stupid grin on his face and proclaimed that his love affair with an AR ended the first time the Marlin boomed!! It's not a historically correct weapon chambered that way, but it probably converted somebody last Saturday.

 

[Magwa45]

The SAA was great with black powder loads, really much more power than I expected. The Enfield shot very well with 30+ year old loads. Black powder ages well, just add some new lube on the minie. The Navy, well that had some porblems with the second cylinder. Lots of fun with black powder!

 

[BHP FAN]

My condolences, and may he smile down on you and your clouds of smoke, sent heaven wards in his honor.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Condolences on your father's passing. Take care of those guns and pass them on when it's your time. Write a letter for each, stating its provenance to establish how long they've been in the family.