Since about 1962. Navy Arms octagonal bbl .36 Navy. Handled and shot that piece 'til it ingrained the underhand toss, single-action, point-n-shoot revolver technique into my teenaged neural pathways for the rest of my life. About as cloverleaf accurate as an average .38spec for the first three shots. After that, the shallow re-pop Italian rifling couldn't handle much fouling.
I was hooked and remain so. There have been years, and even decades of lapses from the soot-belchers, but now am returning to those roots. .40cal flint Tennessee-style po'boy. Practice 'Load from the bag' incl any matches; no bench baby, me. Still working toward "Mark Baker" perfection [ ML columnist].
Proper "Management of the arms" is part of the usage, to me. BTW, for good fictional portrays of those skills, albeit Brit Napoleonic era regulars, the long saga of the 95th Riflemen and their Baker rifles, has a fair feel for it. So does that author's three piece "Yhenglyshe longbow" novels.
Altho, by constast to my simplistic approach , some of my best internationally-ranked BP friends are meticulous "plunder box at the loading bench" guys. Same attention to every action; just a different approach, And, much better shots than I, too. And, no -- I don't enjoy doin' historical-costume, period re-creation stuff --whether it's buckskins, linsey-woolsey, or Brit Edwardian.
Shot competitive SS BP pistol in the late 70's, and fiddled about with assorted long guns. In the early days of this BBS, had a decent Pedersoli SxS 12 percussion re-pop that got hunted regularly in all seasons. Did clays, etc.
Then double guns swept everything away for a bit. Now returned to a variety of shooting, what with SA revolvers, lever actions, Lee-speed style bolt-ers, .22's: the normal ass't. Mo' rounded out shooting life. Heck, gimme a case of surp 7.62x39 and one of those good Yugo SKS's from AIMsurplus and I'll empty that case in an afternoon, at tin cans. All good.
Took a Baroque carving class from Wallace Gusler, and another longrifle carving class from Jim Chambers. He produces top-notch nice kits, him. That English gent's rifle mentioned above is really sweet for a DG guy. The late John Bivins was the original builder and carver of that pattern; and Chamber's good mentor and friend. Been whittling some stock maple and making some white clouds those examples in mind.
There is an awesomely talented lawyer around here, but mostly on SSM, who about five years ago did a piece good enough to enter at the Gun Faire in Pennsy. Cast his own Rococo furniture, and did a high-commercial quality job. If he's as good a lawyer as a craftsman, he earns his money.
I'd really like to see the archaic waterfowl 'gauge' laws rescinded or relaxed; esp for black powder. A couple of years ago at the March Cleveland Decoy Show in Westlake, I handled a wonderful antique American four-bore single percussion that just begged to go a-hunting again.
Lowell, the reports on satisfaction with synthetic black powders appear to as varied as each user. One would suspect some learning curve there, as the same product can an emphatic no or yes from the reviewer. For my own part, there has never appeared to be any reason to leave blackp.
It's use and clean up can be as complex or simple as one want's to make it. If a shooter really wants smokeless powder maintenance in a muzzleloader that replicates cartridge gun performance, with modern optics, sophisticated bullets, and two hundred yard pinpoint accuracy -- well, heck howdy. Great. I do not hate either the product, gun, or user. Mo' hunters and legit gun owners is GOOD, mostly.
But for me, I see no real use for the new stuff. I want simple. A gun, bag and horn, and the knowledge to work 'em, keep 'em working, and to savor their heritage are what is important to me. That's just me.
Were the modern powders of interest, for whatever reason, there is lot of literature out there, as well as some fantastic guns and bullets to take advantage of their characteristics. Great deer smiter-s in non-cartridge rifle areas.
OTOH, if you want to pester crows in a personally rewarding manner, then a .36 or .32 caliber, long rifle wand, with swamped bbl, a fast flintlock, knockout wood, ""carv'd and florish'd"", with all the goodies of heirloom quality will scarcely set back you back financially as much as one of DoubleGrails you seek. And, use only makes a fine flinter BETTER! ;~`)
The high holy days at Friendship, Indiana -- six+ hours east of you down by Cinci are something any BP interest'd person oughta attend at least once. Do not under any circumstances bring expendable funds. Nosssir!!! The annual 'master's' show up in pennsy is really nice, too. Sorta a gathering or the Guild, tho not all folks agree on decisions made. "More authentic than thou, and I'lll say what is authentic" can happen, in the judging. Like dog shows. See "Best of Show" for a non-coverging parallel take on 'opinion' and judges. ;~`)
Well, my dog-induced,"gotta go out, there are wolves in the yard" middle of the night insomnia is now cured. Adios.
