Muzzleloaders

Pilgrims, pirates and privateers. Pioneers, postal carriers and partridge hunters. They all had a need for the blunderbuss in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The blunderbuss is often pictured in cartoons and illustrations associated with pilgrims and pirates and for good reason. It was fast to load and fierce in a fight. I confess,…

Rendered bear fat makes a product that is all-natural and is a traditional form of bullet and gun lube. Some blackpowder shooters prefer bear grease over any other muzzleloading lube.  Bear grease can be used to turn out flaky biscuits and pie crusts too. The pioneers made good use of bear lard for use in…

When I carry my 54-caliber Lyman sidelock I feel a kinship to the people who settled the Beaver State, the trappers of beaver and those who followed the trails west out of Missouri, the Barlows, the Applegates, the Dixons, the Pengras, and the rest, whose names are found on creeks and small towns all over…

The Great Migration across the plains really kicked off in 1843 and one of the major jumping-off points for the Oregon Trail was the aptly-named Independence, Missouri.  Sashay into any hardware store in Independence in 1843 and you might see handguns behind the counter and a rack full of long guns to fondle. Smoothbore flintlocks…

A modern inline 50-caliber pistol goes to the range.  I remember when CVA introduced the Optima pistol – 2012, I think it was – and I told myself, “Self, that looks like a gun I would like to shoot.” That was about as far as it went until 2020 and the COVID-19 and all of…

A lot of blackpowder hunters have revolvers because they are interesting and a link with Civil War history, the various Indian wars, cattle battles and westward expansion of the late 1800s. Many don’t employ them for hunting, but these guns were used by our ancestors to take everything from bunnies to bison. My favorite blackpowder…

After the selection of a rifle, the first thing a blackpowder hunter needs is a bag. The solution today is the solution the early hunter used – a possibles bag worn strapped over head and shoulder so it rides on the hip, close to hand. For the purposes of this discussion, we will look at…

A Review of the Crockett Rifle In 1835 Davy Crockett ran for a seat in Congress for the state of Tennessee and declared that if he lost, the people in his district, “may go to hell and I will go to Texas.” He lost. And he ended up at the Alamo. In those days hunters…

Here is how to load and shoot a traditional-styled percussion gun with a blackpowder substitute powder and a pre-lubed conical bullet. Before you load any muzzleloader, confirm it is not loaded already. Centerfire rifles and shotguns are easily checked by opening the breech. With a muzzleloader, you must use the ramrod. Insert the ramrod in…