# Muzzleloading



## MsFox (Sep 2, 2020)

A little something I built the winter of 1978 at my remote mountain log cabin. Built from parts, not a kit. All made using hand tools. The stock was carved from a maple blank.


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## fmdog44 (Sep 2, 2020)

Great balls of fire!!


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## old medic (Sep 2, 2020)

Very Nice..... 
I need to drag mine out soon...


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## Aunt Marg (Sep 2, 2020)

MsFox said:


> A little something I built the winter of 1978 at my remote mountain log cabin. Built from parts, not a kit. All made using hand tools. The stock was carved from a maple blank.
> View attachment 120929


Holy smokes!

Beautiful! A work of art!


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## FastTrax (Sep 2, 2020)

I always thought a muzzleloader was a gun you poured gunpowder down the muzzle barrel thingy, then some kind of wadding and a ball and stuffed all of it down the muzzle with a rod then shot it.

Live and learn


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## Aunt Marg (Sep 2, 2020)

FastTrax said:


> I always thought a muzzleloader was a gun you poured gunpowder down the muzzle barrel thingy, then some kind of wadding and a ball and stuffed all of it down the muzzle with a rod then shot it.
> 
> Live and learn


Well, shows how much I know about muzzleloaders, because that's how I thought it was done, too! LOL!


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## FastTrax (Sep 2, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> Well, shows how much I know about muzzleloaders, because that's how I thought it was done, too! LOL!



Methinks we were thinking of blunderbuses and muskets, lol. I believe those are the only types of firearms that convicted felons are allowed to posses.


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## Aunt Marg (Sep 2, 2020)

FastTrax said:


> Methinks we were thinking of blunderbuses and muskets, lol. I believe those are the only types of firearms that convicted felons are allowed to posses.


ROFLMAO!

I didn't know there was a difference between muskets vs muzzleloaders. I thought the two were the same. 

Guess I wouldn't make much of a saleswoman in a sports gun shop. LOL!


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## old medic (Sep 2, 2020)

FastTrax said:


> I always thought a muzzleloader was a gun you poured gunpowder down the muzzle barrel thingy, then some kind of wadding and a ball and stuffed all of it down the muzzle with a rod then shot it.



You are correct.


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## Tommy (Sep 3, 2020)

Beautiful work MsFox!  Is that a caplock?  Have you fired it?


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## MsFox (Sep 3, 2020)

FastTrax said:


> I always thought a muzzleloader was a gun you poured gunpowder down the muzzle barrel thingy, then some kind of wadding and a ball and stuffed all of it down the muzzle with a rod then shot it.
> 
> Live and learn





Tommy said:


> Beautiful work MsFox!  Is that a caplock?  Have you fired it?


 Fast Trax -- It is! This is what you are looking at. 
Tommy --- I shot it several hundred times over the years and sold it 10 years ago. It is a percussion cap. At rendezvous, they set up a 250-yard range in a mountain pasture with a two-foot steel clanger. I knew what elevation to use because I knew which branch of a Ponderosa pine to shoot over. It was very accurate with a 1:66 twist 34" barrel. I won a lot of money off the guys. .54 caliber in the style of Hawken.


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## MsFox (Sep 3, 2020)

Aunt Marg said:


> ROFLMAO!
> 
> I didn't know there was a difference between muskets vs muzzleloaders. I thought the two were the same.
> 
> Guess I wouldn't make much of a saleswoman in a sports gun shop. LOL!



All muskets are muzzleloaders, but all muzzleloaders are not muskets. A musket is a smoothbore and a muzzleloader is rifled or has lands and grooves in a twist in the barrel. Think muzzleloader as opposed to a breech-loader like the old Henry's "rollingblocks" where a cartridge was put in the breech end.


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## Aunt Marg (Sep 3, 2020)

MsFox said:


> All muskets are muzzleloaders, but all muzzleloaders are not muskets. A musket is a smoothbore and a muzzleloader is rifled or has lands and grooves in a twist in the barrel. Think muzzleloader as opposed to a breech-loader like the old Henry's "rollingblocks" where a cartridge was put in the breech end.


Thanks for the explanation.


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## Keesha (Sep 3, 2020)

While I loathe guns, being a woodworking, I do appreciate the craftsmanship.


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## MsFox (Sep 3, 2020)

Keesha said:


> While I loathe guns, being a woodworking, I do appreciate the craftsmanship.



I love woodworking although I don't do much anymore. There is a lot of metalwork that goes into a muzzleloader. Getting a clean fit to the wood without gaps isn't easy using handtools.  It was a great experience and fun after finishing my log cabin. I fell all the logs and sawed all the timber for my cabin. I handmade all the cabinets with dovetailed drawers. I made my own doors and forged the hinges. It was all a bit crude but was energy efficient requiring a minimum of firewood for heating, cooking, and heating water. Living alone up in the remote mountains in those days, one was wise to have a gun. With a muzzleloader you get one shot before reloading, so no rapid shooting. It was an art rather than a weapon.


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## SeaBreeze (Sep 3, 2020)

MsFox said:


> A little something I built the winter of 1978 at my remote mountain log cabin. Built from parts, not a kit. All made using hand tools. The stock was carved from a maple blank.
> View attachment 120929


Beautiful MsFox, you're very talented!  We'll be going camping next week and it will be hunting season, black powder and bow only.  We don't hunt but my husband always takes a pistol and a rifle with us for protection if needed, or just target practice.  Dog will have his orange collar on with bell, it's good that he's more visible, but hunters over the years here seem to be very responsible, wouldn't be aiming at a labradoodle.


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## FastTrax (Sep 3, 2020)

Best to have it and not need it then need it and not have it.






Serious.


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