Friday, April 25, 2014

"They see me loadin', they hatin'..."

I had previously thought that benchrest shooting was the single nerdiest firearms-related activity. Then I learned about muzzle-loading benchrest shooting. Apparently 0.017" teflon-coated patches are a thing.

 Still, sub-MOA with round balls at 200 yards is pretty spiffy...
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14 comments:

  1. CJRMultigun10:00 PM, April 25, 2014

    There are some things that are so dorky, that they come around the other side and become cool again.

    When I'm too old and crotchety to shoot 3-gun, I'll definitely be giving this a look.

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  2. Paul10:09 PM, April 25, 2014

    I've shot mine a measured 175 free hand. Shot 4 deer in ten minutes one time at ranges from 50 to the 175 and high about the same spot on the left shoulder of them all.

    I would not want to get shot with a 50 caliber black powder either.

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  3. Drang10:12 PM, April 25, 2014

    Look up chunk guns...

    ...wasn't Shootin' Buddy supposed to be getting you up to Friendship some year?

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  4. Old NFO10:28 PM, April 25, 2014

    Yep, combine muzzleloader AND benchrester... I'm going to another range... :-)

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  5. Anonymous11:53 PM, April 25, 2014

    And a flintlock, no less.

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  6. Robert Fowler10:47 AM, April 26, 2014

    Back in the late 1800's, they fired from the "reclining" position. I always thought that was a bit strange. IIRC they were shooting up to 1000 yards that way.

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  7. Sigman12:03 PM, April 26, 2014

    There's a chunk gun shoot up around Jamestown TN every year

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  8. Steve C1:11 PM, April 26, 2014

    I had a friend who was old and crippled who would hunt squirrel with a bench gun. Thing looked like a truck axle strapped to a fence post, but he would drive his van to a clearing in the woods and set up his bench and then he would wait. A squirrel would get curious and he would shoot its head off. Then he would wait some more. End of the day, he would totter around on his cane and pick up the squirrels, pack-up and go home.

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  9. mikee3:26 PM, April 26, 2014

    After this, is there anything left but pumpkin chunkin' with giant pneumatic cannon?

    http://www.punkinchunkin.com/

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  10. Tirno3:48 PM, April 26, 2014

    I guess it is time for the Society for Creative Anachronism to open up a Colonial Era division.

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  11. Gewehr984:51 PM, April 26, 2014

    The elderly Canadian gentleman I buy my 450gr swaged BPCR spitzers from shoots muzzleloading benchrest. Makes me want a Whitworth even more, now!

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  12. John in Philly5:57 PM, April 26, 2014

    In Shartlesville,PA not very far from Roadside America, (huge indoor train layout) there was a gun club called Blue Mountain Muzzle Loaders. My father and I shot there in the early 70's and through the middle of the 70's.

    This club was devoted to the art and the sport of the muzzle loading firearm and didn't care if you showed up in buckskins or in jeans with a work shirt. As long as you were shooting a muzzle loading weapon you were a member of the "in" group.

    They hosted a lot of matches and the great thing was that you competed in your class. If you were using a flintlock with v notch and barleycorn sights and a patched round ball, you competed with others using the same setup.
    If I wanted to use my Navy Arms Remington cap and ball revolver that my father had machined to accept a Micro Machine adjustable target sight, then I could not compete in the flintlock single shot pistol match.

    And to get back the subject, you could compete in heavy, and I mean like really really heavy bench rest muzzle loading rifles at up to 200 yards range. And if I recall right, enough shooters used the heavy benchrest rifles that there was some different classes in those matches. First and only times I saw loading using a false muzzle.

    A large amount of digging through my father's stuff might be able to find the 3rd prize medal he won for trap shooting using a double barreled percussion shotgun. (Now that was a loading process!)

    I did not shoot there much after joining the Navy but my father kept active there until failing health and his demise stopped him from shooting.

    Sadly, and I do not know the details, the club either ceased to exist, or changed into a more mainstream gun club.

    I had not thought about the heavy muzzle loading benchrest rifles in a very long time, and now off to the basement to see if I can located my copy of "The Muzzle Loading Cap Lock Rifle," by Ned H. Roberts. (Not to be confused with the Dred Pirate Roberts.)

    Thank you for posting the photo that led me down a lane with some very happy memories.

    John in Philly

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  13. Ed11:08 PM, April 26, 2014

    1840's style muzzle loading range competitions?
    How about getting into the entire lifestyle?

    Sherman, set the WABAC Machine.
    OK, Mr. Peabody.

    http://www.floridafrontiersmen.org/alafia.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_Peabody

    http://tbo.com/brandon/brandon-couple-become-part-of-alafia-river-rendezvous-20140106/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kristophr10:19 PM, April 27, 2014

    Gewehr98:

    Get a Gibbs replica. Pedersoli sells a good one.

    Just the thing for 1000 yard reclining position shooting.

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