TigerhawkT3
Flashlight Enthusiast
Yesterday afternoon (Friday), I went to the range with my friend, who recently got a black powder, muzzleloading pistol in .54 caliber.
I had only been to a shooting range once before, and I fired a .22 rimfire Hammerli pistol. I wore ear plugs AND muffs, and I was still hurt by the magnums being fired a few yards away. After that, I wasn't so keen on going shooting again.
However, I thought nothing of it this time around, for some reason. I was hardly worried about it at all, even though I "only" wore muffs. As it turns out, though, things were still loud, but luckily didn't bother me much.
This pistol is so freaking awesome. It looks exactly like the kind of pistol you see in the hands of a swashbuckling pirate in the latest popular pirate-related film: wooden furniture, steel barrel and mechanism, and quite heavy. First, you pour 50 grains of black powder into a measurer, then you pour the measured powder down the barrel. After that, you take a wad (we forgot the real wads back home, so we cut the sleeves off of my friend's undershirt and made wads of out them), smear a bit of bore butter on it, place it over the barrel, and put the .54 caliber lead ball over it. Next, you jam the whole thing down using the included rod (not as easy as it sounds). Then, you half-**** the trigger, place a percussion cap on the nipple, full-**** the trigger, and fire away!
For some reason, about 95% of the shots needed to be fired twice, as the first shot wouldn't even ignite the percussion cap. :thinking:
Before each shot, I would say something piratey, like "Ahoy, matey!" or "Yarr!" or other such phrases.
This thing is amazing. It makes a huge noise, there's an immediate cloud of smoke, and it kicks you like a Mechanical Kickotron. I didn't experience much discomfort, however, since I kept my arms really loose and let the gun fly up pretty far, giving my arms lots of time to slow it down. I think that if I had tried to keep it steadier, like my friend did, I would have aches in my arms just like his.
I did pretty well, with groupings about a foot wide at 25 yards, but my friend didn't do that well. He had a lot of trouble hitting the target, with shots going way over it or into the ground in front of it. :shrug: We fired a few shots at 7 yards near the end, and he got a grouping of about 3-4 inches, though, so I don't know why he did so poorly at 25.
These shots absolutely demolish the targets. :twothumbs
KA-BOOM!
I want to take pics and video of this thing at the range (I hope they allow that there). Is there anything I should do to protect my camera, primarily its lens and microphone? Do I have to find some tiny shooting goggles and ear muffs for it? :laughing:
I had only been to a shooting range once before, and I fired a .22 rimfire Hammerli pistol. I wore ear plugs AND muffs, and I was still hurt by the magnums being fired a few yards away. After that, I wasn't so keen on going shooting again.
However, I thought nothing of it this time around, for some reason. I was hardly worried about it at all, even though I "only" wore muffs. As it turns out, though, things were still loud, but luckily didn't bother me much.
This pistol is so freaking awesome. It looks exactly like the kind of pistol you see in the hands of a swashbuckling pirate in the latest popular pirate-related film: wooden furniture, steel barrel and mechanism, and quite heavy. First, you pour 50 grains of black powder into a measurer, then you pour the measured powder down the barrel. After that, you take a wad (we forgot the real wads back home, so we cut the sleeves off of my friend's undershirt and made wads of out them), smear a bit of bore butter on it, place it over the barrel, and put the .54 caliber lead ball over it. Next, you jam the whole thing down using the included rod (not as easy as it sounds). Then, you half-**** the trigger, place a percussion cap on the nipple, full-**** the trigger, and fire away!
For some reason, about 95% of the shots needed to be fired twice, as the first shot wouldn't even ignite the percussion cap. :thinking:
Before each shot, I would say something piratey, like "Ahoy, matey!" or "Yarr!" or other such phrases.
This thing is amazing. It makes a huge noise, there's an immediate cloud of smoke, and it kicks you like a Mechanical Kickotron. I didn't experience much discomfort, however, since I kept my arms really loose and let the gun fly up pretty far, giving my arms lots of time to slow it down. I think that if I had tried to keep it steadier, like my friend did, I would have aches in my arms just like his.
I did pretty well, with groupings about a foot wide at 25 yards, but my friend didn't do that well. He had a lot of trouble hitting the target, with shots going way over it or into the ground in front of it. :shrug: We fired a few shots at 7 yards near the end, and he got a grouping of about 3-4 inches, though, so I don't know why he did so poorly at 25.
These shots absolutely demolish the targets. :twothumbs
KA-BOOM!
I want to take pics and video of this thing at the range (I hope they allow that there). Is there anything I should do to protect my camera, primarily its lens and microphone? Do I have to find some tiny shooting goggles and ear muffs for it? :laughing:
) :
