SMOOTHBORES
I carry several different weapons depending on what I may be hunting on a particular day. I have a Brown Bess smoothbore that has had all the hardware browned to reduce glare. as I am portraying a hunter I personally dont want to carry a gun that is polished bright. It is just My personal preference. I carry the Brown Bess as My primary trekking weapon. It can handle small or large game and is correct for the time period. We are very fortunate in My state to have several species of animals that can be hunted year round without a license, Rabbits included so a gun that can use shot is quite handy. I also carry on occasion a replica Tower smoothbore 69 caliber flint pistol. This pistol is ALWAYS loaded with birdshot for small game. The tower pistols are notorious for having junk locks. I took mine and threw the lock away and with some minor work installed a large siler lock. It is awesomely reliable now. I have found that the pistol routinely gets left behind on a trek though. Its just more baggage. If I am on a hunt I will take it.
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RIFLED WEAPONS
I have several rifled weapons that are correct for My chosen time period. Any nice flintlock longrifle would be appropriate but I use the Iron mounted tennesee mountain rifles. I have one in 32 cal. one in 40 cal. and one in 50 cal. Mine are all iron mounted with no brass. again this is just my personal preference. A brass mounted rifle would be fine. I just like the looks of a plain everyday working mans rifle. I use riles as specialty hunting weapons. 40 or 50 cal. for deer, 32 cal. for small game where the smoothbore can be used for either type of game depending on My load. I also occasionally carry an iron mounted flint rifled pistol in 50 cal. This is primarily a back-up weapon for deer and like the smoothbore pistol is routinely left at home on a trek. I usually only carry handguns if I am seriously hunting or in rattlesnake country. One note about rifles. In the early fur trade a percussion rifle would have been unheard of and even in the late western fur trade era they were not common. If You look at art from the fur trade era George Caleb Bingham was still painting fur trappers with flintlocks in the late 1840's and early 50's. There were percussion guns on the frontier during the fur trade era but I think they were the exception and not the rule. During the period I portray they were not even invented yet so its pretty cut and dry for Me. Another subject regarding rifles is caliber. . I have killed 6 deer with a 40 caliber and never felt undergunned. I have killed over 40 deer total using a wide variety of weapons and ammo and have found bullet placement to be far more important than caliber size. . In 1775 general Charles lee wrote a letter to Colonel William Thompson from which I take this quote: "in short, they never fire without almost a moral certainty of hitting their object". I think bullet placement is far more important than caliber size so I find the most accurate load for My rifles and stick with it. I recently aquired a 54 caliber Harpers Ferry rifle that I am exited about. I am hoping I can work up a heavy 54 caliber hunting load for this years bear season. Id like to find an accurate load in the 65 to 70 grain 3F powder range. the problem is with most of My rifles the accuracy seems to suffer with higher powered loads.
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Tower pistol with large siler replacement lock
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Comments
Please send an email for any comments to
maverick3855@yahoo.com
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