VIRGINIA has become the 18th state to offer a special
deer hunt in which muzzle loaders are the only firearms
allowed. The Game Commission received numerous letters
requesting such a season and petitions with nearly a
thousand signatures were presented at the April meeting
in Richmond. After studying the results of
muzzle-loading hunting in other states, the Commission
voted for a trial primitive weapons season in Virginia.
Interest in black powder shooting and hunting has
increased tremendously in the last few years and several
states now offer over twenty days of hunting for those
willing to leave their cartridge guns at home. Over two
thousand hunters have participated in some southern
states, and more importantly this extra hunting has been
provided without an appreciable increase in the game
harvest.
With the number of hunters steadily increasing and the
available hunting lands decreasing, the emphasis of game
management has turned toward providing the highest
quality hunting rather than the largest kill. A
muzzle-loader season is a step in that direction, and
this fall several hundred Virginians will enjoy a truly
different hunting experience.
The six day, bucks only muzzle-loader hunt is limited,
for this year, to three State-owned wildlife management
areas. The Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area
north of Saltville has 18,500 acres, most of which are
above the 3,000 foot elevation mark. The Gathright Area
in Bath County has 18,500 somewhat less rugged acres but
the area's southern tip is closed due to the
construction of the long disputed dam on the Jackson
River. Largest of the three is the Goshen-Little North
Mountain Area with its 32,200 acres stretching along the
ridge from Route 60 west of Lexington to Route 252 west
of Staunton.
Muzzle loaders will be hunting along with archers during
the last week of bow season, November 9th thru 15th.
Combined muzzle-loader and archery seasons have been
adopted in seven other states and have been successful
in every case because of the two groups' similar
attitudes and hunting techniques. These combined seasons
are usually designated as primitive weapons seasons.
The firearms used must be at least .45 caliber, and the
single ball or conical bullet must be loaded from the
muzzle. The powder charge has to be at least 50 grains (Avoir)
of black powder. Rifled and smoothbore weapons are both
legal, but muzzle-loaded pistols are not allowed.
A question that bothers many cartridge gun hunters is,
"Why would anyone waste their time hunting with a weapon
that became obsolete a century ago ?" A few 1 are too
polite to ask, and others regard muzzle-loader hunting
as a form of incurable insanity. This primitive hunt
gives some an answer of their own when they try muzzle
loading for the first time and like it.
A large part of the appeal of hunting with a flintlock
or percussion rifle is in the added challenge of
restricting yourself to a single shot with a relatively
temperamental weapon which can give the deer an
unexpected advantage over the hunter. Another appeal is
the desire to experience a hunting situation similar to
that faced by the men who settled this land two hundred
years ago. Either of these could be reason enough to
give muzzle loading a try, and most hunters have both
the desire for a challenge and an interest in their
heritage.
Muzzle-loaded firearms have been used for hunting in
Virginia for over three hundred years. In the 17th and
18th centuries hunting provided meat for explorers and
settler families. At the same time deer skins were a
major export item, and the quest for these skins led the
first white men across the mountains into Kentucky. The
legendary use of the rifle in that western county of
Virginia led to the practice of calling all long rifles
"Kentucky Rifles."
By the end of the first quarter of the 19th century most
of the big game in Virginia had been killed out or
pushed westward. Muzzle-loading rifles evolved into the
small-bored squirrel rifle form. West of the
Mississippi, hunters continued to use large caliber
plains rifles.
Even after the production of metallic cartridge
firearms, muzzle loaders were often used for hunting
because they were readily available and economical to
use. Many modern-day hunters trace their interest in
muzzle loaders to true stories their fathers or
grandfathers told about hunting with the family long
rifle.
In some cases the discovery of an antique rifle
gathering dust in the attic has caused interest both in
learning about the history of muzzle loaders and in
shooting. These old rifles should not be used for
hunting, even though they may be in safe firing
condition, because they represent a segment of history
and can never be replaced if damaged or destroyed in a
hunting accident. Even target shooting will eventually
ruin an original rifle. The present owner of an antique
has a responsibility to future generations for its
preservation. Buy a new muzzle loader to shoot and leave
your original at home.
This brings us to the problem of selecting one of the
new muzzle loaders now available in most gun shops. As
in the selection of any hunting gun there will be
differences of opinion among even the most experienced,
but there are certain guidelines which most will agree
upon.
Virginia's new season allows either rifles or
smoothbores to be used. Rifling was developed in the
15th century and was used for deer hunting in central
Europe before settlement began in America. Rifles spread
to this country because they were well suited for
hunting in the woods and by the third quarter of the
18th century they were used for most big-game hunting
because accuracy was important.
Smoothbore sporting arms remained popular for small game
and waterfowl hunting. A fowling piece, as
muzzle-loading shotguns were called, can be loaded with
a single patched ball but the accuracy will be
considerably below that of a rifle.
Another type of smoothbore is the musket. Some people
mistakenly call all muzzle loaders muskets or "musket
loaders." A musket is a strictly military weapon
designed, for tactics calling for rapid fire rather than
accurate fire. A smoothbore musket can be loaded in
one-half the time needed for loading a rifle, but has
only one-fourth the range. They are not hunting guns. If
you are shopping for a muzzle-loading firearm for
hunting deer, a rifle is the obvious choice, as it was
years ago.
A more difficult decision is choosing either a flintlock
or percussion rifle. Advocates of either will often
argue that their rifle is the only one worth
considering. A wise choice can be made only by one who
is familiar with both systems.
The flintlock is, of course, the older of the two
ignition systems and it relies on sparks created when a
moving flint strikes the steel frizzen to fire the
priming powder. This priming charge is located in the
pan, and the flash of its explosion travels through the
touch hole to ignite the main charge in the barrel.
The percussion or caplock system replaced the flintlock
after 1820. A percussion depends upon an explosive
compound in a brass cap which detonates when struck by
the hammer. The cap is struck while on a hollow anvil
called a nipple, and flame travels down this tube into
the powder charge.
It may appear obvious that since the percussion replaced
the flint-lock it is the superior system. Indeed the
caplock was an improvement when the standards of
judgment were those of a man struggling to feed and
protect his family. Today hunting with any muzzle loader
is done as sport and for many the appeal of the
flintlock is strong enough to outweigh any slight
functional disadvantage.
A percussion is a bit easier to learn to shoot because
the tendency to flinch is not as great as with a
flintlock. ' The flash of priming powder will not burn a
flintlock shooter, but it will startle a novice.
Since a percussion lock has fewer parts and will
function with weak springs and unhardened parts, a
serviceable caplock can be made more cheaply than an
equally reliable flintlock. Very few factory-produced
flintlocks are of good quality. A hunter looking for the
lowest priced -serviceable muzzle loader should buy a
good caplock. If a hunter wants to spend as much as the
cost of a good modern rifle, he can purchase a
serviceable flintlock.
The priming power in a flintlock is more exposed to
moisture than the cap and powder in a percussion.
However, this feature can become an advantage for the
flintlock. The pan of priming powder can easily be
inspected to determine its condition, whereas moisture
in a percussion nipple goes undetected until firing is
attempted.
Most shooters claim that percussions are faster firing,
i.e., have a shorter lock time than flintlocks. Recent
tests published in Black Powder Digest give the time
from the start of the hammer fall until the ball leaves
the muzzle as .022 seconds for an underhammer caplock
and .055 seconds for a flintlock. Three hundredths of a
second should not have much bearing in the selection of
a hunting rifle.
When all these factors are considered and all local
opinions heard, the selection of either a flintlock or
percussion may well depend on the period of history the
hunter finds most interesting. One new black powder
shooter in Christiansburg said, after selecting a
flintlock rifle, "If I'm going to do this I might as
well go all the way." Whichever rifle is chosen it will
have to be at least .45 caliber to be legal.
Muzzle-loading hunting rifles are usually designed to
fire a cloth-patched round ball, the diameter of which
must be large enough to give a bullet weight comparable
to that of a modern deer-rifle bullet. A .45 caliber
lead ball weighs about 136 grains, and anything lighter
would be too small. A .50 caliber ball weighing 187
grains is good for hunting and offers better
wind-bucking ability on the target range.
If a hollow-based conical bullet is used, it can be
selected to provide the desired bullet weight in any
caliber. However, some slow-twist rifling will stabilize
only the shorter conicals. These are highly recommended
for any rifle under .50 caliber. Conicals should also be
used in most Civil War period reproductions as they are
designed for minie-ball use. These heavy, slow bullets
should perform very well in brushy country.
The caliber of the rifle chosen will be a guide in
deciding how much powder to use. At least 50 grains of
black powder must be used. Most hunters like to work up
to the heaviest load their rifle will safely handle
without losing accuracy.
For a hunting load, in a round ball rifle, try one and
one-half grains of FFg black powder for each caliber of
the bore. The load for a .50 caliber would therefore be
75 grains of black powder. This load should be
considered a light hunting load, and it is midway
between a target load of one grain per caliber and a
heavy hunting load of two grains per caliber.
The powder charge for a conical bullet depends on the
weight and design 6f .the ballet, and literature with
the mould or the experiences of another shooter with the
same bullet would be the best guide.
There are many books and magazine articles on shooting a
muzzle loader and these will provide detailed
information beyond the scope of this article. A more
enjoyable way to learn is to find people that shoot
muzzle loaders and ask them to help you get started.
Learning to shoot a muzzle loader well under hunting
conditions is not easy. Even experienced target shooters
can become all thumbs when they try loading their rifle
in the woods for the first time. After the zero and
accuracy of a hunting rifle have been established, the
shooting should be done from typical hunting positions,
loading done from the bag, and horn worn while hunting.
Master your rifle before season, and one shot will be
enough. Go into the woods unprepared and you will
probably come out empty handed, feeling a bit foolish.
As you set out to enjoy this new muzzle-loading deer
hunt, remember that the results of this year's season
will be a major factor in deciding the fate of muzzle
loading in Virginia. Several states boast of their
muzzle loaders as among the best sportsmen in the state.
Virginia can do the same if we do our part to make this
season a success.
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