Black powder cartridge gun

Interestingly one of the topics I find that a lot of hunters and shooters aren't aware of are black powder cartridge guns. People seem to think that smokeless powder created the need/desire for cartridge guns instead of the other way around.

Last year dad gave me an old Damascus barrel side by side shotgun. For those not in the know Damascus steel is made by folding layers of different quality steel and iron together to make a solid where the layers are attached but still different materials. This would be instead of mixing the metals to make a homogenous whole. Damascus steel is easier to make with primitive tools than modern "fluid steel". The problem is that it's nowhere near as strong and isn't tolerant of smokeless powder shotgun shells.

Well that's no problem, I've got black powder (well, for cartridge guns I use Pyrodex) and for $80 Lee will send a simple shotgun shell loader.

My initial experiments weren't terrific. It's difficult to get the height of the load correct to ensure that the crimp is nice. To negate that issue I picked up a roll crimper.

The roll crimper does exactly what the name suggests, it rolls the lip of the shell to secure a card wad in place holding your load inside the shell.

There is definitely a trick to getting the crimp just right but after a little practice I could produce a pretty nice product.

The over shot wad gives a handy place to label the load, these are all 1 1/8oz of #6 shot. The two cases with the B are bismuth shot, the other two are lead. The powder charge is the same volume as the shot or about 3 drams.

This is a half loaded shell, looking at the case itself you might notice that it's been cut off, the shotgun has a 2 1/2" chamber. For best results I started with a 3" shell and cut 1/2" off. This cuts off the old star crimp and makes it easier to get a nice roll.

These are all bismuth loads. Back when I first got my 16ga muzzleloader I picked up 2 pounds each of #4 and #2 shot. Last year there was a sale so I bought 10 pounds of #6. #6 bismuth is good for ducks, #4s for geese.

During bear season I found a beaver pond with a ton of duck activity so one day during duck season I snuck in before dawn. The pond was completely deserted until right at sunrise when the wood ducks started piling in. 

I had a pretty good hide and enjoyed myself just sitting there watching the birds come in, completely unaware of my presence.

My shooting wasn't great but I did manage to score two.

Its pretty sweet taking ducks with a 120+ year old gun using shells you made yourself. That duck hole is a great spot that appears not to be hunted by anybody else. While I was there I heard, but never saw, some geese. I'll definitely be back next season.

Bismuth, getting ready for duck season

 All of a sudden it occurs to me that I don't appear to have written hardly anything about my recent forays into the world of non-toxic shot.

For those of you not in the know waterfowl (ducks, geese, etc) need to be hunted with non-toxic shot. For most folks that means steel. However steel shot is hard and will damage the barrel of a classic gun. Last year I decided I might like to hunt ducks with my grandfather's 16ga Remington model 31. The old 31 (mine is from 1924) is often regarded as the smoothest pump action gun ever made. They only made them for a few years and mine is the only one I've ever seen.

A 2020 pheasant with the old model 31

16ga is a fun, uncommon, gauge. The advertising used to say "Hits like a 12, recoils like a 20". These days its mostly out of favor but has it's adherents, including me.

So to shoot ducks with the 16 I needed a non-toxic shot softer than steel which brings us to bismuth. The other advantage is that bismuth is more dense than steel which gives it more oomph and better ballistics. The disadvantage is that it's much more expensive...

So last year I ordered a case of #5 loads from Boss Shotshells. This is not a paid endorsement of them, in fact AFAIK they don't do that. While I did get one stud wood duck last year with the 16ga mostly it shot partridge.

I guess tailgate pictures are kind of a thing for me...

Edit: I almost forgot the green wing teal from last fall that I took with the Model 31. That gun logged a great season, 1 teal, 1 wood duck, 13 partridge, one pheasant and a porcupine. Not bad for a gun that's pushing 100 years old.

When I picked up the 16ga ammo I also got 2 boxes of 12ga #4 shot. These are their 2 3/4" "shortie" loads which did pretty well on geese. I didn't have a whole lot of luck with these on ducks. Later I realized that I'd screwed up with the choke. Steel shot doesn't compress much as it goes through the choke owing to the hardness of the steel. Bismuth and lead are much softer so you need a tighter choke to get the same pattern out of the gun.

During duck season last year I noticed a lot of people complaining about finding ammunition, this isn't uncommon during the season, people wait to buy. Last year was worse because of the widespread ammunition shortage. This year I decided that I'd again stock up early.

That's a case of Boss 12ga 3", #5 shot. Should be real good for ducks. Since bismuth is heavier than steel you can use a smaller shot size which gives you more pellets per shot. I went with #5 as a compromise, it should be heavy enough for early season geese but with more pellets should be better for ducks. That case was eye wateringly expensive but as they say "I didn't come this far to miss". These shells should result in a better kill percentage and fewer cripples. I hate the idea of leaving a bird to die later.

The #5s probably won't be good enough on late season geese but we really don't have that much late goose action since the water usually freezes. If I do get a chance for late goose hunting I still have a few #4s from last year and a couple of boxes of steel BB so I'm plenty well supplied.

Finally, for some real entertainment I picked up 10# of bismuth #6 shot. I've got a couple ideas for that, one is to get my first muzzleloader duck. Back in 2017 I tried for a muzzleloader duck and failed. My 2020 and 2021 muzzleloader pheasants (and a 2021 muzzleloader rabbit) were a bit of redemption but I still want a duck. Back in 2017 I was carrying #4s because I didn't realize I could get away with lighter shot, I've learned a lot in 5 years, hopefully this will be the year.

The other thought is to load some black powder cartridges and shoot a fine damascus double. Dad has a bunch of them, these are antique guns that won't hold up to the pressure of smokeless power but will still shoot fine with a proper blackpowder load. A big advantage in a black powder cartridge gun is the ease of cleanup.

So at least from an ammunition standpoint I'm ready for duck season 2022. All that's left is to wait 4 more months...

Muzzleloading Basics: Powder

Nothing stirs up a good debate like asking which powder is the best. To simplify I'll start with "real" black powder and then talk about substitutes.

Real Blackpowder:

Basically all blackpowder is the same stuff, its mostly charcoal with potassium nitrate and sulfur. It explodes rather than burning like smokeless powder does but produces relatively low pressure. The 4 cans on the left side of the picture all contain real black powder. The differences in black powder mostly come down to the size of the grains.

1F or 1FG is the most coarse granulation, its used mostly for cannons or sometimes for very large bore guns.

2F or 2FG, sometimes expressed as FFG is finer than 1F and is usually used in guns of 50 caliber or larger. I prefer 2F for shotguns. The larger grains will, in aggregate, contain a little less energy than 3F because of the extra air space between the grains.

3F or 3FG, sometimes expressed as FFFG is even finer than 2F. Conventional wisdom suggests that it should be used in guns smaller than 50 caliber. It would still work in larger guns but caution should be used because of the extra energy vs 2F. 3F can also be used as priming powder for a flintlock although some suggest that it will result in slower ignition.

4F or 4FG, sometimes expressed as FFFFG. This is the finest particle size, its mostly dust and is only used as priming powder for flintlock guns. Some folks suggest that 4F would be dangerous to load into a gun because it will contain much more energy.

Different brands of powder each behave differently but all of them have the same basic grain sizes. I prefer Swiss powder (front row, second from the left) as I think its a little cleaner and has a slightly more consistent grain size. If it were a lot more expensive than the more common Goex powder I probably wouldn't bother but its usually only a little more expensive and when I buy it from the Maine Powder House its the same price as Goex is at my local gun shop.

Black Powder Substitutes:

Blackpowder is an explosive and carries some fairly strict rules for transport and storage. Because of that its sometimes difficult to get. I'm lucky that my parents live near the Maine Powder House so its pretty easy for me to keep a good supply of real black powder. For others a substitute powder might be a good solution.

Warning: Blackpowder substitutes are only to be used as volumetric replacements for blackpowder. Loading substitutes by weight can lead to a dangerous overcharge. Read the safety warnings for all powders and don't blow yourself up.

Pyrodex: This is the original black powder substitute, significantly lighter than blackpowder it touts "More shots per pound than blackpowder". 
There are 3 basic formulations of Pyrodex:
RS: "Rifle and Shotgun" the coarse granulation, equivalent to FFG.
P: "Pistol", the fine granulation, equivalent to FFFG
Select: Similar to RS, Select is equivalent to FFG. Apparently its more accurately screened and should, in theory produce more consistent results.

I have 2 cans of RS and one of Select that I received as a gift from a cousin who has gotten out of blackpowder shooting. I've shot a bunch of the RS in my 11ga side by side shotgun and while it seems to shoot fine it leaves the gun filthy, much worse clean up than regular Blackpowder

777: A more recent formulation, 777 is cleaner and less smokey than real blackpowder. It carries about 15% more energy by volume than blackpowder and again is lighter. Loading 777 by weight can be downright dangerous, don't do it. I've only ever shot 777 in an inline gun. Some people complain that it leaves grey ash deposits that can be difficult to remove. I wonder if those people leave the deposits in place for a long time or don't clean with soapy water first. 

777 and Pyrodex are substantially more difficult to ignite than blackpowder and as such are about useless in flintlock guns. TC and Traditions have both made flintlock guns that were "intended" for use with pelletized substitutes but reports from the field are less than stellar.

Pelletized Powder:

Pelletized powders, on the left 777, on the right Cleanshot. I've never used Cleanshot, I got these pellets for free along with a few pounds of Pyrodex from my cousin.

Pyrodex, 777 and other blackpowder substitutes can be had as pellets. These are really common for in-line guns. Generally you can get either 30 or 50 grain pellets. While pellets can be convenient they do limit your ability to tune the charge in your gun. I've used them before in a CVA buckhorn and while the gun shot adequately with 2x 50 grain pellets it shoots much better with 80 grains of loose powder. If you're using speed loaders its no great issue to pre-measure your powder in advance so I really don't see the utility of the pellets.

Anyway I hope you find these "basics" posts useful. I've got a couple more in the pipeline, stay tuned.

New Gun day!

 A guy from the rod and gun club I shoot at died and his collection recently went to auction. I'd never been to a gun auction before and because of COVID this one was 100% online so I figured I'd watch.

Item #850 was listed as a "Fusil de Chasse" or "Gun of the Hunt". Flintlock, 20ga, whats not to love? I tossed a bid on it and waited. The auction started at 9am, the gun came up around 6pm, the auction ended around 7pm. One auctioneer with strong vocal cords and a bladder made of stone...

Along the way I tossed bids at a couple other things, a few Browning Auto 5s including a rare 20ga. A couple Berreta semi-auto shotguns including one in 10ga. I didn't bid on a Remington pump rifle in .35 Remington and immediately regretted it when the gun went cheap.

Then I got caught up and accidentally bought a Smith and Wesson semi-auto shotgun. Oops, auction excitement can get anybody. That one, being a modern gun, has to go through the FFL process so I'm still waiting on it. The flintlock arrived the other day.

I don't think its actually a Fusil de Chasse, the stock on those generally has a huge drop to heel, and only one barrel ring. This has a squared off stock and two barrel rings.

The Lott lock is normally associated with English Trade guns. Combined with the stock and barrel I'm thinking this is an English Trade gun and in fact looks an awful lot like a Track of the Wolf kit gun.

I don't think its ever been shot, there isn't any soot or discoloration like you'd expect on a gun thats seen black powder.

The barrel almost certainly started its life as a piece of thick wall pipe and was machined down. At the muzzle end they left quite a sharp edge around the outside of the barrel. Its octagon at the breech and transitions to round partway down, the flats all have machining marks. I haven't decided yet if I should polish them out or leave it as is.

So anyway I paid significantly less than the price of a Track of the Wolf kit for a gun already assembled. These Lott locks don't have a great reputation but this one throws a nice shower of sparks with just about any flint I put in it. I'm pretty happy overall. I've ordered some .600 round balls (20ga is .62) and some 20ga wads, it'll be fun finding out what it takes to make it shoot.

Black powder scatter gun fun part 2

 

So the last post ended with my second shooting session and the mention that my cousin had given me some Pyrodex to shoot. During that second shooting session I decided to try loads with Pyrodex. In case you're not away Pyrodex is a "black powder replacement". The advantage, as I see it, is that Pyrodex is not classed as an explosive so its easier to ship than real black powder and thus is available from a lot of vendors who won't carry real black powder.

Pyrodex is more difficult to ignite than black powder but in a cap lock gun its not a real issue. I did notice a tiny amount more delay with the shot going off and it throws a little less smoke which smells a little less sulphery.

What I found that I really disliked is the cleanup. Of course black powder cleanup is never fun but its not terribly hard. I mix up a little hot water with dish soap and soak the barrel for a few minutes, that water comes out all black with the powder residue, then I run a couple patches with TC #13 cleaner, and a patch or two with denatured alcohol to dry things out, then a couple clean patches and an oiled patch to finish the job. Usually the second clean patch will be pretty clean.

I never did get clean patches with the Pyrodex and worse those stupid plastic shot cups left terrible fouling.

Thats a bore brush coated with plastic fouling, its bronze underneath I promise.

Lest you think that the problem was all caused by the plastic fouling I took the gun to shoot Trap last Friday. We fired a total of 8 shots, I fired 4, Angie 2 and one of the other guys at the range fired 2. Each of us managed to hit one bird but the machine was set strangely and was throwing very high. This machine also gets used for sporting clays and they move the aim around. The black powder shots were the first we fired, I got better at it after a couple rounds.

Anyhow I used all pyrodex for that excursion and it was nearly as bad to clean, the Pyrodex fouling doesn't seem to be particularly water soluble, I let it soak longer than I normally would, and with very hot water and the water didn't get particularly black, it took many patches before I finally just gave up and let it be a little dirty. I'm fairly confident that the corrosive elements have been removed though.

So would I use Pyrodex again? Sure, I've got a pound and a half of it and this gun burns through 82 grains (3 drams) for each shot, it'd be silly to not use it. I probably won't use it for hunting, that extra split second delay could be the difference between hitting a bird and not. One of the cans I was given is Pyrodex Select, as near as I can tell Select is just regular Pyrodex RS (Rifle/Shotgun) screened more carefully. Most folks seem to suggest its not any better than RS. At the very least it'll be interesting to test that out.

Oh, yeah I did mention hunting didn't I? That season is coming up soon. One goal I have this year is to take some birds with black powder. Recently I realized that there are a lot of pheasants stocked in my area. I actually saw one last fall while duck hunting but we'd just moved into a new area and I didn't want to spook the ducks. I ended up shooting a goose there so I'd say it was a good choice. I think this old gun will work well out to about 20 yards. That fits with what I've been reading for other folks suggestions on open choke guns.

I've mentioned my 16ga cap lock once or twice, that has a modified choke but its a much lighter gun than this, I don't want to use more than 1 1/8 oz of shot in that and probably I should only be using one ounce. Its been awhile since I shot it, I should probably put it back on the patterning board...

Black powder scatter gun fun part 1

 Geez, looking back it would appear that I never did mention the side by side shotgun I bought back in February.

I picked this up at the "Ancient Ones of Maine" show. Its a good show and the same place I got my TC Renegade a couple years before. In view of current events, I'm glad we got to go.

Anyway it was sold to me as "10 gauge" but the bores measure right around .74". 10 gauge would be .77, 12 is .72, so this is more like an 11 gauge. Actually, Track of the Wolf says 11 gauge would be .75 so this is more like "11 and a half gauge". I bought some 11 gauge wads and they work pretty well. The barrel has proof marks that I was able to look up. I was looking in a proof mark book my dad has, he said "You'll probably never find them" and at that very moment, I happened to spot one. Based on that I very approximately date the gun to the 1890s.

I shot it back in March but was under impressed with the pattern it would produce. The barrels are cylinder bore so they're never going to get the 80% pattern the turkey hunters go for.

More recently I ordered some plastic shot cups from Ballistic Products. They're normally used to protect the barrel from hard shot like steel or tungsten. I've had them several months but didn't get around to shooting them until Monday.

On the left and unfired shot cup, on the right, one I recovered downfield. You can just make out where I slit the cups, this is important, if you don't slit them the shot stays together.

This is the side of a computer case I found on the range, notice where it had been hit with shot before. Without help, the shot won't penetrate the steel. The big hole is where an unslit shot cup with 1 1/2 oz of #6s blew on through. This might be interesting for shooting targets but not useful for my purposes.

I didn't take any pictures of my pattern boards, it's just a bunch of holes in cardboard anyway. After a bunch of tests, my best load is 1 1/2 oz of shot with 3 drams of powder. This is following the old rule of thumb "Less powder, more lead, hits hard, kills dead. More powder, less lead, kicks hard, wide spread." I suppose this would be considered an "under square" load since my volume of powder is less than the volume of shot. Anyway, with that load I was able to get 142 pellets into a 14" square target at 25 yards. #6 should run around 270 pellets per ounce so I was shooting around 405 pellets. That's about 35% pellets on target. Pretty poor by modern standards but not bad considering a 100+ year-old gun. I probably wouldn't try it on turkey but I'd like to give it a go on ducks and pheasant, probably for squirrels too.

I did try going to 1 5/8oz of shot and both 3 and 3 1/4 dram but actually ended up with fewer pellets on target. The is pretty heavily built so I probably should go back and try 1 3/4oz to see if more pellets help.

While I was in Maine a month ago my cousin turned up and gave me a few pounds of Pyrodex powder. I'd never shot any before and since the shotgun burns a substantial amount (3 drams is 82 grains) I figured free powder was the way to go. That turns into its own story so I'll save that for another post.

Caplock Muzzle loading basics - Equipment

A recent question on Reddit made me think about the minimum gear required to get into muzzle loading. For the sake of this article I'm talking about traditional muzzleloaders shooting roundball in a caplock gun. Flintlock is nearly the same, and I'll cover that in the future.
Inline guns will be similar in most cases but with some significant differences.

This post will be broken into two parts:
Pretty much mandatory. These are the things I won't do without, they're required for shooting.
Nice to have. Things that are handy to have but you could get away without having, at least at first.


Pretty much mandatory:

#1. A copy of "The Black Powder Handbook" by Sam Fadala and read it.  This is the most important piece of advice I can give. The most important piece of equipment you have sits between your ears and you need to fill it with good information. I don't 100% agree with everything Sam says in the book but he's safe and thats the most important thing.

#2. Roundball: Generally speaking you'll buy roundball that is 0.010 undersized from the bore which would mean .440 for .45 cal, .490 for a .50 cal and .530 for .54 cal. There are exceptions, my .45 flintlock is too tight for .440 so I use .437 which allows for a thicker patch. You'll need to experiment a little to find out what works best in your gun.

#3. Shooting Patches: Cloth patches take up the space between the round ball and the rifling allowing the ball to engage the rifling and spin. 0.015" patching is probably the best starter size. As with roundball this will vary, you might end up with 0.010" or 0.018" for best accuracy in your gun.

I use mostly precut patches because I'm lazy, sheets of patch material are also available. My dad prefers to use uncut patches and cut as he loads.

#4. Patch lube: Bore Butter is easily available and works pretty well. Its not a replacement for gun oil, it doesn't prevent rust particularly well, its a patch lube, not metal protectant although the tube might claim otherwise.

#5. Caps: #10 or #11 percussion caps. Which you prefer will depend on the size of the nipple, this will vary by brand too. I find Remington #11 the ones I like best, Remington #10 are too tall for my capping tool.

#6. Powder: While sidelock guns will shoot the replacements like Pyrodex, it'll be happier with real black powder. Goexpowder.com lists suppliers.

Swiss commonly regarded as is the best powder you can get, I find it fouls less and some folks say it gives better power. I got mine from the Maine Powder House for the same price I was getting Goex at a gun shop. I bought the Triple 7 when I was shooting the inline gun. I've never tried it in a sidelock.

#7. Powder measure: I like the type with the funnel built in. It'll be graduated in 10 grain units which is plenty fine for most shooting.

The smaller one didn't have volume markings when I first got it, I had to check it against the other measure and mark them myself.

#8. Powder flask: There are a couple choices, I've written about this before: http://curtsotherblog.blogspot.com/2017/10/powder-flasks.html
Short answer, I like the CVA the best. It dispenses powder better than the Traditions. I haven't tried any of the more expensive replica ones yet. You don't need a flask, you could pour directly from the powder can into your measure but the flask makes life a whole lot easier.

Remember DON'T EVER pour directly from the flask into the barrel. If there were a hot ember in the barrel that made the powder ignite you'd have a big charge of power right in the danger zone. Always dispense from the flask into the powder measure and then pour into the barrel from the measure.

#9. Ball puller: This is like a screw that threads onto the end of your ramrod to remove a ball or bullet when you've forgotten to load powder or if the powder got wet. You WILL forget to load powder, don't go to the range without this. In accompaniment, if your ramrod is threaded at both ends TC sells a T-handle you can thread into one end, when pulling a ball the t-handle really helps. Otherwise you want a brass or aluminum range rod with a t-handle. Trust me on this one, I've been there...

The ball puller is also useful if you're worried that your powder might have gotten wet. If you look back at yesterday's story of hunting with my Renegade .54 I pulled the charge on the second to last day of the season and I'm glad I did, there was significant water in the barrel.
Once in awhile you'll get a patch stuck down the barrel, the threaded screw can grab that patch out too.

Nice to have:

#10. Capping tool: The capping tool helps putting caps on, especially if you've got big fingers. I consider this a requirement while hunting.

#11. Short starter: I don't carry one while hunting but they're handy on the range. Pretty much a requirement for target shooting where sometimes a mallet is required to start a tight bullet.

I have several sizes, the one on the left is .45/.50, the center is .54 and the right one is small and the rod is brass. I got it in a box of stuff I bought from a picker.

#12. TC #13 cleaner: Theres a lot of tribalism around cleaning, I generally start with hot soapy water and move on to a patch soaked in #13.

#13. Cleaning Jag: Swabbing is aided by having a brass jag in the appropriate size.

Usually the ramrod end will be flared enough that you don't really need a jag but that is not always true. I have a variety of sizes but I always find myself grabbing and not finding the right one. I buy more every year.

#14. Nipple Wrench: You don't need a nipple wrench per-say, I've removed many with just a small open ended wrench but they're handy, especially in the field. This one is a TC model. The topside has a threaded insert with a pin for cleaning nipples should you need to.

This tube type will rip right apart if you use it on a seriously stuck nipple. So if you're going to be working on old guns I'd suggest the short revolver type from vendors like Track of the Wolf.

I hope this list helps those of you just getting started. I'm thinking that this should be the first of a series of muzzle loading basics video. Drop a note and let me know what you'd like to read more about.

Deer hunting: lessons learned

So yesterday I talked about my 2019 success shooting ducks. Duck hunting for me is a pretty new thing going back maybe 3 years, as I mentioned I've been hunting for around 30 years now and the vast majority of my time in the woods will have been deer hunting. In those 30 years I had zero success. I'd seen a couple deer but never even pulled up on one. I did have the potential for a shot once but the deer was running directly away from me which is a lousy shot option.

So opening day 2019, snowing like crazy. This is first of December and very unusual for us. There was probably 4" on the ground when we first went out. I was hunting with a group of guys who drive deer and, as I had a doe permit and had never shot a deer before they were kind enough to give me a bunch of choice spots. So it was that after lunch I was stationed at the output to "The Dungeon". A dense section of woods alongside a highway. Buddy Ben called on the radio to say he was on a hot track and coming right for me. I stationed myself halfway up a hill, there were tracks in the valley and tracks on top. I figured from where I was I could adequately cover both.

I was wrong.

Three deer came blasting along the ridge. I pulled up on them but I was only maybe 10 yards away, I couldn't find them, even in the 4x scope on my Mossberg 500 12 gauge shotgun. Finally as the third deer came by I figured I'd better try. I got a good idea where she was and pulled the gun up again. This time all I could see in the scope was brown, I yanked the trigger.

By the time I put the gun down there was no deer. "Oh rats." I clambered up the hill just to be sure.

Well son of a gun...

The shot went in her behind which is normally a terrible shot but I'd gotten lucky and it had bounced forward making this a humane kill, it lasted maybe a minute after the shot. I'd gotten doubly lucky, if she'd taken another step she'd have gone off a cliff onto the highway...

We recovered the remains of the slug a few days later. Not much left considering it started out as an ounce of lead.

The last Saturday of the season I hunted with the same group of guys and Buddy Ben once again sent me deer. This is muzzleloader season, you might remember my Thompson Center Renegade. 

This time I was better prepared, pulled the gun up at maybe 20 yards and fired and the deer ran off. I'd cursed myself earlier in the day by saying I had hit 100% of the deer I had ever shot at. A few seconds later Zack fired too but his was a squib, we joke that the bullet just fell out of the barrel. Those were lucky deer that day.

Fast forward to the day before the last day of the season. 

I hunted this one plot pretty heavy, we still had snow and I could tell nobody else was going in there although they had hunted it real hard during shotgun season. Previously I'd had little luck but recently I had learned where the deer were traveling and headed toward that spot. I cut a fresh track and started following. The deer were moving between sections with oak trees, eating the acorns. I found myself in a little glade and looked up to realize there were deer everywhere. There were probably 7 or 8 deer in a 40 yard patch. I was hunting for antlers when they realized I was there and scattered. For the next 2 hours I chased 3 of them. The led me on a merry run but finally, with the sun setting I had to break it off.

That night I pulled the ball out of the rifle and found that snow had packed in on top and melted but interestingly hadn't gotten to the powder.

I attribute this to a good tight, lubricated patch making a good seal in the barrel. Buddy Ben puts a piece of tape over the barrel of his gun to prevent wet powder. I think the plastic wrapped bullets the inline guys use don't seal as well as a patched roundball.

Which brings us to the last day of the season. I'm back in that same area and cut another fresh track. Theres new snow so I know this track is from today. I follow it for awhile until I run across what I can only describe as a deer super highway. We're close to where I had seen the deer the day before and I'm presented with a conundrum.

Do I follow the track I've been following or change over to the super highway? As I stand there pondering two deer run up the hill and stand within 30 yards of me, probably closer to 20. I pull up the old Renegade and with Saturday's failure in my head I aim low, the rifle is sighted at 50 yards, the ball is still rising this close.

The roundball goes in through the ribs on the left side of her body, through both lungs, out the right side and kept on going. I don't want to hear that a .54 with 50 grains of powder is underloaded, if they had been lined up better I'd have gotten two deer that day and been in legal trouble...

So anyway with my success I got a lot of other learning, Buddy Ben helped me dress out the first deer, the second one I did myself. I got to help cut up 5 or 6 deer and then recently we had the annual "Sausage Party".

The party is what it sounds like, get together, grind up meat and make sausage. We had something like 150# of grinds to which we added around 40# of pork fat.

I was unprepared for the volume of sausage we made. Theres hot, Italian, breakfast, garlic and garlic parmesan. I brought home 27#, there were 2 extra packages of hot and I snagged one of them. Angie made meatballs with a package of the Italian and called it the best sausage she's ever had. I'm glad about that, I was worried we'd be stuck with a whole bunch she wouldn't eat.

In view of today's challenges I'm sure glad to know we've got a freezer full of sausage...