(23 November 2013, 11:33)Tartar Horde Wrote: Being able to cast Ball and Minnie bullets from lead has got to be simpler than making cartridges/shells for modern Guns hasn't it? and lead is pretty common, so is there a place for gunpowder weapons, if only from the standpoint of being more "self sufficient"?
Do any of you folks have direct experience of them and what are your thoughts.
I have 6-8 flintlock rifles and about the same in caplock long guns, 5-6 pistols of both flint and cap persuasion and several cap and ball revolvers in .36 and .44 caliber.
I build then as a hobby to keep my mind occupied during the long winter months. I have two in process at the moment. I work from scratch and not from those cheap prebuilt kits. Some of my projects take a year to complete.
The principles are the same with Muzzle loading as with cartridge loading. You put powder and lead in a container and fire it with a cap.
When using ML guns you do this process on the spot, using the barrel as the container, as the shots are fired.
With cartridge guns you do it somewhere else and bring the loaded rounds with you.
Cartridges make stressful situations easier to deal with. One places the shell into the weapon by whatever means is dictated, single shot or repeater, and the gun goes boom. All the thinking was done at home.
If your situations are not stressful then Muzzle loading will often work. You can wipe out the bore, pour down a measure of powder, wrap the ball with a patch and force it down the bore, then cap the weapon, take aim and fire. (the process takes about a minute) It requires thought, planning, dexterity and time.
The development of cartridge firing weapons changed history, changed individual and small unit tactics along with warfare on the national scale.
It also changed hunting. Cartridges are less influenced by weather, generally more reliable in firing and much faster for the shooting. Some of the hunting parties in England included the killing of thousands of birds each day after cartridge guns were perfected.
I am not saying that muzzle loading guns do not have a place in the inventory of long term survival tools, simply that they have limitations and one must accept that.
No hunting in the rain, no fast repeat shots, no reloading with the brain turned off.
Shooting a couple of squirrels in the back field, I would just as soon use one of my muzzle loaders. Facing a big critter, multiple critters or dangerous critters, I want my cartridge guns.
HOWEVER!!!
If I lived in GB and did not have access to a cartridge gun, or access to cartridges, I could build a muzzle loading gun and have ammunition for that gun within two hours from the word "GO", made from supplies out of the kitchen, the workroom and local shops!
If I had a cartridge it would take me about 1/2 hour.
IF you folks can have cartridges in your possession legally, even if you do not have a SGC, there needs to be some shell distribution going on between friends at your meet ups and information and instruction links from the internet shared.
Not to break any laws, simply to have the ability, knowledge and information available in case the presence of any law evaporates or becomes moot.
Knowing how to do something is not a crime, no matter what the social order tries to convince one.
I know how to rob a bank.
I have the capability of robbing a bank.
I have never robbed a bank.
I do not intend to rob bank.
So far I can not be sent to prison based on the fact that I have compared the banks in my area and contemplated the difficulty level of the various institutions and the tactics that would be needed.
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