Muzzle Loader History

Muzzle Loader History

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
Puyallup, Washington gun enthusiast and firearm expert, Al Strupp, gives us a little muzzle loader history. “ I know of only one store within about 200 miles that actually sells black powder. It takes a special license to sell it and we don’t sell it. That would be true black powder. Pyrodex, You say? Yes we use a substitute. There are several different for black powder. It shoots a lot cleaner, it is easier to clean the gun and it is not as expensive as black powder is. Black powder is hard to obtain. You can get it but you have to go to a store that sells it. Your old traditionalist gun was either a flintlock which requires flint and then you had a powder pan and the flint actually struck a spark which set off the powder pan which then went through a hole into the actual rifle itself and ignited your black powder. That fired the rifle. That was the original stuff. Then they came out with the caps where they were using a musket cap. They used that during the Civil War but it has a different way of feeding. It takes a cap but your fire has to go down and take a left hand turn into where the chamber is. So, to get better firing, what they have done is they have set it up just like a standard rifle. Instead of your fire going down and making a left hand turn into the chamber, it now feeds through the tube right into where the powder is. That’s what everyone is shooting.
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