By Mike Nesbitt | Contributing Editor
The match managers at the Paul Bunyan Sportsmen’s Club enjoy putting on shoots that are certainly seasonal in nature.
That is especially true for the Paul Bunyan Plainsmen, the muzzleloading group that calls the Paul Bunyan Club, near Puyallup, Washington, their home or base camp. For the match just before Halloween, Jim Haeckel did put a fine shoot together, with a mixture of paper and steel targets. To borrow a phrase from Mike Moran, it really was a “spooktacular” event.
There was no forecast or preview about the match with any hints about what our targets would be although there was a forecast for rainy and windy weather. The rain is no big deal for this muzzleloading event because all of our loading and shooting would be done under the roof of the shooting shed. As it turned out, nature gave us a break and stopped the rain and winds long enough for the match to be completed. But as we were heading to the range, some of us contemplated what kind of targets there might be.
One popular seasonal (fun) novelty target is a small pumpkin. Those are fun to “pop” with a good hit from a muzzleloader, usually firing a round-ball. However, none of those were present at this Halloween shoot although they still might be found at the Thanksgiving shoot next month. What we did find were targets just as interesting. Those were; a steel silhouette of a standing bear out at 100 yards, another steel silhouette of an elk, broadside, at 75 yards, a large “spider” on paper which was posted at 25 yards, and then an optional target where the shooters had their choice between a witch or a maple leaf.
The spooky witch and the maple leaf were about the same size, with no scoring rings but they did come with special instructions. Those targets, whichever one the shooter would select, were to be shot at five times and good hits were scored at 10 points each. But, in order to score, the bullets, and the bullet holes, needed to be completely inside the figures of the witch or the maple leaf. If the bullet broke into the white of the paper plates those figures were mounted on, even by just a little bit, the shot was scored as a zero.
Those paper targets, as well as a scoring sheet, were handed out at registration for the match. I selected one of the maple leaf targets, mainly because it seemed like it would be easier to see, therefore easier to hit. That might have been correct and positive thinking, but as I’ll explain in a bit, that didn’t help me at all.
The rifle I picked to use in this match was my Late Lancaster flintlock in .50 caliber. That’s the gun I call my “Trailblazer,” built from a kit made by Tennessee Valley Muzzleloading, a company I certainly recommend very highly. (To contact them, visit their web site at https://www.tvmnatchez.com, and I’ll tell you, they are busy people. Also, they make either kits or completed guns, a fine place to get excellent muzzleloading arms.) This rifle was talked about in my story called “A New Flintlock” last August but even so, I will describe it again for any folks who are reading now but had missed that story.
For a Pennsylvania-Kentucky rifle, “Trailblazer” is a bit on the light side. I wanted a rifle that was easy to carry, mainly for use on trail-walks and, perhaps, as a hunting rifle. So, this .50 caliber flintlock has a 36-inch long straight (non-tapering) barrel that is 7/8-inch wide. That barrel is on the short side for a Lancaster style rifle and sometimes those were referred to as “boy’s rifles.” Well, that’s quite all right with this old boy. The gun fits me well and the ignition with the large Siler flint lock is usually almost instant, as long as the shooter keeps the flint sharp and tight in the jaws of the hammer. This rifle weights just a trim 8 ½ pounds. It’s a sweetheart.
Now to get back to the shooting match and I’ll tell you about it by simply going from target to target, just as I did while doing my shooting. Yes, certain excuses will be used along the way.
The first target I shot at was the maple leaf and I’ve already explained how hits for score on this target, or on the witch if that had been selected, has to be completely inside the leaf. And I made sure that you were just told how the leaf was the first target I shot at because that’s all I did, shoot at it, instead of shoot it.. With a rather light load of just 45 grains of GOEX 3Fg powder under the patched .490 Speer round-balls, my shots went off just fine.
Our paper targets were stapled to wooden target stands and those target stands were still wet from early morning rains. That allowed some of the targets to get wet, wet enough that they’d fall off of the stands. When such a thing like that did happen, the rangemaster would close the range so the targets could be put back up. While that didn’t happen to my partner, Bob DeLilse, or me, we’d still take advantage of the range closure to either retrieve or inspect our targets. My leaf target showed five misses, all to the left.
Instead of checking my rifle’s sights, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me again and I changed glasses. The correction in those glasses would allow me to see the targets better, and, perhaps, see the sights not quite as good. Then Bob and I decided to “go bear hunting” by making sure our rifles were “loaded for bear,” our next target. We shot as a team, and most other shooters at this match did the same thing. Having a partner can be important because the shooter might not be able to see if a shot was a hit or a miss on the steel targets. The shooter’s vision might be obscured by smoke from the gun. Of course, when Bob shot with his .54 caliber flintlock rifle, that bear turned almost sideways and that made declaring a hit very easy.
To help the ball cover the 100 yards to the target, I had raised the powder charge by only five grains. That isn’t much but it certainly makes a difference in the sound of the rifle. With the 50-grain powder charges, it has a snappier sound, a real “crack.” (One grain of black powder per caliber, like 50 grains in a .50-caliber rifle, is a typical starting point for loads in muzzleloaders.) And I aimed about shoulder high on the standing bear. But while aiming, I somehow let the rifle’s sights drift off of the bear to the right and that’s the moment when my rifle fired. “Oh, no!” I thought but then Bob gave me the “thumbs up” which meant I had made a hit. That was fine with me, my first hit in the match. Yes, the ball did cover the 100 yards in good style.
So, I reloaded and tried it again. Bob made a second hit but I didn’t. The reason I didn’t hit was becoming plain to me, I missed because I had aimed at the bear… For my next three shots at the bear, I held off of the bear, just to the right. Those three shots were all hits, giving me 40 points for the four hits on the bear.
That’s when the sights on my rifle were given some attention. The front sight was to the right of center in its dovetail, somehow or for some reason. The Wyoming sight drifter was taken from my shooting box and with that tool the sight was quickly drifted to the left.
Next, Bob and I both fired at our “spider” targets. These, like the witch or the maple leaf, were posted at 25 yards and I did reduce my powder charge back to 45 grains. The wet target stands were still troublesome to a couple of the shooters and after just three more shots, the range was closed again for re-posting the fallen targets. That gave Bob and me a chance to see how we were doing. My three shots all scored on the “spider” but they were all still to the left. So, the front sight was moved a bit farther to the left to bring the point of impact to the right.
My fourth shot at the spider was a miss and that was all my fault. Like my first shot at the bear, my rifle’s sights had drifted off of the target just when the rifle fired, and the ball went harmlessly through the white of the target’s paper. But my fifth shot at the spider was a good one, another six but at almost 12 o’clock. At least my windage problems were corrected and my score on the spider was 25.
Our last target was the steel elk gong out at 75 yards. As was done before shooting at the bear, my powder measure was adjusted to throw 50 grains of powder. Maybe I should have used more. On my first shot, I got it. Then two misses, both going low, showing hits in the dirt beneath the elk silhouette’s belly. And I finished on the elk with two more hits, simply by holding near the top of its back. That gave me another 30 points.
The Paul Bunyan Plainsmen like to encourage participation in “period attire” and I got three bonus points for being partially “in costume” which gave me a total score for the match of 98 points. That really isn’t very good but shooting in the match was worth it just for the fun. The top shooter was Allen Tresch, one of the Cascade Mountain Men. Out of the 200 points possible, Allen scored the highest with 176. With shooting like that, he certainly deserved 1st place and he was the first to pick a prize off of the “prize blanket.”
Scores, of course, went downhill from Allen’s. My partner Bob DeLisle had a score of 134 for 5th place and two others I should mention were Mike Holeman with 140 for 3rd place and Jerry Mayo with 124 for 6th place. We had just 14 shooters at this event and I found myself in 12th place. Yes, missing my leaf target was rather spooky but I hope the reason for those misses has been corrected. Now I’m looking forward to the next muzzleloader shooting match where I might seek revenge on the spooks or spirits that moved the front sight on my rifle.
Name Elk Bear Spider Leaf or Witch Primitive Total
Allen Tresch 40 40 43 50 3 176
Dan Albro 40 40 26 40 0 146
Mike Holeman 40 30 27 40 3 140
Mike Barr 30 30 30 50 0 140
Dwayne Anderson 30 50 26 30 0 136
Bob DeLisle 50 50 14 20
Jerry Mayo 40 40 14 30 0 124
Eric Burkhead 30 50 20 20 3 120
Frank Haggard 50 40 7 20 0 117
Darrell Behounek 20 30 18 40 0 108
Paul Evans 40 30 13 20 3 106
Mike Nesbitt 30 40 25 0 3 98
Mike Moran 20 10 29 30 5 94
Mark Merwin 50 10 21 0 3 84
