226 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Some Old-Time Rifles and Rifle Shooting 
By Will H. Thompson. 
N Forest and Steam of March 
28, 1914, under the above title, 
“Back Number,’’ gave us a 
very interesting account of 
some old-time Southern match 
shooting with the small-bore, 
muzzle loading flint-lock rifle. 
Born, as I was, in North 
Georgia, in 1848, and having grown to manhood 
there, it may be that “Back Number’s” apprecia¬ 
tion of the fine old weapon appealed more strong¬ 
ly to me than to most of your readers. 
I knew the old flint-lock rifle well. No more 
accurate weapon was ever bored. The last one 
I owned, which my brother Maurice named 
“Hornet,” was as nearly a perfect rifle as skill 
could at that time create. The octagon barrel 
was forty-four inches long, deeply rifled, 
slightly “drawn” or choked for an inch at the 
muzzle, so that a “starting-stick” of about six 
inches in length was necessary to be used to 
force the closely patched bullet down for a few 
inches until the slender hickory ramrod could 
bear the strain of pushing the bullet home. 
This rifle, in old Southern parlance, “ran one 
hundred and eighty-six to the pound,” which 
means that out of a pound of bar lead could be 
moulded one hundred and eighty-six bullets. The 
fine “birdseye maple” stock ran full to the 
muzzle; the “drop” was three and one-half inch¬ 
es, the grip very slender and delicately hand 
carved. The deeply concave butt that rested 
against the. shoulder was plated with silver, and 
an engraved silver “grease-box” was set into the 
right cheek of the stock. The bore of this gun 
was so small that it was necessary to wipe it out 
at every second shot. 
The weapon was so heavy and the charge so 
light that there was absolutely no perceptible re¬ 
coil. 
The “hair-trigger” was a combination of two 
triggers, a straight one in front and a curved 
one an inch to the rear. Before shooting the 
rifleman “set” the triggers by pulling the rear 
one until a slight “click” announced that the 
“dog” had caught in the shallow notch. Then 
the slender hammer, clasping in its jaws the 
keen-edged flint, was drawn back until another 
“click” betrayed that all was ready. The slight¬ 
est, softest touch upon the front trigger discharg¬ 
ed the piece. Much of the extreme accuracy of 
these rifles was due to the delicacy of the trigger 
mechanism. The clumsy parts of the “pan” of 
the old flint-lock musket give no idea of the 
graceful mechanism of the same parts of a fine 
old rifle. 
The pan proper, which held the ignition powder, 
was small, and, when the cover was shut down, 
the steel surface facing the flint sloped slightly 
backward, so that in striking it the flint chafed 
the front of the steel “facing,” and, by the force 
of the blow, threw it back exposing the pan, into 
which a shower of sparks was dashed, and the 
discharge followed. 
“Back Number” speaks of the use of “round” 
balls in these rifles, probably in contradiction to 
the long, sharp-pointed balls used in modern rifle 
cartridges. The old-time rifle bullets were neither 
Will H. Thompson. 
“round” nor of the “pencil” shape of the modern 
ball. 
Each rifle had its own “bullet-moulds” into 
which enough melted lead was poured to fill the 
mould. The lead cooled almost instantly, when 
the mould was opened, the bullet dropped out, the 
“neck” of surplus lead that had filled the entrance 
to the mould, was cut off close to the bullet, which 
was then slightly oblong, a trifle longer than 
wide, with a small flat spot at the base where the 
neck had been cut off. This “neck” was always 
turned down in loading. 
The process in loading “Hornet” was invariably 
as follows: The butt of the gun was set against 
the ground to the left at such distance as to bring 
the muzzle to about the level of the top of the 
rifleman’s breast bone; a charge of very fine 
grained rifle-powder was poured from the powder 
horn into a small buck-horn “charger,” attached 
by a slender leather thong to the point of the 
horn, and from the charger poured into the 
muzzle of the rifle. A small square of unbleached 
cotton cloth, or “Osnaburg,” was spread across the 
muzzle and a bullet was set upon this, neck down, 
and pressed into the bore of the gun until the top 
of the bullet sank below the level of the muzzle. 
Then the left hand gathered up the outside cloth 
and the right hand drew a sharp knife blade 
across the muzzle severing the cloth and leaving 
the bullet beautifully “patched.” The starting 
stick was then held against the bullet with the 
left hand while the right, holding the gun at about 
the balancing point, drove the outer end of the 
stick against a tree, stone or other firm object, 
with just force enough at two or three efforts to 
sink the bullet four or five inches. The stick was 
then withdrawn, put in the bullet-pouch, and the 
long, slender ramrod drawn from the thimbles 
beneath the barrel. With this the bullet was slow¬ 
ly, by short impulses, pushed firmly home upon 
the powder. The ramrod was returned to the 
thimbles, and "Hornet” was ready for the final 
touch. This was, to be thrown across the left 
arm, the pan opened, filled with powder from the 
horn, and the pan closed. 
All match shooting was done “off-hand,” usually 
at one hundred yards, but sometimes at sixty » 
yards. Most of the small-bore rifles were “sight¬ 
ed” for sixty yards, and an allowance of about 
one and one-half inches in elevation had to be 
made at one hundred yards. 
One accustomed to using A percussion gun 
found difficulty with the slower action of the flint¬ 
lock. The distinct “chick-floo-bank”—marking 
the blow of the flint on the steel—the flash of the 
powder in the pan—and the report of the gun, 
unsettled the aim of the novice and spoiled the 
shot. Curiously enough, many fine shots attribut¬ 
ed to this delayed fire, the extreme effectiveness 
of the flint-lock. Mr. Silas Wells, the greatest off¬ 
hand rifleman I ever knew, explained the theory 
in this way.' “With the cap-lock gun you know 
that the touch upon the trigger and the report of 
the gun are simultaneous, and you are apt to quit 
your aim as the trigger is pressed, but in the case 
of the flint-lock you know that a period of wait¬ 
ing on the aim is necessary while the slower dis¬ 
charge proceeds. Consequently the affirmative ac¬ 
tion of keeping on the aim is maintained until 
after the bullet has gone.” Years of experience 
with both styles of rifle have stiffened my faith 
in Wells’ contention. 
In shooting with the long-bow there is a maxim 
that admits of no dispute that “after the string 
is loosed the bow must be held in the same posi¬ 
tion until the arrow strikes the mark.” Not that 
the flight of the arrow can possibly be aided or 
marred after it has passed the bow, but because *f 
there is always a tendency at the loose of the 
string to feel that the shot is made, and to un¬ 
steady the bow-hand before the arrow has wholly 
passed the bow. This dwelling upon the aim— 
the calm, prolonged fixidity of attention enforced 
