[Adam Helmer]

It is too rainy to make hay on the farm, so today was pleasantly spent refitting a dozen, or so, muzzleloaders for the Fall hunting seasons. I wiped out all bores with a patch of CLP and then pulled each lock for cleaning and light oil and then reassembling.

I prefer flintlocks and have a neat .50 smoothbore Hawken that shoots shot and patched roundball that is the best gun for the early grouse an squirrel season in October. My next favorite flintlock is a .50 Hawken that is my October deer rifle with roundball.

I have .45, .50 and .54 percussion arms that get days afield every year. My Big ML is a .54 two-trigger Renegade that also has a 12 gauge single barrel for the handiest ML on the farm. Happily, the Blackpowder 12 gauge barrel likes plastic wads I use for my regular trap guns. I like shooting muzzleloaders so much that I have neglected by superposed smokeless powder shotguns.

Old guns have a certain nostalgia that comes alive for me in the October woods with loyal hound in attendance.

Adam