Equipping new Longhunters....

[Adam Helmer]

We had a picnic here at the farm on Labor Day and many people showed up. After dinner, we went to the backyard bench and shot a few flint and caplock guns at targets. A 40-ish year old fellow and his 15 year old nephew loved the muzzleloaders and now want to get their own guns. I lent them a few books on muzzleloaders and held a few more shooting sessions with them.

Both fellows bought .54 Hawken flintlocks and all the necessary gear for this Fall's deer season in PA. We have casted up many roundballs and Maxis.

It has been fun helping these fellows get all the needed things. We accumulate so much stuff that we forget was a mass of equipment it takes to keep a smokepole in operation; stuff like powder measures, short starters, patch worms, ball pullers, pan chargers, possibles bags, patch knives, patches, touch hole picks, patch and bullet lube, etc.

I hope other Longhunters are recruiting new folks into our fraternity.

Adam