Spring flowers and smoke!

[dusty texian]

The prarie is starting to flower up , TURKEYS ARE GOBBLING weather has been nice around here. Went out and made some prarie smoke with my old .50 cal  JBMR .  Hope my Plainsman Brothers are doing well and getting to enjoy our sport . DT

[Gabriel Law]

Five of us shot our4 BP trail on Sunday last.  No flowers to be seen!!  But a really good day with the rifles and friends.

[dusty texian]

You are lucky to have friends with the same kind of shooting interest. Looks like fun! DT

[Tsalagidave]

I see a few nice long guns there.  I especially like the nickel silver mounted Jager.  Love to get a closer look at that.  It has been far too long since I had a good shoot fest with some pards. Gabriel, I'm living vicariously through your experience now.

What were you shooting?

-Dave

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Gabriel Law; thanks for the photo. I miss you guys, not so much on wading through the snow on that trail walk.

[Gabriel Law]

Starting on the left, my brother Daryl is shooting his .69 cal English sporting rifle.  Second is moi, shooting a JP Beck .50 cal.  Third Len McCrea with his Isaac Haines .54.  Then Ross Bradford with a .58 cal Hawken flinter, and finally Neil Hunter with his .45 cal Melchoir Fordney.  All but the Hawken came from my shop.  But Ross does have four of my pieces.  Sorry DAve - no Jaeger rifles in this picture.

[dusty texian]

GL   all the rifles look great , that English sporting rifle looks like it would be a handy dandy to carry . And the 69 cal. must do a good job on those big Moose deer Y'all have up there. Have been looking for reading info about the English sporting muzzleloading rifles of this type . Any advise where to find good reading on this type of rifle? Thanks in advance ,,,DT

[Oregon Bill]

Gabriel, I agree with Dusty. That English Sporting Rifle is a pearler, and in such a capable caliber!
We have flowers here -- and lots of mud.

[Tsalagidave]

Starting on the left, my brother Daryl is shooting his .69 cal English sporting rifle.  Second is moi, shooting a JP Beck .50 cal.  Third Len McCrea with his Isaac Haines .54.  Then Ross Bradford with a .58 cal Hawken flinter, and finally Neil Hunter with his .45 cal Melchoir Fordney.  All but the Hawken came from my shop.  But Ross does have four of my pieces.  Sorry DAve - no Jaeger rifles in this picture.

My mistake.  I took Isaac's piece for a Jager pattern.

-Dave

[Gabriel Law]

Daryl's ESR in .69 cal has not been blooded, to my knowledge.  Daryl could enlarge on that if he reads this message.  But it is supremely accurate, and he is deadly with it.  The big balls are very hard on the steel clangers on our trail, and every spring, many need to be replaced from the winter's attrition.

[Gabriel Law]

Here's one from a little earlier in the spring, a few years ago.

[Blair]

During the late 1840's. Springfield produced a .69 cal. "Rifle" variation of the M-1842 Musket with a barrel length of 33 inches, instead of the standard 42 inches. These were set up for the Freemont Expedition of 1847.
On Freemont's way West, He stop off in St. Louis for a time and had the Hawken Shop build him up some of their Rifles in a matching .69 cal. Rifle.
This will place these Rifles into a caliber grouping very much like the Greman Jager and English, heavy caliber Sporting Rifles.

These Rifles can be very similar from this time period.
I can see why Dave thought this Rifle might be a Jager.
My best,
Blair

[Tsalagidave]

Thanks Blair,

That was exactly my assumption. This is not entirely related but there are numerous period accounts that refer to the M.1841 or any large-bored rifle/carbine as a "Jager". Yes, I've heard of the Freemont rifle but am unaware of any surviving originals. Another interesting fact on the m.1842 rifled muskets is that they were classified as "American Minie Rifles" before the m1855 rifle muskets were widely distributed or available for private purchase.  A good first-hand account of this is General Charles F. Henningsen's description of the m1842 rifled in the November 1, 1856 edition of El Nicaraguenese.  The M1842 rifled (aka. American Minie Rifle) was a contemporary of the M1851 French and British Minie Rifles at the time. Henningsen described a problem with loading more than the prescribed 75g of gunpowder.  Some charges were 95g, which would cause a heavier recoil while bursting the bullet's skirt at the same time.  Needless to say, the burst skirt destroyed accuracy and wasted powder.



-Dave

[dusty texian]

Great pictures Gabriel Law. If that is Spring ,would bet a Winter shoot may be a bit cold. Here I am walking around the Spring turkey woods down here in old Tejas. Good shooting Amigo,,,DT Ron Wehmeyer