Some of you may recall that I ran in My First Winter "Primitive Biathlon" two years ago, as noted in that posting. I couldn't run it in Feb 2013 due to some serious rotator cuff pain (ouch!), but that's all better now, thanks to 3 months of physical therapy sessions and regular stretching and exercises. So I ran my 2nd Winter Biathlon yesterday, hosted by the infamous "Dalton Gang" who have a really nice facility in northern NH (1.5 hours north of North Conway). While I was loading my capper and stuffing the pockets of my wool Union vest, I had an interested audience from the back of the SUV: Last time I ran this event, I used a 6-pound T/C Cherokee in .45 cal, but this year, I traded up in weight to a 9-pound T/C Hawken .50 cal with the longer 32" 1-in-66" roundball barrel. I was hoping the extra weight would help me hold on targets better when winded. Here you can see that all loading and cleaning is done from a pouch, as there are no benches or anything to put your gear on. Just that rule, is a major change for most BP shooters. While you can use a sling, it would be for carrying only, but no slings or cross-sticks could be used to hold up the rifle when shooting. The trick is to strategically place the needed supplies where you can easily get to them. I had cleaning patches and tools in my left vest pocket. The right pocket held round balls and lubed patches, as although I had drilled out the .45-cal ball block the night before (holds 10 patched balls, ready to start in the muzzle), I hadn't checked the fit and they were just too snug to start the larger .490" balls and patches. Oops... Around my neck, I wore a lanyard which held a nipple pick (used on every shot) and a wooden palm saver to seat the loads. On another lanyard, I had my T/C #11 capper, loaded full with caps (this went in the upper chest pocket). I had misc tools and paper tubes of powder in my loading pouch, which has a U.S. buckle on it, with crossed rifles on the flap. You can't make it out in the pictures, but I used a 32" solid brass ramrod for this, as that's what I'll use in the deer woods too. And as you can see, the snowshoes have to be wood/rawhide -- no aluminum or magnesium "modern" shoes allowed -- to keep with the spirit of the event. These pix were taken on the practice range, and while my wife and I tried to time the shot and camera to get the rifle going off, you'll have to settle on this shot below which just shows the smoke clearing from the right of the view. I was really pleased to get 100% quick ignition on the practice range and for all 9 shots for score fired along the course (at 3 stations along the course, and one final one at the end). The two prior practice sessions hadn't gone as well... I was getting about 40% misfires over the last two weeks, when the #11 magnum caps went off OK, but the 3F 777 loads didn't ignite...
That was no fun at all...
I was so frustrated by that problem, that I almost didn't run the event this year... But my bride encouraged me to do it, as she enjoys the event and the nice drive through the NH mountains -- yeah that, and maybe the shopping and nice dinner in North Conway after we were done too. She also reminded me that I've been training for this for the last few months, and even got the new Hawken for the event. So she said I had to find a way to make it work... Then in a feat of either desperation or brilliance (or maybe both?), I opened up the Treso bronze nipple to 0.030" (from a tight 0.022") and switched to using 3F Schuetzen branded real blackpowder. Wow!!! That did the trick! Every shot went off with a BOOM! No "clicks", or "snap-pause-booms" or "ka-booms", just solid, quick ignition like you need. Guess I'll be using BP from now on in this gun.Most of the other shooters tended to dress in the mountain man or French & Indian War dress. I am still the only Civil War vet, that I know of... Maybe a quarter were dressed in wool plaids and jeans, as the period dress is encouraged, but not mandatory. Here is "Elvis" in his camo, skins and furs... I'm told he does the Primitive Biathlon circuit around New England every winter and only wears those Elvis glasses for these events!?! Hey, if it works for him, who am I to argue... Well, here I am at the starting shack getting ready to run off. They start you on the minute, separating the shooters by 3 or 4 minutes, and time you to the second. Last time I did this event, I ran "flats" on level 8 on our elliptical cross-trainer. This year instead, I ran "hills" and "random" workouts at levels 12 and 14, which worked my legs and lungs much harder. All of that paid off though, as I passed two shooters who started before me. I also learned from watching the .22 Olympics Biathlon coverage on TV by pacing myself on the first half of the course, which was all uphill. That way, I didn't wipe myself out too early and I had plenty of energy to run faster on the downhill sections. I guess I learned a lot this year... The tougher physical training really helped, for sure. And it's very neat to have a reason to stay fit during what could be the "lazy, stay inside" time of year. I do need to slow down when I shoot and "hold and squeeze" a little better; and a healthy dose of "Aim small, miss small" wouldn't hurt me either... But overall, I was really pleased with getting 100% ignition on all the shots fired. That was the "gold medal" for me! It took me 30+ years to finally start using blackpowder in blackpowder guns, but the super-reliable ignition sure makes it worth doing. Guess I'll use-up the cans of 777 in my Old Army, where the straight-line powder channel has never been an issue.
Well, that's my report. If any of you New Englanders decide to give this event a try some year, send me a PM and we'll coordinate a visit at the Dalton Gang's range. For those interested, here's a Handy Link to a Primitive Biathlon Calendar which should get refreshed with new dates next year.
But I still like the idea of running a similar event with Leverguns... Anyone interested in that???
Old No7
I made the switch to real black last winter after using Pyrodex for years. The real stuff performs so much better.
