Encourage one another and build one another up. Pray without ceasing. Test everything. Keep what is good. Avoid all evil. -1 Thess 5:11,17,21,22
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Primitive. But I still would not want to be shot by it
Interesting because very low-tech can be sufficient to kill. The text is in Persian so this was likely recorded in Iran.
Very low quality blackpowder. It has a wide range of granularity.
Equal volume of powder and shot. That is how the charge is measured.
Looks like a mix of everything from #6 birdshot to #4 buckshot. #6 birdshot is 0.11" in diameter and #4 buckshot is 0.25" in diameter. Not very efficient at killing small or large game...but it will kill deer sized animals eventually.
Using a straitened out safety pin to pick the touch-hole clean. The electrical tape is a nice touch.
You can buy red "caps" at Walmart to use in toys.
Good enough to hit-and-kill a plastic bottle at 14 paces. Yes, I counted them as he walked out to position the target.
I would consider my life at greater risk from this firearm at 15 paces than from a gang-banger doing a mag-dump from a Phoenix Arms HP25 at 15 feet.
I am more likely to be hit and an ounce of #4 buckshot holds 21 pellets. The PA HP25 holds 10 in the magazine. Unless I am moving very, very fast there is a +90% chance the guy with the primitive long-arm will hit me center of mass with most of the pellets ending up in lethal places. The chances of the mag-dump dood hitting me with more than two shots seems remote but I am unwilling to test it.
The Redcoats learned that the hard way in the Colonies during the French and Indian war, then all over again during the Revolution. Men who learned musketry in the Army are fodder for men who learned to shoot by hunting.
Fear the old man with one gun, he knows how to use it.
"very low-tech can be sufficient to kill" of course it is, otherwise we would not have the hi-tech firearms we have now. Otherwise it would have been an evolutionary dead-end.
Low tech can indeed be sufficient. History has shown that high tech weapons are not necessarily - in and of themselves - enough for victory. Yes, the will to win matters - but high tech does not guarantee it.
Some people consider the .410 a perfect foraging round. "Sport Shooting" dictates shooting on the run or flying in the air. "Foraging" (especially in austere circumstances) is shooting when the target is still or perched, so as to provide a more surer kill. The much larger shot in 12 and 20 gauges will damage the meat excessively in those circumstances. Not the .410 - much less shot load.
Many of these users of 'pot shots' also think larger shot sizes (#5 and higher) are more likely to go through the animal so as less chance of consuming one and possibly cracking a tooth. The smaller load of a .410 will also stretch your shot supply for more shots.
I advocate for EVERY man to have a muzzle loader and know how to use it. In a post collapse world, black powder can be made, and ball ammo can be molded. Muzzle loaders are primitive technology. Which means they'll be useable after high tech weapons are being used for trotline weights...
IF you prepared. For example, an appropriate bullet mold, caps/ primers/ flints, and the knowledge to make black powder. And of course it would help to have practiced when supplies were readily available... Jonathan
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The Redcoats learned that the hard way in the Colonies during the French and Indian war, then all over again during the Revolution. Men who learned musketry in the Army are fodder for men who learned to shoot by hunting.
ReplyDeleteFear the old man with one gun, he knows how to use it.
"very low-tech can be sufficient to kill" of course it is, otherwise we would not have the hi-tech firearms we have now. Otherwise it would have been an evolutionary dead-end.
ReplyDeleteLow tech can indeed be sufficient. History has shown that high tech weapons are not necessarily - in and of themselves - enough for victory. Yes, the will to win matters - but high tech does not guarantee it.
ReplyDeleteSome people consider the .410 a perfect foraging round. "Sport Shooting" dictates shooting on the run or flying in the air. "Foraging" (especially in austere circumstances) is shooting when the target is still or perched, so as to provide a more surer kill. The much larger shot in 12 and 20 gauges will damage the meat excessively in those circumstances. Not the .410 - much less shot load.
ReplyDeleteMany of these users of 'pot shots' also think larger shot sizes (#5 and higher) are more likely to go through the animal so as less chance of consuming one and possibly cracking a tooth. The smaller load of a .410 will also stretch your shot supply for more shots.
I advocate for EVERY man to have a muzzle loader and know how to use it. In a post collapse world, black powder can be made, and ball ammo can be molded. Muzzle loaders are primitive technology. Which means they'll be useable after high tech weapons are being used for trotline weights...
ReplyDeleteIF you prepared. For example, an appropriate bullet mold, caps/ primers/ flints, and the knowledge to make black powder.
DeleteAnd of course it would help to have practiced when supplies were readily available...
Jonathan
Regardless of how old, it's STILL deadly!
ReplyDelete