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Rule #4
Be consistent , you know, not ALL the time or anything .
Be consistent , you know, not ALL the time or anything .
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Historical correctness at Rendezvous....
- Thread Starter Andy54Hawken
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Full of "stand-up philosophy"…. aka BS-ing
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Two factors came to mind when reading @Andy54Hawken 's post, based on my own personal experiences: shooting sports that became equipment races, and shooting sports where "absolute" purists seek to create a division in the sport. Andy did a pretty good job of defining himself apart from either destructive aspect.
In Junior Smallbore competition in high school, our team of rag-tag nerds from less than wealthy families competed with school-supplied rifles and ammunition against kids of better economical means shooting near-Olympic grade guns (modified to fit the individual shooter) and the finest ammo, wearing custom shooting coats, and some even under professional tutelage (with the tutor present at matches).
We managed to do okay, taking second place in the NRA Regionals, but the general experience of knowing we were fighting money rather than skill was always discouraging. We were aware we could always win on skill. We also knew for certain we'd never have the tools that might allow that skill to triumph. When the Ten-Ring is the diameter of your bullet, hardware can make you or break you.
The most egalitarian shooting competition in which I participated was in the military: pistol competion with our issued .38's. Everybody shot the same gun and the same ammo. It was ironic that such fairness occurred within an organization that existed on hierarchy. An Airman with take-home pay hovering around a hundred bucks per check could honestly beat a Major at the range. Once on the Line, all assigned or imagined rank dissolved.
Out of the service, I explored Silhouette competition. Fascinated by a contest that centered on hunting rifles and the fact that one of the first championships was won with a Marlin 336 .30-30, I was naïve enough to believe it could not be corrupted. When the guns began to resemble nothing I'd seen in the hunting fields and chased weight and other parameters, I exited to Smallbore Silhouette, and did very well. It wasn't long before the Remingtons, Rugers and Winchesters there were supplanted by the Kimbers and Anschutzes beyond my financial reach.
I joined the Single Action Shooting Society (Cowboy Action) in its early years, attracted by its motto: "The Spirit of the Game". Competitors now pay large sums to have the guts of their guns "rattle-trapped" in order not to lose fractions of seconds in operation. Squib loads are fully approved, and the "Cowboys" now engage in their gunfights with projectiles traveling at airgun velocities, operating their guns in no fashion previously recognized. I am still a member, but could never compete with my full-power blackpowder and lead loads assembled (as were the originals in the real gunfights) to kill stuff. I also saw a measure of "high brow" from the shooters who spent lots of effort (and money) to create their "authentic" dress. I needed to expend little effort: I just wore my horseback clothes. Dirty and tattered from real use, I was more "authentic" than those who tried. In the early years if all a guy had was a cowboy hat and Levi's, he'd be welcomed into the fold. It became less so. "The Spirit of the Game" had caught the last bus out.
Muzzleloading (and Rendezvous attendance) may seem immune to all such. Indeed, the people involved in it are pretty laid back and easy-going. There is a resort not far from my home that caters to airplane people (airstrip in front of the lodge) and horse people (stables, corrals, campsites and trails). As an event venue, it so happened that a horseback Poker Ride was for years scheduled on the same weekend as a Rendezvous. It was a gorgeous mixture of people perhaps not involved in exactly the same things, but certainly like-minded. Cowboys and Mountain Men. After our ride, we made a point of tethering our ponies outside the "Village", and strolling through for what we might glean from the trade tables, exchanging not a few stories. 1885 met 1835, and I could not help but think of all of us much like Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim: Unstuck in Time. Most fascinating was rifle competition fired from a canoe at river-current speed to a target on the bank. Corrupt THAT!
So, where do we draw the line? Game commissions struggle with it constantly toward weapon regulation. Saboted muzzleloader projectiles, in-line actions, covered caps, pelleted propellant, etc.,etc,,etc. Are these "newfangled inventions" or old technology revived?
The sport of Archery (in which I now do most of my hunting) flirts with disaster in that a number of the "Purists" (Longbowmen and such) seek to set themselves apart from the rest of the community, often with disdain. I shoot a longbow. I also shoot a recurve. I also shoot a compound. I shoot cedar arrows, aluminum and graphite. The Archery community (perhaps even more than any other hunting community) needs unity, not division or disdain of others in it.
Andy has it right when he becomes a near-absolute "Purist" when he is "playing the role" for educational purposes. Nothing can be out of place there, because the confusion would negate the education. I am a "Purist" when it comes to my riding gear: mostly because they really had all this stuff pretty well figured out by 1885.
But the worst thing that can happen to a shared and loved interest is the division caused by a faction that looks down their noses at a relative (perhaps "unpure") newcomer learning to enjoy the same thing, or participates in a fashion that is "distasteful" to those placing themselves in a position of judgement.
Ask a Houndsman or a Trapper: where is the united hunting community when their choice of method is threatened?
In Junior Smallbore competition in high school, our team of rag-tag nerds from less than wealthy families competed with school-supplied rifles and ammunition against kids of better economical means shooting near-Olympic grade guns (modified to fit the individual shooter) and the finest ammo, wearing custom shooting coats, and some even under professional tutelage (with the tutor present at matches).
We managed to do okay, taking second place in the NRA Regionals, but the general experience of knowing we were fighting money rather than skill was always discouraging. We were aware we could always win on skill. We also knew for certain we'd never have the tools that might allow that skill to triumph. When the Ten-Ring is the diameter of your bullet, hardware can make you or break you.
The most egalitarian shooting competition in which I participated was in the military: pistol competion with our issued .38's. Everybody shot the same gun and the same ammo. It was ironic that such fairness occurred within an organization that existed on hierarchy. An Airman with take-home pay hovering around a hundred bucks per check could honestly beat a Major at the range. Once on the Line, all assigned or imagined rank dissolved.
Out of the service, I explored Silhouette competition. Fascinated by a contest that centered on hunting rifles and the fact that one of the first championships was won with a Marlin 336 .30-30, I was naïve enough to believe it could not be corrupted. When the guns began to resemble nothing I'd seen in the hunting fields and chased weight and other parameters, I exited to Smallbore Silhouette, and did very well. It wasn't long before the Remingtons, Rugers and Winchesters there were supplanted by the Kimbers and Anschutzes beyond my financial reach.
I joined the Single Action Shooting Society (Cowboy Action) in its early years, attracted by its motto: "The Spirit of the Game". Competitors now pay large sums to have the guts of their guns "rattle-trapped" in order not to lose fractions of seconds in operation. Squib loads are fully approved, and the "Cowboys" now engage in their gunfights with projectiles traveling at airgun velocities, operating their guns in no fashion previously recognized. I am still a member, but could never compete with my full-power blackpowder and lead loads assembled (as were the originals in the real gunfights) to kill stuff. I also saw a measure of "high brow" from the shooters who spent lots of effort (and money) to create their "authentic" dress. I needed to expend little effort: I just wore my horseback clothes. Dirty and tattered from real use, I was more "authentic" than those who tried. In the early years if all a guy had was a cowboy hat and Levi's, he'd be welcomed into the fold. It became less so. "The Spirit of the Game" had caught the last bus out.
Muzzleloading (and Rendezvous attendance) may seem immune to all such. Indeed, the people involved in it are pretty laid back and easy-going. There is a resort not far from my home that caters to airplane people (airstrip in front of the lodge) and horse people (stables, corrals, campsites and trails). As an event venue, it so happened that a horseback Poker Ride was for years scheduled on the same weekend as a Rendezvous. It was a gorgeous mixture of people perhaps not involved in exactly the same things, but certainly like-minded. Cowboys and Mountain Men. After our ride, we made a point of tethering our ponies outside the "Village", and strolling through for what we might glean from the trade tables, exchanging not a few stories. 1885 met 1835, and I could not help but think of all of us much like Vonnegut's Billy Pilgrim: Unstuck in Time. Most fascinating was rifle competition fired from a canoe at river-current speed to a target on the bank. Corrupt THAT!
So, where do we draw the line? Game commissions struggle with it constantly toward weapon regulation. Saboted muzzleloader projectiles, in-line actions, covered caps, pelleted propellant, etc.,etc,,etc. Are these "newfangled inventions" or old technology revived?
The sport of Archery (in which I now do most of my hunting) flirts with disaster in that a number of the "Purists" (Longbowmen and such) seek to set themselves apart from the rest of the community, often with disdain. I shoot a longbow. I also shoot a recurve. I also shoot a compound. I shoot cedar arrows, aluminum and graphite. The Archery community (perhaps even more than any other hunting community) needs unity, not division or disdain of others in it.
Andy has it right when he becomes a near-absolute "Purist" when he is "playing the role" for educational purposes. Nothing can be out of place there, because the confusion would negate the education. I am a "Purist" when it comes to my riding gear: mostly because they really had all this stuff pretty well figured out by 1885.
But the worst thing that can happen to a shared and loved interest is the division caused by a faction that looks down their noses at a relative (perhaps "unpure") newcomer learning to enjoy the same thing, or participates in a fashion that is "distasteful" to those placing themselves in a position of judgement.
Ask a Houndsman or a Trapper: where is the united hunting community when their choice of method is threatened?
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Don't forget, if you intend to go to that rondy as HC as possible, thatyou ought to refrain from washing for at least a week, maybe more, to take that tang of the backwoods with you. Clothes as well, mind, ought to be pretty rancid, at least enough to make an animal think twice about getting nearer.
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One of the reasons I never got into reenacting is the stitch Nazis. Altho most live on the net, so they are not held to the same degree of authenticity, It just took the fun out of it for me.
I shot Cowboy Action, and Mounted Cowboy Action, for a few years, when they started having to enforce a rule where Black Powder classes had a Smoke Density standard, and shooters had to meet a minimum power, they had lost me. DR
I shot Cowboy Action, and Mounted Cowboy Action, for a few years, when they started having to enforce a rule where Black Powder classes had a Smoke Density standard, and shooters had to meet a minimum power, they had lost me. DR
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