"Would it be beneficial for modern shooters to learn how to shoot a flintlock, matchlock, cap and ball, etc. type rifle?"

[Ura-Ki]

Ahhh....the wounds now thrust upon my shooters heart after reading the above two posts...
Just kidding ...Not everyone has to like muzzle loading firearms.

Wait...What did I just say...must be the heat...
Andy

Hey, Shake out your head gear buddy, EVERY one loves Muzzle loaders, they just don't know it yet!

 

[RVTECH]

It was fun, but unless somebody has an interest or is contemplating getting into ML weapons, I see no reason to learn about it.

I agree. Muzzleloading takes a certain amount of dedication and shooting fairly regularly to maintain proficiency and isn't something that should be taken up just as a 'control' measure to improve one's accuracy.

 

[Member 38805]

I have nothing against it, or I wouldn't have my Ron Scott Vincent half stock ML rifle. But as with any venue of shooting, it's not a cheap venture to get a gun and everything needed to just get started. So to say everyone should learn it, is just not feasible for many. A lot of folks whose first love is a certain type of firearm, and shooting; are of course hoping everyone else can learn to enjoy their favorite gun and shooting venue.
I own and shoot almost exclusively 1800's single shot rifles, and most of my shooting is long range shooting. It's something I've enjoyed for years, and seeing the smiles on people's faces the first time they hit a long range dinger and hear the delayed ding coming back is priceless. I wish everyone could experience it, and take it up too. But doesn't hurt me if they decide not to.
My Hepburn at 650 yds. if I recall correctly?

 

[Jason999]

If someone has zero knowledge about HOW a firearm actually functions, then I can see learning about and how to shoot muzzleloaders as a good teaching aide. It gives them a basic understanding of just what is involved in a hammer fired weapon. How it strikes the percussion cap, ignites the powder and propels the projectile down the barrel.

Though I may be biased, I own 4 front stuffers Black powder rifles were my first love.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

Only 4...?
Come join the Wagon Train....
Andy

 

[OldBroad44]

Depends on what you mean by Beneficial. "Beneficial" implies a practical use to me, and I think I'd be unlikely to carry a single shot as a working gun. However, shooting is as much or more recreational as practical for me. I think it might be interesting and fun to learn about, own, and shoot a muzzle loader. I find I really enjoy loading a revolver in a slow contemplative way, and really dislike reloading magazines. Reloading a revolver is a sort of Zen experience. I don't know whether I would enjoy shooting a muzzle loader, but suspect I would really enjoy loading them.

 

[RVTECH]

However, shooting is as much or more recreational as practical for me. I think it might be interesting and fun to learn about, own, and shoot a muzzle loader.

it is - very relaxing and not stressful.

 

[Ura-Ki]

Depends on what you mean by Beneficial. "Beneficial" implies a practical use to me, and I think I'd be unlikely to carry a single shot as a working gun. However, shooting is as much or more recreational as practical for me. I think it might be interesting and fun to learn about, own, and shoot a muzzle loader. I find I really enjoy loading a revolver in a slow contemplative way, and really dislike reloading magazines. Reloading a revolver is a sort of Zen experience. I don't know whether I would enjoy shooting a muzzle loader, but suspect I would really enjoy loading them.

I think you would really enjoy a cap and ball Revolver! Take everything you enjoy with Revolvers and add in the whole zen of pouring a charge and seating a lubbed and patched ball or a lubbed Conical and then capping it! Almost as much fun as touching off a cylinders worth in that nice smooth and controlled manor! It's all about the Smoke and Fire!

 

[OldBroad44]

First thing I thought of when I saw this. Long ago when Russia was trying their hand at Afghanistan. Article showed some of the fighters who were only armed with front suffer's. The story claimed that the guys had managed to bring down at least one of the (at the time) top of the line, super deadly choppers Russia had sent over there with the idea of wiping them out. Claimed the way they did it was these guys shot at the massive choppers with the front stuffer's trying to hit the tail rotor. That the soft lead would stick to the damn thing. That was all it took to set it to vibrating so bad it would soon fail. Anyone who knows how Choppers work knows what happens when you lose the tail rotor.
So again don't know if they really did this or not but the story made me want to hope maybe they really had.

About a small bit of lead on a tail rotor causing it to fail--I believe it. In the lab, if an ultra centrifuge head is even slightly unbalanced, the rotor spins off the rest of the machine, goes through the largely symbolic containment wall of the instrument and through the wall of the centrifuge room into the adjacent room, and maybe through the walls of one or two more labs before stopping. Rotors can become unbalanced because someone puts a test tube with a water-containing balancer tube in centrifuge and fails to remove balancer tube when done. The balancer tube is clear and so is the water it contains, making it nearly invisible. If the next user of the centrifuge fails to check specifically for stray balancer tubes, there will certainly and inevitably be a serious accident.

 

[Koda]

I actually think it would be fun to own an old cap and ball revolver...

IMO somewhere there is a line in technology where the older tech no longer influences the newer techniques. Im not certain if or where muzzeloading lands in that spectrum.

From a more modern perspective, I do think new shooters would learn more about marksmanship with a bolt action rifle than an AR15.

 

[sobo]

Ahhh....the wounds now thrust upon my shooters heart after reading the above two posts...

I detect Andy channeling a bit of the Bard here...

 

[Ura-Ki]

About a small bit of lead on a tail rotor causing it to fail--I believe it. In the lab, if an ultra centrifuge head is even slightly unbalanced, the rotor spins off the rest of the machine, goes through the largely symbolic containment wall of the instrument and through the wall of the centrifuge room into the adjacent room, and maybe through the walls of one or two more labs before stopping. Rotors can become unbalanced because someone puts a test tube with a water-containing balancer tube in centrifuge and fails to remove balancer tube when done. The balancer tube is clear and so is the water it contains, making it nearly invisible. If the next user of the centrifuge fails to check specifically for stray balancer tubes, there will certainly and inevitably be a serious accident.

Yup! Airplane propellers can do that, especially if you over rev them! Any sort of damage to the blades or hub and it will likely fail, even a imbalance if bad enough will cause massive failure, if it's not the prop it's self, it's the whole front snout of the crank shaft!