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Robinette Family Shooting Sports
Mary E. & Paul P. Robinette Jr.
On the range I enjoy shooting my 1830 era percussion cap rifles. My "Western Plains" style caplock rifle is a
Lyman
built "Great Plains" .50 caliber muzzle
loading rifle using patched round balls that I cast myself. Casting lead balls was called by the old timers, "running" balls because the molten lead runs like water and you have to be very careful working with it. This is not appropriate for a kitchen stove top project. The hot lead is easy to work with but must be treated with the proper respect for safe handling. The pioneers, frontiersmen, and settlers could do it over a very hot campfire. They would only run enough balls for their immediate needs. The Lewis and Clarke expedition carried their powder in lead cans, which they would melt down when empty, to cast lead ball ammunition. The cans were just big enough to provide the right amount of lead for the enclosed powder.
I carry this sturdy western style half-stock rifle when I am participating in early 19th Century historical reenactments. This is the .50 caliber muzzle loader firearm I used when I participated in Tennessee's Bicentennial State Celebration, while we were stationed at NSA Memphis, in Millington, Tenn. It allowed me to participate in all of the "olde tyme" shoots during our rendevous. My "Eastern" style half stock rifle, which I also carried for some re-enactments, is a Traditions manufactured "front-loader", that was given to me by Mary, while we were stationed in Hawai'i. The Traditions rifle started all of our "Smoke, Fire and Thunder"!
The National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association
NMLRA
is a great resource to take advantage of for people interested in black powder muzzle loading firearms. When I use an historical handgun for fun or reenactment shooting demonstrations, I like shooting my single shot Lyman .50 caliber Great Plains Trapper Pistol. With its relatively short nine inch barrel, it is easier to load than a "long rifle" typically fifty some inches long. The trapper is surprisingly accurate out to 50 yards.
On occasion, Mary likes to shoot the "Trapper" Pistol. While it is a Lyman replica, of an early nineteenth century caplock similar to what the trappers used, Mary finds it works even for her small hands.
What she really enjoys though, is her original 1851
Colt Navy Revolver (not a replica), loading it with powder, balls and caps the same way Wild Bill Hickock and his contemporaries did in the mid-1800s. Wild Bill carried two Colts in his sash or belt. This would give him 10 rounds of firepower, especially handy if he was outnumbered. The invention of the multichamber Colt revolver, saved families under attack on their trek to settle the west. In the time it took to pour powder down the barrel, cut a patch, ram the ball home and prime the pan of a single shot flintlock, one attacker could shoot 5 or 6 arrows. Colt's revolver saved lives. The Colt revolvers prompted the slogan used by the company, "God created men equal, Col. Colt made them equal ..."
We both belonged to the Memphis Shooting Sports Association (MSSA), while we lived in Millington, Tennessee and were volunteers for the Ducks Unlimited, Great Outdoors Festival, in Memphis. Because we believe that "Freedom isn't free!" we are members of the National Rifle Association NRA and the Second Amendment Foundation SAF. Both organizations are "gun rights" advocates for traditional American liberties for all individuals as expressed in the U. S. Constitution Bill of Rights.
Revised April 2005.
Text & Photos � 1996 & 2005.
by Paul & Mary Robinette
Shooting sports questions or comments?
Visit the Lyman web site if you are interested in their Great Plains cap or flintlock rifles or handguns. Lyman also has black powder supplies, reloading supplies, and equipment. Lyman has something for everyone interested in shooting sports. Go to the Lyman Catalog to visit their web site.
To return to the top of the page, click on the Flintlock Rifle.
