An old timer (now long dead) from my home area talked of he and his brother both having muzzle loaders when they were boys. Their parents had an orchard and made their own fruit boxes.
He said when they didn't have money for shot they'd use berry box nails (very small iron tacks) in their guns. He told it as the truth and I would assume it was though I can't imagine trying to eat game shot with something like that. You'd have to be mighty careful to pick them all out of the meat prior to cooking.
He was in his 90's when he died in the early late 1980's so their muzzle loaders were used out of poverty sake not because that's all there was available.
Another old timer talked about how they only gun they had was an old Springfield 45-70 trapdoor rifle. They'd buy .410 shells at the feed store a few at a time (they never had money enough for a full box) then wrap them with newspaper so they'd fit tight in the gun. He said it would kill a squirrel or a rabbit but you had to be real close.
Destry
Last edited by MarketHunter; 10/28/08 08:13 PM.
