Live Fire

 

Our range for the weekend.

Invited by Master Gunsmith Dave Person, several members of Warner's Regiment gathered at a private range for a live fire event.

At public events, we fire blank charges of gunpowder only, which is the spark and smoke you see at reenactments. This event gave us a chance to safely fire live loads of round ball, such as what was used during the American Revolution.

Your author, in winter hippie form (right) and one of my comrades.

A small selection of our arms.

We fired a variety of calibers and charges, both patched and loose ball, in a number of formations, including close, open order, and individual fire. We fired both smooth bore and rifled flintlocks. This gave us a small glimpse at what these historic weapon could do.

Some of us were experienced shooters. Some had never fired before. For my parts, the last time I live fired anything was 35+ years ago as a Boy Scout shooting a .22 rifle at summer camp. Because of that, I opted to start at the bench. I was soon firing off hand and at the knee (my most comfortable position)

My eyesight isn't great, so I couldn't tell where I was hitting on the targets. When we switched to pumpkins and onions, though, I was able to hit a pumpkin 3 out of 3 tries (one low, one high, one center) at about 35 yards. Later we did a timed shooting course of different sized metal targets at various ranges. Surprising myself, I placed 3rd out of 7 shooters. I hit 2 out of 6 targets. 3 of our shooters had misfires that dropped them from the running.

Another incredibly fun weekend with my Warner's family, and an amazingly relaxed weekend without needing to be part of "the show" for a paying public.

Examining the woods behind the targets.

An example of the damage done by a musket ball.