MUZZLE-LOADING // WITH MATT LIMB
club. Cath acquired her first gun, a nitro shotgun,
as a gift on her 40th birthday, and this enabled her
to shoot with her husband, Fred; little changed
until a chance introduction to muzzle-loading
almost a decade later. She admits that she gets a
real buzz shooting with black powder, from
getting the gun and equipment ready, to preparing
the powder and shot a few days before a shoot
- but above all, the social side and the can-do,
helpful attitude among other muzzle-loaders
keeps her coming back.
Last season, while game shooting, Cath took
her first-ever partridge; she said shooting game
with black powder makes every shot so
much more distinctive than a modern
cartridge-fed shotgun. Looking to
the future, Cath plans to move even
further into muzzle-loading, hoping
to be on more muzzle-loading
game shoots and adding to her
partridge count, and getting a
double-barrel gun if she can find
one. Such dedication is best summed
up by her admission that her then
much-loved 40th birthday present, the modern
nitro shotgun, does little more than gather dust in
the gun cabinet.
The law looks on muzzle-loaders with a
significant difference to their modern nitro
counterpart. The Firearms Act exempts all original
antique muzzle-loading shotguns from the
requirements of the Act and any certification, but
only if they are held as objects of curiosity or
ornament, and not used for shooting. Should you
wish to shoot your antique muzzle-loader, it must
be listed on your shotgun certificate and all the
normal security requirements and other legal
necessities are required. There is, of course, a
further implication for the purchase, transportation
and handling of black powder, which is classified
as an explosive. So, requiring an explosive
certificate plus approved storage, plus there will
be a limit on the amount of black powder that can
be stored, but this did not appear to be an issue
for shooting a muzzle-loader. The percussion
caps require no certificate for their purchase.
The country’s governing body for
muzzle-loading is the Muzzle Loaders
Association of Great Britain. Founded in 1952,
its key aims and objectives are to encourage an
interest in all muzzle-loading firearms, while
promoting and regulating their use, and to
preserve their choice of collection. This is done
via training in the safe and correct use of
black powder and muzzle-loading.
Unlike the modern nitro shotgun, that
level and depth of knowledge is not
readily available. Certainly, for
anyone with an interest, especially
given the requirement to hold an
explosive certificate, correct training
is vital in addition to the normal safety
training any responsible gun owner
should have.
As I made my way from stand to stand with the
group, I could not help but notice one young man
who shot consistently well. At just 14 years old,
Henry was the youngest in the group and had
never picked up a gun until just a couple of years
ago. For someone still tackling his GCSEs at
school, with the ambition of a career in the police,
he certainly has caught the black powder fever
and the story of his muzzle-loading gun is an
amazing one.
Henry’s grandfather, who is often his taxi to get
him to the club’s regular meets, rescued a dusty
and dirty old muzzle-loading gun from a waste bin
in the 1950s, admitting it just caught his eye. After
taking it home and giving it a good clean and
polish, it made a centrepiece mounted on his walland stayed there for the next 50 years. Then by
chance, following an introduction to the club, it
came off the wall to one of their clay days and,
after being checked over and inspected, and
added to his shotgun certificate, it was loaded
and fired, which Henry admitted was an amazing
moment. The gun, manufactured in Birmingham
by William Siddons sometime in the 1850s, is now
a prized item for Henry on any day’s shooting.
I found this story astonishing: that a gun over
150 years old, which had been destined to a bin,
then hung on a wall for a further half century, was
still functional. As Henry explained, all it required
was a couple of minor repairs, which was soon
achieved with the help of club members. I wonder
if we could say the same of any modern shotgun,
in about 170 years from now!
While this may have been a clay shooting
day, it soon became very clear that everyone
involved was not here to shoot clays; they were
here to shoot their much-prized antique
muzzle-loading black-powder shotguns. Yes,
hitting a few clays may have helped, but the true
reward of the day was to shoot their gun, some
approaching two centuries old, in the company of
like-minded people.
If only a gun could speak. I would ask what the
collection of guns out that morning could tell us,
where had they been, what had they done and
seen? Engrained into every antique stock,
hammer and barrel must be a story that reads like
a history book of our country and the rich tapestry
of its life.
I drove home with a smile on my face. All in all,
my kind of a day out, social, informative and
educational in the company of warm and
open-hearted people. So, do I see myself chasing
the auction houses and investing in a muzzle-
loader over the coming months with a pending
move to the dark side? Without a doubt, I can
certainly see the attraction and I like what I see,
but time will tell. The Muzzle
Loaders Association of
Great Britain governs the
hobby in the UK.http://www.mlagb.comMen, women, teenagers – muzzle-loading
is for everyone!Henry’s gun dates back to the
1850s and was rescued from a
bin by his grandfather!