Hunting with Milsurps- 2012 Edition

[jmoore]

Time again to creep about the woods. This year we have a new property lease, obtained fairly late, so it'll be scouting as much as hunting this season.

But today's star is the Yankee rifled musket in the Rebel forest.:


Which is older? The pine or the musket? That's a mighty big pine for these parts. Several of those monsters on this hillside.

The 1863 and '64 dated S.N & W.T. for Massachusetts Model 1861/"1863 Type II" .577" bored rifled musket handles surprisingly well even in dense undergrowth, provided attention is paid to where the muzzle is a'fixin to go next! Balance and weight are good. Sights are fine in good light, but not great in low light conditions early in the morning.

Haven't had much success getting standard Minie ball to shoot all that accurately, but the Hornady "Great Plains" bullets are more than adequate. Since i only shoot this thing standing, group sizes are more dependant on the shooter, but the Minie ball just don't do nearly as well- say 3 times worse! Probably won't shoot at game much past 50 yards with this rifle, regardless.


Some of the .577"/.58 bullets tested. None as good as the Hornady bullet,(not shown).

A few more photos of today's outing:


That's not a tiny sling (Ow ! That hurts just thinking about it...) but a "wind gage" hanging from the swivel. Note the heavy undergrowth here. Very nice, but very slow to hunt. Fun until it gets "hot" .(about 60 deg. F/ 15 C or more)

BTW, this is quite similar to what the conditions were like at the battle of Chickamauga, not terribly far from here, in which rifles of the same ilk were used.

Feel free to relate your experiences with your milsurps in the field. What about the rifle's features do you like the best? What idiosyncrasies do you find less than ideal? Dead critters are entirely optional, and are actually a small part of the total hunting experience to me. Photos of your rifles are most welcome, though. See the link below for a similar discussion from a couple of years back (Can't remember if we had one last year...):

Hunting With Milsurp Weapons- 2010 Edition

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