Muzzle Blasts Online
Feb 1999/Mar 1999	Volume 4, Number 1

Short Starts

A member forum edited by Staff

A members' forum to ask for and exchange information of all types related to muzzleloading; send inquiries to the Editor in care of this magazine.

A member has written in to ask if anyone can supply information about a Baltimore, Maryland gunsmith named McComas. The inquirer owns an engraved caplock rifle by this maker. If you have any knowledge to share about this, please send it to the editor .

Do you sometimes feel that you need to justify the role that hunting plays in wildlife conservation? If so, you may be interested in The Hunter in Conservation. This 120-page book is available for $2 plus 75 cents shipping from: The National Shooting Sports Foundation, 11 Mile Hill Rd., Newtown, CT 06470-2359. This same source also makes available The Hunter's Pocket Fact Card, a wallet-sized card that summarizes hunters' contributions. Those cost $1 for five cards.

Looking for a good gun show? Why not visit the Kalamazoo Antique Arms and Pioneer Crafts Show ® on March 20-21 at Kalamazoo County Fairgrounds, 2900 Lake St., Kalamazoo, MI? This event features only antique or reproduction firearms and accoutrements--no modern firearms. For more information, contact Larry Coin at (616) 327-4557.

We are repeatedly told, for good reason, that plastic wads may mean trouble in muzzleloading shotguns because of the residue they leave behind. Venco, the maker of Shooter's Choice gun care products, offers a Shotgun and Choke Tube Cleaner that's intended to remove plastic wad and other fouling from shotgun barrels.

The Museum of the Mountain Man (PO Box 909, Pinedale, WY 82941) will conduct a class in brain tanning deer hides in mid-July. Cost is $100 per person, and enrollment is limited. Successful hunters will need to bring their deer hide (scraped clean), previously double-bagged and frozen.

In an interesting turn of events, the Knight disc rifle has been reclassified by the BATF as an antique firearm.

Member Jim Perkins is looking for a steel bullet mold for casting .550 round balls. Can anyone suggest a source? If so, contact him at: P.O. Box 485, Rochester, NH 03867.

Member Herb Stumpf (General Delivery, Cecil Lake, B.C. VOC-1G0 Canada) owns a rifle that's long been associated with his family. An over-under with two back-action percussion locks and fixed octagon barrels of different calibers, the rifle was originally bought in Tennessee before the family moved to Kentucky. Unfortunately, he finds no markings except Goulcher on the lock plate. If anyone has information on Tennessee makers of such rifles, please share it with Mr. Stumpf.

Member Bob Vilmur is looking for information on Buffalo, New York maker Patrick Smith, who worked in the late 1800's. The rifle that interests him bears an owner's name (Seth Grosvenor) plus the inscription Gull. It's this last inscription that's most puzzling. If you have any clues, contact Bob at 3554 Burritt Way, La Crescenta, CA 91214 or send e-mail to LaVil@webtv.net.

Brothers Hold National Championship Titles Matt Cleland and Chad Cleland

Chad Cleland is a well-known presence at the NMLRA's national matches because of his numerous victories and records in several types of competition (one example: high individual scorer at the recent Manufacturers' Match). That's impressive enough, but catch this: Chad has also won the 1998 National Rifle Association Black Powder Championship; and at the same time, his brother Matt Cleland has won the 1998 National Archer Association target championship, setting seven national records and a world record in the process! Two brothers reigning as national champions in different disciplines in the same year is truly an impressive feat. Congratulations to both!