Bucks County 4-H Shooting Sports Muzzleloader Program
Posted: November 4, 2011
If you don’t know what a muzzleloader is, then you have to think back 150 years or more. Muzzleloaders are also sometimes referred to as black powder guns. Youth members learned about the differences in flintlock rifles used in the 1700’s, and the later addition of the cap and ball rifles used primarily in the 1800’s and into the American Civil War. Youth participants learned how to load and fire these reproductions of the antique rifles. They were instructed on the different types of powder, how to measure and pour the powder, set the ball using the ramrod, and to set the flash pan in the flintlock or use the cap in the percussion models. Although they had a lot of fun learning this new shooting discipline, of course safety was always the most important lesson. Bucks County 4-H would like to thank the Branch Valley Gun Club in Perkasie for donating the use of their shooting range.
