Re: Pedersoli Kentucky percussion
It was winter. Snowing and blowing. Being December in snow country and muzzleloader season I was out to fill the freezer with venison. I was using a .54 caliber Lyman Trade Rifle Flintlock. So I knew I had to pay attention to the lock pan. I was loaded with 90 grains of 2f black powder and 3f primer in the pan and a 232 grain .530 roundball with a patch down the bore.. I'd been sitting in a stand most of the day watching a Alder and Cedar area, but it was getting late and no deer were seen. Finally I decided to head back to the house by way of the boundary line. With the snow falling harder and the wind, I knew most of the deer were probably bedded down. My property borders Federal Forest and they had brushed out the boundary line, so the walking was not bad in the snow.
I stepped my way slowly to the boundary line heading home. I hated to call it a day but it was snowing and blowing. I had sealed the primer pan with a birthday candle about forty minutes earlier when I changed powder and all looked dry at that time. Looking up the brushed out boundary line, I caught movement. Stepping next to a cedar tree I stood still and watched. Out stepped a young doe. She was feeding on the grass in the cleared area and moving towards me. My worry was with the winds changing all the time she'd scent me. I guessed her at 50 yards. I had practiced with that rifle countless hours on the range, both off a rest and off shooting sticks so I was sure of my skills, if the rifle behaved for me. But I admit, a flintlock in a snow storm. I was nervous.
She stopped walking and was now facing me, feeding on the tall grass covered in snow. I knew it was now or never or go home with no meat. So I leaned into the tree resting the rifle against it. Slowly I cocked the hammer back, and looked at the flint. It appeared dry. And looking over the buck-horn sights I followed the deer's body, contemplating where I should aim for. It was then I decided.. if she lowered her head to eat, I would shoot at her neck, mid chest level. My reasoning was, if I hit the neck she'd drop where she stood. If I was off a hair, the round ball should still hit the chest and go through lungs, so I figured I had a good chance with that plan.
She lowered her head to take a bite of the old dead grass and I had her covered. I really don't remember squeezing the trigger but the rifle pan exploded with a flash of pan sparks and the rifle bucked against my shoulder. I held on the shot because I was worried with the weather there might be a delay in the ignition but the rifle went off like a fine spring day. The smoke cleared with the wind and there (later range finder measured) 52 yards away lay the deer. Dead where she stood.
My legs trembled as I walked towards the deer, which was common for me. I am dead calm but once the deed is done, I tend to get shaken. Lifting the deer's head a hole through the neck. I had hit her solid. When I opened her up I was surprised. The 90 grain powder charge drove that round-ball through her neck, through the chest wall, through the lungs, then downward through the back of the guts. The ball continued out the belly hitting the hind leg. Checking the leg it was broken with a through and through hole, indicating the ball pass completely through the deer and the ball was now somewhere out in the brush.
One other incident I always like to tell about to indicate the power of a .54 caliber round ball is the time I was sitting in a stand. I was watching a trail that crossed about 80 yards in front of me. I was using my T/C Renegade .54 caliber with a peep sight on it. I heard the deer first before I saw it, a small buck. But being a meat hunter I did not care how big the horns were. I grabbed my binoculars and checked the deer. It was a small spike ... nothing special. But to me it was fine. I knew it would be good eating.
Taking my eyes off the deer, I put my binoculars away. Then I slowly brought the rifle up, resting it on the window ledge of the blind and cocked the rifle. Hitting the set trigger I was concentrating on the shot I was about to make. Tunnel vision some might call it. But the peep was lined up on the deer for a high shoulder shot. I hit the set trigger took a breath and squeezed off the shot. The smoke cleared and there in front of me were eight legs.
Eight legs? What the heck. I reloaded and jumped out of the blind. Moving close there were two deer laying on the ground. The buck was dead. The doe that somehow I failed to see that was standing behind him was very much alive but I could tell the spine was broke. It could not get back up on her feet. I felt sorry for the deer suffering. So I took out my knife and finished off the doe.
The round ball had hit the buck, passed through it, killing it and breaking ribs. Then after it exited the buck the ball hit the doe which was three to five feet behind it and hidden from my view. The ball hit her in the spine breaking her back and the ball lodged under the skin on the back side of the spine. One shot.. two deer. I had the tags to cover my mistake, and took a lot of venison home that day.
