A Gun Post! Look at All The Controversy!

Guns! Yes, guns. I like guns. Guns, guns, guns. Guns! I am not a crazy gun toter. I do not belong to the National Rifle Association. In fact, I think that the NRA oversteps their bounds far too much. I mean, I know that they are concerned with guns other than rifles.  

One of my favorite guns to shoot, and my Dad's least favorite to clean, was the Colt Navy. This was the first gun that I really remember my Dad owning, even though I know he had some, but I think they just hung out in the attack. It was a reproduction, and it was very cool looking. It was a cowboy gun! The first one was not the sturdiest thing, and after a while my Dad retired it to a decorative piece. But he replaced it with another. This one was all stainless steel. It was a crazy looking thing. It was huge and shiny. I liked to call it the hand cannon.

The Colt Navy was a six shot, black powder revolver. This thing really was history in motion. A kid can gain a lot of respect for a civil war soldier just from watching this thing be loaded. It took a long time. Each cylinder gets a certain amount of black powder, a ball and a “wad.” All of which need to be packed down individually using the ram rod lever attached under the barrel. It could take 10 minutes. If you were fast, maybe 5. Think about that while you're hiding behind a log with an army shooting similar lead balls in the direction of your head.

Once you've done that, you have six shots. Good luck.

You literally see in black and white while shooting this.

Living history aside, it was a lot of fun to make go boom. I learned my marksman technique from this gun. It's naturally much more inaccurate than a modern weapon and therefore you have to concentrate far more. I would brace myself against a support structure, like poll supporting the roof of the firing line. Then I'd close my eyes and take a few deep breaths. Raise the weapon while inhaling once more and then hold it in. Don't blink, don't even think. Just aim, and when you're ready pull the trigger so slowly that it startles you when it goes off.

And this thing would definitely startle you. Fire came out of the barrel! And not in small amounts! I still love shooting this thing, but like I said, my Dad hates cleaning it. And I don't want to clean it. So I don't bug him too much about it. He also has a .50 caliber long gun that is beautiful and also black powder. I don't bother him about that one either. It's also not so easy to clean. Plus, it's only one shot. But what a shot it is!

The smell of a black powder gun is also something that sticks with you. Smell is the strongest scent related to memory, and the smell of a recently discharged black powder round is one of those for me. I was lucky growing up to have a Dad who was into this stuff, and luckier still to have been a weird enough kid to appreciate it.