I get on certain tangents. This year I went down the black powder track several times. I enjoy the almost ritualistic act of reloading them. The slow, deliberate and measured pace of the whole process. Feeds into my overall reloading hobby addiction.
Found this Bob Tingle .45 Cal rifle in the racks at a locally owned non-franchised sporting goods store. Almost totally scratch and ding free. not bad for a rifle going on 50-60 years of age. High level of skilled craftsmanship was evident when looking at it hard. Poured pewder technique used for the forend cap, browned finish. 1 inch thick barrel at the terminal end. Way too heavy for most people to carry in the field and will be used to send patched balls down range to ring steel in Utah's west desert on weekends. Mr. Tingle was a self taught machinist and in his lifetime produced numerous interesting black powder firearms out of his small shop in Shelbyville, Indiana. Most famously, the .44 magnum revolver he designed and built from scratch that is a marvelous display of his talents.
https://gundigest.com/more/classic-guns/tingles-creation-still-amazesThe gun sleeve was a Christmas present this year from the mother-in-law. Made it herself with heavy duck cloth (outfitter tent canvas), did the custom embroidery on both sides, the fringes and lined the muzzle end with sheep skin liner to keep the front sight from wearing out the fabric and to protect the barrel crown.
Tingle. 45 cal
Always been fond of CVA's. Nothing fancy about them. Just solid reliability at an honest price. A CVA Hawken I had back in the 80's always seemed to carry light in the field. Hunted the first few modern day primitive firearm deer seasons in North Dakota with it and it served me well. Still serving my bud in Minnesota to this day. When I saw this Kentucky style CVA for sale at what it REALLY was worth I jumped on it. Was put together as a kit gun and had some flaws (but surprisingly the blueing is nice). Sent it off to my favorite gunsmith (which luckily lives in the local area) and he fixed several things I didn't like and now it too is a dedicated patched round ball plate steel shooter.
Picked these two Thompsons up recently. Seller inherited them from his deceased father. Father was an attendee for many years at mountan man festivals out here in the west. One was his festival gun and one he hunted with. The lower rifle has a patchbox I have never seen on a factory Thompson. Leads me to believe he may have swapped stocks from an Armsport Hawken to get a little more brass and swag for his festival gun. Anyway... they were a great buy and are going to the son-in-laws. My plan is to set them up with the gear required to compete with me at 150 yards best of 5 shots for whatever bottle of scotch/bourbon we can agree on.
