I IMAGINE most people have a list of things they would like to do and tick off before they die – perhaps places they want to visit, or goals they wish to achieve. If you’re a hunter it might be a particular animal you want to take in some remote or difficult part of the world. For the past 25 years I’d wanted to hunt with a muzzle-loading rifle. I liked the idea of the challenge of getting up close and using technology now considered obsolete.
So I bought a Pedersoli Country Hunter .50-calibre front-stuffer. It was not a replica of any particular period-rifle, but was described as ‘typical of the kind of firearm a farmer on the frontier would have used’. Then I set about jumping through the legal hoops required to acquire and transport black powder. I bought moulds for both conical and spherical bullets, laid in lube and patches, and made countless
