What "seating of the ball" is going on during reenactments ...
There should be
NO SHOT WHATSOEVER even near those firearms during reenactments.
The reenactments Blunderbuss is speaking of normally takes place with LOTS of children in attendance. We don't want any mistakes whatsoever. Such a disaster, especially in front of children, may cause them to grow up with images of history and firearms contrary to what we traditionally want them to grow up with in Texas.
Children (mostly young teenagers) often participate with the reenactment groups during demonstrations. Our methods are effective; we've got trained young teenagers even that we can leave in charge of a battery (full-scale canons) and know they are responsible and competent enough to handle the responsibility. We educate them
YOUNG; and this pays off.
Although period correctness is important, we'd rather force the children to ask;
"Why are Yall's ramrods removed", and there you've got the instant beginnings of a firearms safety lesson with a child. This of course is more important to us than being period-correct. We simply explain that a ramrod
does belong in the ramrod groove however has been removed for reenactment safety. This in turn often brings the lesson of how muzzleloaders are different from other firearms, their unique safety issues, etc., and leave their young minds with the impression that even "grown-ups" always put firearm safety first. Loading rods (ramrods) are kept in the tents where the charges are loaded for the next demonstration.
I do see the point on that issue too. Personally, if I was to do reenactments, I would dedicate a firearm specifically to that purpose alone and pin the ramrod in to the barrel channel. It would simply never be removed and/or used to load the blank powder charge down the barrel. I would do that with another loading rod that I wouldn't carry around during the demonstration/reenactment scenes.
