I could not agree more with G. Elsenbeck's post, well said.
Thomas Edison tried about 2,000 ways to make a viable filament for the light bulb before he succeeded. THAT'S determination. Grin.
Can't begin to tell you all the mistakes I made in my early years of using black powder rifles and trying to recreate 18th or 19th century living. I had no one to mentor me for the first years, nor did I know about the NMLRA when I bought my .50 caliber Thompson Center rifle in January 1972 while home on Boot Camp leave. My Grandpa, a WWI veteran, helped me make my first powder horn and he said the spout hole had to be opened up a little. Unfortunately he drilled through the body of the horn, and he was so embarrassed he was mortified, but we fixed it so it looked authentic and I used it for about 10 years until I made my first horn. I still have that horn because Grandpa and I worked on it together.
So, when I got to Camp Pendleton in 1972, I went to Tandy and bought a large piece of split cowhide and fashioned my first shot pouch/hunting bag. It was solid, but the bag scrunched in when I used it. There were a number of things wrong with it that using it showed me. So I had to make a second and further ones over the years. The first hunting bag became a storage pouch in a full sized Tipi a few years later and was actually pretty good for that.
Then I was transfered to Okinawa in October of 1971. When I made Corporal in '72, I decided to spend some of my better pay on a set of "buckskins." I went to the tailors out in town, picked out the leather, showed them examples of what I wanted and specified it be hand sewn and with NO zippers or anything "modern" on it. It came back with a zipper along the side of the shirt, but I figured I could take that out and sew up the sides. I sewed a rabbit skin cape on it that worked nicely in the cold,but looked rather silly when looking back a couple years later. I bought a hard leather hat from Dixie Gun works believing that to be authentic and I think I only wore it twice before I made it into something else. I did buy a Green river knife and made a pretty authentic tack sheath for it.
Fortunately, when I was transfered to Quantico to become a Rifle Team Equipment Repairman (NM Armorer), I ran across another Marine who would become my best friend in life and real mentor on muzzleloading and primitive doin's. He knew the faults with my stuff, but he also knew my heart was right. So OFF we go to the NMLRA spring shoot on the primitive range a few months later. Yep, I was one of the original "Japanese Mountain Men" as the Buckskin Report used to say(due to my Okinawa made skins) when I showed up. Back then, there were only about a dozen full sized lodges (tipi's) and maybe 40 lean to's or period tentage on the primitive range.
Most of the folks on the primitive range were welcoming and offered advice on a myriad of subjects to improve my stuff. Of course, a couple folks just scoffed. Another guy who became a very dear friend later on, originally looked at me like I was from another planet and was rather short, but not hostile. A couple days later he walked up to me and said nothing, but pulled my knife out of the tack scabbard while I stood there and tried his knife for fit in it. Then he proclaimed, "I'll borrow that today for the Trade Gun match." I took it off and handed it to him and off he went without another word. I found out later on that day he had forgotten his knife sheath and that was his way to test me, to see if I was worth spending effort to help me. When he returned the sheath that night, he was completely different and he taught me a lot over the years.
Over the years I've learned to hand sew real buckskins and period clothes, make authentic shot pouches and cartridge and cap boxes, knives, sheaths and a myriad of other things, though I've never built my own rifle. I'm going to have to get going on that. I've done primitive, War of 1812, Rev War, French and Indian War, and War of Southron Independence. I'm not very active nowadays, but occasionally I get out in the uniform of a Private Soldier in the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment (The Black Watch) at Colonial Williamsburg and some other events. A short kilt is pretty comfortable in the heat and humidity of a Virginia Summer. Grin.
The good news is that along the Muzzleloading Trek in life, there is always something old that is new and things you want to make or improve to keep things interesting. Forums such as this are a Godsend, especially to folks new at the hobby and even for those who have been around a good bit.
