| Posted: Wed Jul 8th, 2009 05:14 PM |
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Ranch 13
Handloading Master
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What looking down the barrel of a bpcr , at a long range target was like?
650 yds in the distance
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| Posted: Fri Jul 10th, 2009 08:03 PM |
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miestro_jerry
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I have been out with a guy with his Guigley Rifle and done some great long range shoots. Me, I would call in for the Artillery at some of these ranges. 
Jerry
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| Posted: Sat Jul 11th, 2009 07:52 AM |
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woodsman777
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Just a little piece of history of what a black powder rifle can do ,May 1, 1874.
(sorry its a long read)
Around two o'clock in the morning, a loud report awakened the men in Hanrahan's saloon. They thought the cottonwood ridge-pole supporting the roof had snapped. Cottonwood ridge poles and branches made a framework for the roof which in turn was covered with sod. Soon most of the men were helping to repair the damage, getting the weight of earth from the weakened roof. Other men rushed to the creek to cut a prop for a ridgepole. Most of the camp had been partly aroused. when the task was finished, the east was streaked with the light of early dawn.
While a number of the hunters crawled back into their blanket beds for another nap, Billy Dixon pulled his blanket from under his wagon, rolled it and pitched it into his wagon, preparatory to taking the trail. Dixon and Hanrahan, who was leaving his bartender Shepherd in charge of his saloon, decided to get started to camp, at the earliest possible moment instead of having another doze. Dixon had brought his riding horse in the night before. Jim Hanrahan sent Billy Ogg to get the horses which were picketed near Adobe Walls Creek. It was the dusk before the dawn, when Billy Ogg saw the Indians emerge from the fringe of trees and bush that lined the creek bank and made probably the fastest run of his life for the safety of the saloon.
Dixon, who had seen the Indians at almost the same time, had fired a shot into the air and cried out, "Indians," then had raced for the saloon. The arrows were flying then, even as Billy Dixon pounded on the closed door for admittance. when it opened for him, Billy Ogg fell in after him, exhausted and panting for breath. He was quickly dragged inside and the door Slammed shut even as the Indians swarmed up to it. The siege was on, a fight for dear life.
Billy Ogg said afterwards that no sooner was he well on his way, than he heard from beyond the fringe of trees lining Adobe wall Creek, the paralyzing yell of Indians on the warpath. In an instant, hundreds of mounted Indians emerged from the trees, spread like a fan,
ADOBE WALLS FIGHT 111
and swooped like an eagle toward him and Adobe Walls, lashing their ponies at every jump. He took the scene in at a glance, turning even then to flee.
The warriors rode their finest horses and ponies, with scalps dangling from the bridles. Guns and lances flashed above shields of thick buffalo hide. Brilliant-hued war paint shone on bronzed naked bodies; on the sides of running mounts, their manes and tails decorated with bright colored feathers. The Indians in their plumed war bonnets, their jangling ornaments of silver and brass illuminated by the rising sun, lashed their mounts headlong toward "Dobe Walls." But Billy Ogg had not tarried to look; he had made the fastest home-run of his life.
According to Andy Johnson, Ogg came running with bullets whizzing past him, yelling like hell, "Indians! Indians!" before he fell into Hanrahan's saloon where willing hands dragged him in and barred the door.
That early morning, June 27, 1874, twenty-eight men and one lone woman, in the ill-protected settlement of Adobe Walls, Texas, faced the stark reality of a possible fate worse than death itself. Each thudding hoof from the creek a quarter-mile east, each hideous yell from the throats of from 700 to 1,000 swiftly advancing Indians, struck new terror into the hearts of the unfortunate group, housed in three different buildings.
Only fourteen of the men knew how to shoot and fight, the others were teamsters, bartenders, and cooks. But, with the strength those early day men exerted in desperate emergencies, they quickly made ready to fight. Those who couldn't use guns barricaded doors and the small port hole windows, practically defying the savages to push their way in.
The besieged were not only unprepared for an attack but divided into three groups with only about fifteen guns that could be used. Of the three, Hanrahan's saloon was fortified more quickly because the men were fully awake when the attack came. At Rath's there were the fewest defenders, while the danger would have been greatest had the Indians known there was a woman in the building. At once every building was surrounded, every pane of glass was shattered, while bullets plunked into the sod of the walls and arrows whizzed against the planking of the doors. The besieged barricaded even as they fought, firing, flanking the doors and windows with sacks of flour and grain. At Myers and Leonard's store, were Fred Leonard, (Myers had probably gone back to Dodge for he had a store there to manage.) James Campbell, Edward Trevor, Frank Brown, Harry Armitage, "Dutch Henry," Billy Tyler, Old Man Keeler, Mike McCabe, Henry Lease, and "Frenchy." In Hanrahan's Saloon, James Hanrahan, Bat Masterson, Mike Welch, Shepherd, Hiram Watson, Billie Ogg, James McKinley, "Bermuda" Carlisle, and the famed Billy Dixon.
112 THE RATH TRAIL
In Rath's Store, James Langton manager, George Eddy, Thomas O'Keefe, William Olds and his wife, Sam Smith, and Andy Johnson. [1] Adobe buildings with sod roofs can't be burned, otherwise the Indians would have burned the men and buildings.
All that livelong day, short of water, without time to eat, men fought for their own lives and those of their comrades. They fought with the desperation of men who know the fate of the Indians' captives, many in their bare feet, clad only in their drawers and undershirts. They fought while the Indians dashed boldly up to port holes and fired, while they charged three abreast and backed their horses against the heavy doors in an effort to break them down.
Minimic, Indian Medicine man, had learned the habits of the hunters, how they slept with open doors and beside their Wagons on the ground, and he had promised the Indians an easy victory. This is the same Minimic who had been a friend of the white man and a very dear friend of Charles Rath, having been in his employ for several years. When his wife and daughters Were killed during Major Chivington's raid, he had vowed vengeance on all white men.
Chief Quanah Parker led the Comanches; Lone Wolf, the Kiowas ; Stone Calf and White Shield, the Cheyennes. The Indians had planned to attack the Tonkawa Indians but Quanah Parker suggested they attack the white hunters at Adobe Walls. [2] This pleased the Indians' fancy and Minimic had made good medicine. Now the warrior horde was testing it out, and men who were fighters were striving to gather courage to do their part in the fight. Andy Johnson was one of them who told about it later. He grabbed a six-shooter from a table and stuck it out a port hole and shot every shell, later saying he was so scared he didn't know what he shot at. His tension eased, he helped in a grand way, barricading doors and providing water for fighting men.
The day grew hotter and hotter and mouths were parched for want of water. Yet no one dared go to the well outside the store for it. Always used to doing things, Andy came up with the idea of a well inside the store and he started digging in a sandy spot. He dug on a slope to a depth of six feet and struck water. Allowing a very short time for it to settle, he ladled drinks to the thirsty men, then set a table above his well so no one would tumble into it. He had dug the well on a slope and could walk down to the water. The ground was loose and sandy, making the task an easy one but the water he struck was a Godsend to weary, thirsty, fighting men.
At noon, Hanrahan and Billy Dixon made a run from the saloon to Rath's store for ammunition. Every gun was needed and Billie Dixon had one he could not use, a new "44" Sharp's but the case
1. Names vary some with different accounts.
2. Warpath and Council Fire. Stanley Vestal.
ADOBE WALLS FIGHT 113
of ammunition he had bought for it was still in Rath's Store, which made the gun valueless until he could get the ammunition. Because of the woman in their midst and the few defenders, Bill Dixon remained while Hanrahan went back to his saloon.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Indians showed more caution and got beyond the range of the Sharp's, the first break the men had for a minute's rest. However they kept firing from a distance. Closer, they were an excellent target for an expert marksman as the hunters all were. No more did the mysterious bugler sound the rally nor the charge, which ex-soldier hunters understood very well. At four o'clock, men began to venture out to see how others fared.
Three men lay dead, scalped and mutilated. The Shadler brothers as they had slept in their wagons. Billy Tyler as he was almost within Myers & Leonard's store. All twenty-eight of the Shadler Brothers' oxen were dead. A count numbered fifty-six horses dead, and all the others were run off. The Indians had tried to slash the ropes that tied the horses to Rath's wagon, but a gray mare that was notorious for her vicious kicking would not let the Indians approach her, so all were shot. Thirteen dead Indians remained on the ground, more must have been carried away for the Indians strive valiantly to carry away their dead and wounded.
The hunters would have their revenge for the scalped men. Grabbing axes, they sharpened thirteen stakes in the Myer's stockade wall and jammed an Indian head on each, facing east, eyes staring and mouths gaping. They made a joke of it - any live Indian who cared to look could see that, although the Indians took scalps, hunters took heads. Then the weary fighters sought rest, knowing Indians seldom attack at night, preferring early dawn.
About nine o'clock, they heard a rider approaching and called, "Who are you?" And the reply, "What do you want?" Recognizing the voice, the hunters called, unbelievably, "That you, Brick?" To his answer, "Yes," they hallooed back, "Well, get in here quick. The Indians are thicker than hell."
Brick Bond had left with a heavy load of hides the night before the fight and the wagon had mired down in the sand Which Brick Went on to explain, "I couldn't get them out, so I got on my saddle horse and came back to the Walls."
How he had ever come through, Brick Bond could not figure out until at a much later date, he had talked with Little Robe, a Cheyenne chief who was rather well liked by the hunters. "Why didn't you kill me?" he asked. "Didn't you see me?" The chief's answer made Brick Bond glad he had been a friend to white man and Indian alike, "Indian no want to kill you."
The following day, Brick Bond stood beside Billy Dixon who aimed his Sharp's 50 at an Indian almost a mile away and fired. Minimic, Indian medicine man, was the target for the longest shot
114 THE RATH TRAIL
on record, fell from his horse and was later dragged away by other warriors. By afternoon, George Bellfield and his men came in on the dead run. Other hunters rode in just as hurriedly. And in the meantime, the Indians would form in the shelter of the trees along the creek and then charge again, circling the settlement but keeping low behind the necks and shoulders of their horses, all the while pouring lead and shooting arrows into the buildings.
During the first day Mrs. Olds' coolness and helpfulness had surprised the men. They felt she had every right to be hysterical for She well knew her awful fate if she should fall into the Indians' hands. Instead Mrs. Olds was as brave as the bravest, cool and composed, lending a hand in every emergency throughout that first day that tried men's souls.
When darkness of night set in, the men prepared to bury their dead. They dug a grave to the north of Myers & Leonard's store. They wrapped the Shadler brothers, Ike and "Shorty" in blankets and laid them side by side in the grave. Then Billy Tyler, blanket-wrapped, was carried from the store and laid beside the two brothers. while rough men offered silent prayers, the earth was smoothed above their common grave.
Besides the burial of the dead, because of the terrible heat, it was necessary to remove the Indians who were killed and still lay in the sun, the horses, mules, and oxen, that had met death at the Indians' hands. There were as yet, no horses to haul them away. Pioneer ingenuity found a way-the hunters shifted dead horses and oxen onto buffalo hides, then tied ropes at the corners and dragged them far enough from the buildings so the stench was not so noticeable. It was slow and disagreeable work, so when they counted twelve horses between Rath's and Hanrahan's, the hunters dug a big hole in the ground, heaved the animals into it, and shoveled the loose sand above them. The slain Indians, left behind to rot on the ground, were dragged away on the improvised buffalo hide conveyance. There was much talk, one with another. What to do was on everyone's mind. James Langton was not only worried about keeping his help alive but about the stock of goods as well, the thousands of buffalo hides ricked outside the store. He wanted badly to get word to his partners who would send help at once. The upshot was he offered $200 to any man who would carry a message through to Dodge City. [3] Henry Lease, a seasoned buffalo hunter stepped forward. "The Indians are all around us," he said. "I will ride to Dodge City for help."
George Bellfield, hunter and ex-soldier, came to stand beside Henry Lease. "You take my horse, Henry, he ride good."
3. statement by R. M. Wright under oath. case No. 4593. Indian claim, verifies this.
ADOBE WALLS FIGHT 115
All the horses that belonged to James Langton and other business men, as well as those of the hunters, had either been killed or driven away during the first day's fighting. George Bellfield's offer was to be expected for any man in those early days would come forward with whatever was needed, especially in the face of danger. Lease nodded acceptance and set about examining his pistols and his 50 Sharp's, satisfied, he then filled his belt with ammunition. After that he walked around shaking hands, first with Langton, then the hunters and other men. As he mounted Bellfield's horse and rode away in the dark of the second night, few men in the group thought he had a chance of getting through alive, for all of that second day the Indians had carried the battle on, shooting from ambush.
On the third day a party of Indians appeared on a shelf on the side of a bluff about three-fourths of a mile away, about fifteen in number. At the suggestion of several men, Billy Dixon took his big 50 Sharp's, aimed carefully, and pulled the trigger. The watchful hunters saw an Indian fall from his horse, then the others dash out of sight. Shortly two Indians ran quickly out on foot and upon reaching the place where the dead Indian lay, seized the body and scurried to cover. The distance carefully measured afterwards, was 1,200 yards, small wonder the shot is still spoken of with awe among good marksmen and Billy Dixon had considered it one from scratch.
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Salt&Light
WOODSMAN777
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| Posted: Sat Jul 11th, 2009 01:17 PM |
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4th Post |
Ranch 13
Handloading Master
| Joined: | Sat Apr 1st, 2006 |
| Location: | Hells Gap, Wyoming USA |
| Posts: | 354 |
| Photo: | | | Are you a handloader?: | Yes | | Favorite type of cartridge to load?: | rifle | | My favorite chambering is:: | |
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There's a lot of speculation on whether Dixon actually used a borrowed 50-90 or his own 44.90 and just how far the shot was. He never really spoke of it much and most of the info has been passed down started out second and third hand. There's also a good bit of contriversy on just how long that shot was, could of been 600 yds, could of been the 1500. The Indians said the shot never killed anybody, but due to the shot falling short , sent a chunk of shrapnel flying throw one guys leg and spooked his horse and got him bucked off.
A better example of what bpcr rifles are capable of is to look at the original creedmore matches, and then take a look at the results many are getting at ranges to 1000 yds and beyond today.
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