Thread: Carrying Ammo while Hunting with a Single Shot

Thanks for all the comments and ideas.

Sure, most of us probably do have access to a magazine repeater or even a semi-auto nowadays.... nevertheless there are some beautiful single-shots around and I can understand some folks wanting to experiment with different ways of using, enjoying and becoming more proficient with them. No matter what firepower we have, it is desirable to make the first shot a good one.

People who like muzzleloaders are true single-shot enthusiasts. Some black powder shooters like to get faster at reloading and shooting, just as I imagine the early users of single-shot cartridge rifles liked to become proficient at quickly reloading - at times their life may have depended on making another quick shot (eg early hunters in Africa, or British soldiers using a Snider or Martini-Henry).

To me old single-shot rifles have a certain 'mystique'. As a child I recall my uncle telling me about an old roadman who kept his family fed with a single-shot .22. And my dad had an elderly acquaintance who lived on d'Urville Island in the early 1900's. This guy was portrayed to me as a hardworking, tough achiever with a gentle nature. One day dad was with him when he robbed a wild bee-hive and carried the honey home in two four-gallon buckets with wire handles that must have really been hard on his hands. Another time his sheep dog bailed a big pig and was getting a hard time. He dived on to the pig and grasped it tightly in a strangle-hold... he went to pull out his sheath knife and found it wasn't there. So he rolled down the hill with the pig and drowned it in a creek..... Anyway, this guy had a Winchester single shot .22 (but apparently didn't have it with him for the pig incident). It had a very heavy barrel, and you had to pull back the cocking piece after closing the bolt. He used it for all sorts of game including wild cattle because it is what he had. This gentleman (Ron Hope) was a hero to my father... and to us kids as well.