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Has anyone else been watching this show on the History Channel? It's pretty cool. Kind of like a Survivor with guns and without the irritating drama. You ought to check it out. I think the next new episode is on Sunday night.
 
Caught the show the other night where the collector was firing early American flintlocks at "the broad side of a barn" i.e. a large wooden target. The inaccuracy of the non-rifled barrel was so profound it made you wonder how anyone not in a volley line could be effective with one. It also makes me question the historical accuracy of "Last of the Mohicans" where Daniel Day-Lewis is picking off the guys in the forrest, at night, while the messengers are trying to run from the fort.
 
If I'm not mistaken, both rifled and smoothbore weapons would have been available during the era of "Last of the Mohicans", although rifles would only have been used by skirmishers and not general infantry troops. The smoothbore musket would have been the standard infantry weapon and yes, the inaccuracy is exactly why armies lined up shoulder to shoulder and blasted away at each other from one hundred yards or so.
 
Caught the show the other night where the collector was firing early American flintlocks at "the broad side of a barn" i.e. a large wooden target. The inaccuracy of the non-rifled barrel was so profound it made you wonder how anyone not in a volley line could be effective with one. It also makes me question the historical accuracy of "Last of the Mohicans" where Daniel Day-Lewis is picking off the guys in the forrest, at night, while the messengers are trying to run from the fort.

Smoothbore muskets suffered from the accuracy problems that you describe. However, the Deerslayer/Natty Bumppo/Hawkeye carried a long rifle (named, in the novels, "Killdeer"--I can't remember if it's called that in the movie or not). They were significantly more accurate. A quick glance at Wikipedia (not the most reliable source) says that Daniel Boone, using a similar rifle, was credited with killing a British officer at the Seige of Boonesborough with a head shot at 250m.
 
Watched the first episode, not sure if any more are out there. If so my DVR should have picked them up.

I don't understand the elimination. The guy on that red team missed that target like, 30 times, yet somehow he finagled a tie against the other guy because he wanted to "face the best." ***? I can understand wanting to keep him around if you think he's better in other events, but the young guy that he faced off against didn't even get a chance to participate in the challenge and he was having people try to vote them off. The sniping challenge at the end only confirmed his ineptitude. I understand the politics and such of these shows but I can't see how any of them could have voted for the young guy when they didn't even get to see him shoot. He definitely schooled them all at the end.
 
Great first episode; we have our DVR set to record the whole season. I enjoyed seeing the young kid shoot lights out in the elimination round. It'll be interesting to see how the battle experience of the marines and other military/police types compares with the technical expertise of the competition rifle shooters.
 
and other military/police types compares with the technical expertise of the competition rifle shooters.
I think we've already seen a bit of that. Kelly is a competitive rifle shooter, and the guy that got eliminated was an ex-Marine, wasn't he? I've always thought that every Marine was a rifleman, but apparantly that statement doesn't hold true across the board.:001_rolle
 
Two things I thought interesting, relating to the Mythbusters show:

  1. They showed a guy split one arrow with another and I think that was one of the BUSTED myths from Mythbusters show.
  2. They claimed it was impossible to light a match with a bullet but that was one of the CONFIRMED myths on the Mythhbusters show.

UPDATE: I am confusing this show with another!
 
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Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
I got through all but the last 20 minutes this morning before I had to leave for work, but I'll finish watching it tonight.

I don't like the competition shows where the competitors are voted off, or into elimination by their teammates. I would rather see the competitors with the least amount of skill or the ones that choke leave, rather than the ones that can't make friends.

Whoever the guy was that voted for Kelly to go to elimination because Mike wanted to go against the best literally was shooting his team in the foot. If you think the kid is the best and could help your team win why would you risk putting him out.
 
I got through all but the last 20 minutes this morning before I had to leave for work, but I'll finish watching it tonight.

I don't like the competition shows where the competitors are voted off, or into elimination by their teammates. I would rather see the competitors with the least amount of skill or the ones that choke leave, rather than the ones that can't make friends.

Whoever the guy was that voted for Kelly to go to elimination because Mike wanted to go against the best literally was shooting his team in the foot. If you think the kid is the best and could help your team win why would you risk putting him out.

I mostly agree. One guy did have a point about the guy who volunteered to go -- anyone can have a bad day (e.g. Mike, maybe) but someone whose heart wasn't into it -- or perhaps had his priorities a bit twisted up -- might have been a better one to go. You might say it was a form of "choking" that just hadn't shown up in actual competition yet.
 

Commander Quan

Commander Yellow Pantyhose
Brad was the guy that volunteered to go, and if I were the other guys on the team I would have taken him up on the offer.
 
Brad was the guy that volunteered to go, and if I were the other guys on the team I would have taken him up on the offer.

+1. That's why Kelly voted for him. Good for Kelly for blasting Mike out of the water in the elimination challenge. I know we're only one episode into this show, but I'm really pulling for Kelly to win the whole enchilada!:thumbup:

MMMM....Enchiladas!!:w00t:
 
I have never held nor fired a gun in my life, but this show was fascinating (albeit really, really slow.) I think marksmanship is an interesting skill, and seeing how people do with different era and different types of weapons will is intriguing to me.

I agree that the reality-show side of the program is kind of lame. The entire reason the team lost was because of Mike. He was the ENTIRE REASON. Mike and his spotter should have been the two who were in the elimination challenge for that atrocity.

We'll see how pistols go next week.
 
I watched the 1st episode and the DVR is setup to record the rest. It seems like a fun show to fast forward through. :)

*SPOILER ALERT*

I was happy that the skilled young guy knocked out the big headed old guy. He didn't just knock him out...he whooped his ***. Can't wait to see how the rest of the guys shoot. :thumbup1:
 
skilled young guy ... big headed old guy

Well it seemed to me it was the young guy had the swelled head. He is an excellent shot -- AND makes sure everyone knows that AND that everyone KNOWS he knows it.

The "old guy" wasn't actually all that old and certainly did have a bad day. We can't know if that was a fluke or not. We DO know he was quite humble about it. He made no excuses.
 
I think we've already seen a bit of that. Kelly is a competitive rifle shooter, and the guy that got eliminated was an ex-Marine, wasn't he? I've always thought that every Marine was a rifleman, but apparantly that statement doesn't hold true across the board.:001_rolle

All may be riflemen but that doesn't make all of them expert marksmen.
 
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