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Recent Posts

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11
The Campfire / Re: Pnw fur trade historians
« Last post by KDubs on January 11, 2026, 02:57:17 PM »
I believe the Spokane house reenactment is going on , not sure when
 This was called the winter quarters event.
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 I'll be going with Eric at some point to the museum
 Gotta check up on jaco Finlay  :bl th up
 Wish I had a few more photos of the presenters but just didn't get them.
 Really a good bunch of folks deep into the history side of the fur trade.
 Kevin
12
The Campfire / Re: Pnw fur trade historians
« Last post by Bigsmoke on January 11, 2026, 12:32:27 PM »
That sure looks like Bob Twyman's canoe gun.  It's good to see that Mark Weadick is still pumping air.  He is one very serious student of those times.  He knows his stuff.
Is the Spokane House reenactment still going on?  Did Mark talk about that much?
Sure wish I could have seen that, it would have been interesting to hear.
Nice displays.  I recall prior to opening the gates, Mark went through our camps and suggested that anything we had that was not truly period correct be put back in our cars.  It was amazing what a difference there was between 1811 camp gear and rendezvous camp gear.
More to follow.
13
General Interest / Re: FLUXING
« Last post by Salty on January 11, 2026, 08:51:58 AM »
After casting, I weigh and toss back anything +/- .5 gn. Then I mark the sprue and tumble for only 5 minutes. Enough to rough up the ball. Then I weigh again and find a few out of my tolerance. This works for me and fills my free time when I cannot go to the range.
14
The Campfire / Re: Pnw fur trade historians
« Last post by No Powder on January 11, 2026, 08:08:05 AM »
Great display and pictures of it. Thanks for allowing the rest of us to have a look.
15
The Campfire / Re: Pnw fur trade historians
« Last post by KDubs on January 11, 2026, 07:50:58 AM »
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Kevin
16
The Campfire / Re: Pnw fur trade historians
« Last post by KDubs on January 11, 2026, 07:47:58 AM »
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Don't know why I can't rotate these two pics so just turn your phone upside down  :bigsmile:
Kevin
17
The Campfire / Pnw fur trade historians
« Last post by KDubs on January 11, 2026, 07:42:44 AM »
 Had the opportunity to attend a seminar put on by the above named folks.
 Outstanding job
 They covered the history of Spokane house and the Spokane and other area tribes between the years 1800-1840
 Gear, canoes,trading, fighting,surviving winters.
 Pretty much everything you wanted to know.
 Had a nice display out front too
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I took a few more photos and spoke to several presenters
 They this for free upon request, great group, wish I'd found them earlier on.
 Kevin
 
18
The Campfire / Re: changes?
« Last post by RobD on January 11, 2026, 06:35:47 AM »
The core goal of the TMA has always been the sentence at the top of every page ...

The TMA is dedicated to preserving the rich and fascinating heritage of the traditional muzzleloading firearms of early America.

For more than a few reasons, TMA forum participation has dwindled over more than a few years.

"Ya can lead a horse to water but ya can't make it drink."

We all at the TMA officer level have done a buncha things over the last few or more years to encourage participation in our organization.  IMHO none have been effective at bringing in new forum registrants let alone contributing members.  This may be due to other like minded forums that have a longer established membership, and that the TMA was more of a physical "localized" get-together organization that lost some or most of that local group.  I dunno exactly.

Add to this the continuing trend of social media leaving forums for linear "fast food" media such as Facebook, Instagram, Tic Tok, and the like.

What we have now is a TMA club of sorts where the forum is more of a loose gathering of like-minded folks sitting around a campfire and chatting.  Not a thing wrong with that.

What it takes to keep this virtual campfire going is the website forum server space and domain name.

What next, you say?


19
General Interest / Re: FLUXING
« Last post by No Powder on January 10, 2026, 06:52:22 PM »
Uh oh John. Sounds like I'll be getting the vernier calipers out to do some checking. Maybe they tumbled them too long.  I've heard about the addition of graphite. I don't know of any other advantages to using it other than making a nice looking ball. I wouldn't think the graphite had anything to do with the size differences.
20
General Interest / Re: FLUXING
« Last post by Bigsmoke on January 10, 2026, 05:19:35 PM »
A long time ago I visited Warren Manufacturing in Arkansas.  One of their products was cast round ball.  I guess they used a casting machine and then they tumbled the ball.  I think graphite was added to the mix at some point as well.  The last man to leave the plant put the ball in a series of tumblers and it was tumbled overnight.  Then they would package them the next morning.  IIRC, it made for a good looking ball.  Problem was with consistency.  In a box of 20 large diameter (.678 to .715") there were probably 4 or 5 different diameters.  In my sporting rifles they shot OK, but I finally decided to cast my own for a tighter control of the output.  I used the brass moulds from England.  Those were great.
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