[jpwright]

"Keep your powder dry" does indeed mean "take care".

I believe it comes from the old flintlock days, where the rifleman had a pinch of gunpowder in the primer pan, which in turn was ignited by a spark from the flint when the trigger was pulled. Wet powder meant you weren't going to shoot whatever you needed to shoot, be it grizzly or Indian or food for your family.

One of the ugliest pieces of gun slang I know is the verb "to line", as in "I lined him with my nine." Meaning, I killed him with my 9mm. Comes from the chalk outline of a body.


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If God didn't want us to own guns, why did He make the 1911?

 

[Orion]

How about:

Slap Leather: To draw from the holster

Bust a cap: To fire a shot.

Rod: gun

Sarturday night special: cheap gun

Pocket Rocket: Ultra compact gun typically designed around the 10rd magazine capacity

more to follow

 

[Jim V]

Gat was a contraction of Gatling of Gatling Gun fame.

Eat hot lead - get shot fulla holes
Drink leaden death (old war comics) - GSFH 2
Heater - pistol
Smokepole - longgun from the BP era.
Bite the bullet (from the use during surgery)

Lock and load came from the BP era too, a military term meaning to tend to the lock of the musket and then load. Cock the hammer (or cock) of the flintlock, brush the debris out of the pan or cock the cap lock's hammer, remove the spent cap and then load. Priming and capping was the last event to take place.

The whole nine yards was use well before either WWII or even WWI. There have been several different versions of what it means and came from, the length of a shroud, the amount of material in a Scotsman's kilt, coat, cape, the amount of amterial on abolt of cloth, the amount of material in a roll of carpeting when it came in strips, the amount of dirt that came from a grave (meaning "we buried him deep, we dug out the whole nine yards"), or the amount of material in a wedding dress with train etc. The term may ahve been used during WWII to indicate the amoutn of ammunition loaded on an fighter but with as many as 6 .50's 9 yards would be gone pretty quick.


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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
MOLON LABE
Leonidas c 480 BC
FFF

 

[TCPilot]

Some of my favorites:

Rod, Heater, Iron.

And best, "Smokewagon", referring to the old Colt "Peacemakers".

/TCP

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Measure Twice....Cut Once

 

[Kimberholic]

I like "Roscoe" for the piece.

 

[VaughnT]

Clarification: "To keep your powder dry" does, indeed, refer to a blackpowder times. However, it relates to the entire store, in both horns and rifle. Contrary to popular belief, blackpowder stowed in a powderhorn (there was usu two horns about the person, one for fine priming powder and one for the coarser main charge) is succeptible to deadening from humidity/rain/riverwater incursion. While usually very tight to the elements, you could never be too careful.

To keep your powder dry was to be careful of yourself and equipment.

JimV, I believe the 'bite the bullet' instead refers to the suicide practice of frontier days, not the stick-between-the-teeth stuff often seen on TV. During the Klondike days in particular, as I have been told, it was common practice to remove the powder from a round (this was after the advent of brass-cased ammuntion). The hollow was then filled with cyanide or like, and the lead round replaced as a stopper.

The idea was that when all went bad and you were lying there with both legs broke, no help around, and the wolf howls growing closer, you bit the bullet. Crushing the case between your teeth would break the seal and kill you quickly. Oddly, this was considering a better way to end things than in the belly of the beast.

That's my take. YMMV.

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When reason fails...

 

[Jim V]

Not doubting the Klondike story and the use of a case for suicide, but I have read several contemporary accounts from the time of the American Revolution through the War of Northern Aggression where soldiers being operated on were given a lead bullet to hold between their teeth.

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Ne Conjuge Nobiscum
MOLON LABE
Leonidas c 480 BC
FFF

 

[Paveway]

Hogleg= long barrelled wheelgun, where my brother got this from I have no idea.

Nina= 9mm

Beamin'= to use laser aiming device to acquire the target.

Smoked = Past tense to indicate someone being shot

 

[Emily W Trott]

Actually it is not bite the "bullet" but rather bite the "ballot". In the early eighteenth century pencils were in short supply. A ballot card was designed so that voters could bite a hole next to the name of their chosen candidates. These ballots were designed by a Frenchman named Chad Partialle.

It was found however that many voters did not have the jaw strength to fully cut a hole in the ballot. Also partial tooth marks were often found next to the names of opposing candidates. Because of this the use of these ballots was discontinued after a few years. Hastening their demise were numerous court challenges from the Mandibly Challenged Defense Fund on behalf of toothless voters.

The practice was resurrected in the twentieth century by the State of Florida, with pencils being used to punch the ballots instead of teeth. The little punched out pieces of paper were named in honor of the ballot's inventor. Now you know what was going on with all the talk about "hanging chads" in last fall's election. Anyone who would come up with such an incompetent system deserves to be hung.

 

[Orion]

Mr. Chad Partialle's most distiguishing features were his dimples if I remember correctly.

Also, If I remember correctly Partialle was actually a woman in disguise a la Yentle.

She was found out when she became pregnant.

As a sidenote she was a party to the first paternity suit. The Grande Inquisitor finally issuing a verdict that the pregnancy was considered illegitimate and the offspring would have no rights.

 

[Rosco Benson]

"Flash in the pan" - This term, for a person or venture that starts off with great promise, but fizzles, has its origins in a flintlock misfiring.

"Son of a gun" - Is naval in origin and describes the bastards birthed by wenches that sailors had snuck on-board (generally on the gun deck) while in port.

"Lock, stock, and barrel" - to describe something in its entirety.

"Half-cocked" - No...not about that poor Bobbit fellow. Indicates being unprepared...as in "don't go off half-cocked".

Rosco

 

[Skunkabilly]

Originally posted by Rosco Benson:
[B"Half-cocked" - No...not about that poor Bobbit fellow. Indicates being unprepared...as in "don't go off half-cocked".
[/B]

Is it bad my 1911 had a half-cock notch?

So is that all we can think of as a group? Keep 'em comin', y'all!

 

[feedramp]

How 'bout: "fill your hand!"

"You sonofab*tch" is optional.

For the black powder/muzzleloading set, I've used:

smokepole
charcoal burner
front stuffer