[Note: Skirmishers, when competing in the Musket Team Matches traditionally stick a bayonet in the ground on the Firing Line before the beginning or an Event and during the Event, lean their ramrods on the bayonet after loading, rather than returning them to the ramrod channel of their rifle-musket. So, when they need to reload, their ramrod is handy. Of course, the reason they do this is because Skirmishing, among other things, is a Speed Competition. To have any chance of Winning, you have to load and shoot very fast and very accurately off hand.]
Years and years ago, my N-SSA team was attending in a Skirmish in North Carolina. As it turned out, we originally thought before the Skirmish that we had NO chance of winning 1st Place in the Musket Team Match on Sunday Morning because several 'Ringer' Teams had came down from Tidewater Virginia.
These guys were very, very good and occasionally won a Nationals at Fort Shenandoah! One almost wonders if those teams came down from Virginia just to reap a few pounds of medals, where the "pickings are easy" rather than have a dull practice skirmish back home at a local range.
Despite our 'Forlorn Hope" of Winning-we were all going to give it our BEST!!! As the Match unfolded that bright and pleasant Sunday morning, we were bouncing in and out of 3rd Place-depending on how well we had shot the previous Event. Even 3rd Place Medals are nothing to be scoffed at when your team is up against some of the Best Teams the N-SSA has to offer. At least you get to ride home with a Team Medal, even IF it is only a 3rd Place Medal!!!
Also, keep in mind that we were a new team. In it, we had not only veteran Skirmishers but about half of our Musket Team that morning consisted of new recruits that were still learning how to compete in team matches.
By some miracle of marksmanship (or luck-take your pick) we headed into the "next to the last" Event in 2nd Place by just a few milli-seconds. Dear Friend, I cannot tell you how much one's heart literally Leaps with Joy when your Team has unexpectedly moved up into 2nd Place against fierce competition! One is struck with visions of heading home with Silver Medals for the entire Team. Of friends back home looking up to you with renewed respect for your marksmanship abilities, of beautiful damsels back home, swooning at the news that your Team won 2nd Place Medals against some of those "Ringer" Tidewater Virginia Teams.
So, when we stepped on the line for the 'next to the last" Event, a Hanging Tile Event, we were determined to smash our tiles in record time to keep us in 2nd Place. Two consecutive hits per man on our team would do it!
Skirmishing is as much a "mind game" as it is a "shooting game." One must always stay "cool and focused" so you can always deliver 100% to break your assigned targets quickly and as fast as humanly possible. Even one miss, under certain circumstances, on your part can spell disaster for you and your Team.
The whistle blew starting the Event. But Alas!!! For some reason, our team took out only three tiles out of sixteen on our 1st Volley (we needed to have busted 8 tiles!) Despite the looming disaster, we reloaded in record time and began blazing away fiercely at our tiles. Then my team mate, the man standing next to my Right, on the firing line, Mycroft (not his real name) screamed in a panic stricken, injured voice: "SOMEONE STOLE MY RAMROD!!!!" He stood there helpless with a puzzled and injured look on his face, with an empty Enfield he could not reload, looking around for the ramrod thief. All the time, the stopwatch was racing, adding to our time for that Event. I had a sinking feeling that with that first, ineffective volley and now with the missing ramrod, our chances of winning any Medals that day were mortally wounded.
As Mycroft was shooting a two bander, Enfield Naval Rifle and I was shooting a three bander LG & Y Special Model '61-when I finished reloading I stuck my ramrod in the ground between us and said: "USE MY RAMROD!"
The trouble is that sharing that ramrod cut our 'rate of fire' by about a third because I would shoot and then have to stand and wait for him to finish reloading his rifle before I could begin to reload mine and visa versa.
What hurt so much, both of us were pretty decent shots-so sharing a ramrod killed our Team's most remote chances of holding on to any 2nd or 3rd Place Place spot-matter of fact, our Place standing in the Match went into a free fall. As our Team was tardy in finishing that Event the realization dawned on me that no matter how good we did on the last Event, we had NO CHANCE to win anything.
In the meantime, my team mate, Mycroft that was missing his ramrod had decided to play "Sherlock Holmes" and was involved in an investigation to find out who had stole his ramrod. He asked the Safety Officer (who stood behind him during most of the Event) if he had seen anyone swipe his ramrod. Of course, the Safety Officer denied seeing anyone sneak up behind Mycroft and snatch his ramrod out of the ground.
Just as the Safety Officer fell under Mycrot's suspicion for being the nefarious (and apparently invisible) "Ramrod Thief," one of the Skirmishers downrange hanging targets for the last Event spotted something strange in the grass behind the Target Frame. Investigation revealed it to be an Enfield Naval Rifle Ramrod with about a dozen kinks and bends in it!
MYSTERY SOLVED!!!
The nefarious "Ramrod Thief" was none other than Mycroft himself!!!
Mycroft was a fairly new Skirmisher, and he had been so focused on reloading his Enfield as fast as possible, and so concentrated on breaking his assigned target he never even realized he had not taken his ramrod out of the barrel of his Enfield after reloading it. Mycroft had shot his own ramrod downrange!!! Nor, did he even feel the heavy recoil that shooting his ramrod produced.
One of the Skirmishers returning from downrange handed Mycroft his now worthless ramrod because it was too bent to ever be straightened out and used again. Of course, Mycroft was heart broken. Not only had he inadvertently wrecked his ramrod but had destroyed his Team's remotest chances for winning any Medals period. Mycroft was so heartbroken he did not even shoot with us in the last Event.
After the last Event was over, and knowing that Mycroft felt terrible about hurting the Team, I told him: "Don't feel bad, sooner or later everyone accidentally fires a ramrod down range." My words seemed to lift his spirits a tad.
The Skirmish over, we headed back to the campground to break camp as we had a long drive home to Georgia. Just as we finished packing our vehicles a flat, electronic voice emanating from the range's P.A. system announced that the Team that had won 1st Place was one of those "Ringer" Tidewater Virginia Teams. This was followed by the sound of cheering coming from the range. [the Virginians had brought their own fans down with them to North Carolina.] The same for the 2nd Place Team-another Tidewater Virginia Team followed by the sound of more cheering. Amazingly, a North Carolina Team won 3rd Place.
So, winning medals at Skirmishes is FUN and SATISFYING because Skirmishing is a very competitive sport. I have a couple of drawers full of medals and even some throphies I have collected over the years at Skirmishes. And somewhere in all of that memorabilia I have a kinked and bent ramrod to my old Richmond from a Skirmish long ago where my Team didn't win.
Bringing the