Black powder rifle incident | Ramblin' & Amblin' | Nov 1, 2026
Ramblin' & Amblin' Field Notes with Mike Hall (Staff Software Engineer)
Recorded on the move: engineering observations, systems architecture, and software craftsmanship reflections.
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Spoken Overview:
"Okay so this is seven and this is another gun story but this time it's a black powder rifle. My dad loved old-timey muzzle loaders and fl intlocks so I grew..."
Recorded: November 1, 2026
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
Okay so this is seven and this is another gun story but
this time it's a black
powder rifle. My dad loved old-timey muzzle loaders and fl
intlocks so I grew
up with a lot of those Winchester rifles. Not that my dad
did a lot with them
but one time well he would buy kits and would assemble them
you would go to the
it was a Kroger down in Morris because back then you could
be a union worker and
spend your money on BS and at a campground that you lease
but that's
enough grousing about that. He had a bunch of these flint
locks and boy they were
carrying you.
Mike Hall
Host, Ramblin' & Amblin'
▶ Speaking
You want to use them. So one day my mom's
away I don't know what
she's doing she's maybe at some church thing and he's like
he said this piece of
wood and he is hell-bent on shooting this piece of wood
with a pistol he's got this
pistol looks like something from like a Rob Roy movie or
like some kind of pirate
where they'd be pulling their uh out of their belts and
firing at the brigands and
uh
so he he goes downstairs he gets his black powder and he
loads up his uh lead ball into uh with the
with the cloth and packs it in and I'm like this is a
terrible idea dad and he goes on to the basement but
he's not interested in my my opinion he goes down and he's
like don't tell your mom
oh I didn't have to tell my mom nothing he told her by
making the whole house smell like black powder because he
fired that gun I don't think he had any ear protection on
but he didn't come up for quite a while
he was down there for quite some time and I remember being
like daddy okay yeah yeah
yeah he shot the the the the ball into the uh the two by
four and split it but uh the whole house
ranked of uh stink of uh of black powder uh so when my mom
came home I can only imagine the conversations
that were had about that and the danger he never did it
again but yeah I'll never forget that just uh
me upstairs covering my ears and uh blam and then silence
the smell and oh it was like in all same time
but uh anyway yeah yeah that's it thanks bye