Everything Blackpowder on History, Muzzleloading in the West, and Homemade Powder | I Love Muzzleloading Podcast

Today, we are talking with Jake from "Everything Blackpowder" about how a VHS tape started a long and explosive journey into muzzleloading. Jake runs the "Everything Blackpowder" YouTube channel known most prominently for its "DIY Powder" series, but Jake has expanded on that content in recent years. Jake answers questions, provides feedback, and tests out age-old black powder theories to see if they are real or myths.

From trick shots to real-world question answering, Jake is becoming a wonderful resource for muzzleloading enthusiasts with questions.

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Episode Transcript:

Jake Harris from everything black powder YouTube channel talks about muzzle loading

Ethan: Hi, I'm Ethan. I love muzzle loading. Today we're talking with Jake from the everything black powder YouTube channel about his passion for muzzle loading and what his muzzle loading journey was like growing up in the American west, getting interested in muzzle loading, then kind of following his story through to making one of arguably the most popular muzzle loading and black powder YouTube channel. US.

Jake: My name is Jake Harris. sometimes I go by Willard McBain on YouTube, and my YouTube channel is everything Black Powder, where I do and deal with all things black powder.

Ethan: Jake, how did you get started in muzzle loading and black powder, really, in general? What was your exposure to that?

Jake: Well, I know it's kind of cliche at this point, but, when I was a little kid, we had a VHS of the old Disney Davy Crockets with, so I would watch that, and, apparently I was the only one that was into it, because none of my brothers or cousins were interested in it at all. But I remember watching that and asking my dad, who's not really a firearms enthusiast, but I said, hey, what kind of guns are these? And he says, you know, you really should go talk to your uncle Bob, because he deals with that stuff. And I said, Well, I'll do that. And so I walked down to my uncle's house and I said, what kind of guns do they have in Davy crockett? And he was big into muzzle loading and in particular, flint locks.

Ethan: About what year was this?

Jake: Oh, I was probably ten, maybe twelve, something like that. so what year would that have been? Jeez, I don't know, mid 90s.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: Something like that.

Ethan: Yeah, that's fine. I was just curious.

Jake: Yeah, and he was happy to have somebody to tell all about it, and he showed me all of his flint locks and how they work. and so that was my introduction into muzzle loading. And he showed me how to shoot them and all that stuff. And so when I was I think I was 17, I bought a paelletta 1860 army, and I shot the pants off that thing. I shot it every day for years, and I broke it several times. All kinds of hand springs, countless handsprings. I'd buy five at a time.

Ethan: You're just burning through them.

Jake: Oh, yeah. And wonder wads. And at the time, I was using pyro decks because that was all I could get. You go to the local sporting goods store and I need some black powder. Oh, sure. And they'd hand you a can of pyro decks, and you only had two choices, the yellow one or the green one. P or rs. I was big into captain ball, I still am, but I was really big into cap and ball pistols when I was in my late teens. And we'd go shooting, my brothers and my cousins and I would go shooting and they'd have their semiautomatic one thousand and twenty two S and Marlin 60s. But I'd have all my cap and ball pistols on me like a guerrilla raider from the Civil War. So that's what I was into. And, the first long gun I bought, I think I was probably 19 or 20 was, a Lyman Deer stalker. And it was a Flint Lock in, 50 caliber.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: And that was my introduction into Flint Locks. Now, I'd shot Flint Locks with my uncle and he had some pretty nice pettersolis and some custom made ones and beautiful, nice functioning firearms. And so I buy this Lyman and I load it up with Pyrodex and immediately start struggling, having terrible hang fires and flashes in the pan. And it went on like that for a few months. And finally I thought maybe I've just been doing this wrong. I'm going to hang this whole Flint Lock thing up.

Ethan: You were pretty discouraged then?

Jake: I was extremely discouraged.

Ethan: It wasn't fun.

Jake: So I went back over to my uncle's house and I said, look, I got this Flint locker. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. And he looks it over and adjusts the Flint and puts some powder out of a horn in the pan. And it flashes off immediately, every time. And he says, well, it seems to be working fine. What powder are you using? I says, Well, I'm using this stuff called Pyrodex. And, oh, well, jeez, there's your problem.

Ethan: Everybody's heard that?

Jake: Yeah. So he gave me a big lecture about how you can't use that stuff that's not any good, blah, blah, blah. Well, I'd been using it for a few years now and I didn't know it didn't work. Well, in Flintlocks, I was still learning a bunch of stuff. And this was kind of before YouTube. Well, not kind of, it was before yeah. he gave me a powder horn with some real black, powder. Some old Dupont black powder.

Ethan: Wow.

Jake: Yeah. And man, I burned through that stuff in that Flint Lock in short order. And, then I had to order some real black powder. I hope that's not too long winded for how I got started in muzzle loading.

Ethan: No, not at all. I love hearing that. And it's the kind of thing that I think I don't know. It's so nice to hear that another copy of that VHS tape got somebody involved. for me, I talked to a ton of people about that and that comes up as definitely one of the top things. and I'm fascinated by that. Just that exposure to that story. That particular story was enough to get you to go down and ask your uncle. Do you think without your uncle you would have gotten into it later on or do you think it was because your uncle was so close that you could just pick it up?

Jake: Well, I probably would have gotten into it. another muzle loading movie or something that was interested in muzzle loading was I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but I think it came out in 1990. But it's a version of Treasure Island that has, Charlton Heston, as Long John Silver and a very young Christian Bale as Jim Hawkins and we had that on VHS and I remember watching those guys shoot those brown bets's and all that and I thought, man, that looks really know. I got to get me one of know. So maybe if Uncle Bubba wasn't around I might have still got into it. But he definitely nudged me in that direction.

Ethan: That's awesome.

What was it about cap and ball revolvers that kept you shooting

Ethan: So what was it then about those cap and ball revolvers that kept you shooting like you said when everybody else around you was shooting? One thousand and twenty two s and semiauto stuff?

Jake: Well, I think I like a challenge and those things can be a challenge. And I remember spending days loading and firing those things, struggling to hit the target that I was shooting at at 25 yards. And it took me a long time before I got proficient at it.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: I mean a long time and I worked at it. I wasn't born good at it. It took a lot of practice.

Ethan: Right.

Jake: But I think it was the challenge. Anyone could pick up a Ruger 1022 that sighted in remotely well and hit a target at 50, 70 yards repeatedly, which is great, they're made that way on purpose. But try that with a muzzle loader, try that with a cap and ball pistol and then load it up and do it again. So I think it was the challenge that I enjoyed.

It takes some practice to shoot a Flint Lock again

Ethan: And would you say that's what kept you interested with the Flint Lock side of things even through your struggles with Pyro decks?

Jake: Oh, absolutely, yeah, absolutely.

Ethan: go ahead.

Jake: You've probably seen it too. You hand a really nice Flint Lock to someone that's loaded up. That it's. Someone who knows how to shoot well and they pull the trigger on that thing and flinch terribly.

Jake: It takes some practice to shoot a Flint Lock again. You could shoot an AR pretty well, but you hand someone who's, who's trained to shoot an AR really well, hand them a Flint Lock and they put the muzzle in the dirt before it goes off. Not everyone, of course.

Ethan: Right, yeah. There's that learning curve. I mean, I joke with people that shooting a Flint Lock is shooting on hard mode. It's about as tough as it gets. So what then took you from your Lyman Hunter to some of the other flint locks that you're shooting more today? I hesitate to say better, but some of the longer or more historically accurate flint locks that you feature on your channel?

Jake: I've owned a variety of pettersoli flint locks and have had really good luck with them. My favorite one up until I got, my Kibler rifles, which I just fawn over all the time and I can't praise them enough. They're just absolutely work so well. They're just great. but my favorite petter solely was a Blue Ridge Flint Lock 50 caliber. Yeah. And I had that for several years and it worked really well. I had a buddy of mine put a touch hole liner in it. I think they call it a White Lightning, I think a White Lightning liner and it worked really well. I didn't have any issues with it at all. I still own some Peder soley Flint locks. I still have a Brown Best and a couple of pistols. ah, but I wanted to get something a little bit higher quality and I really don't have anything against pettersoli. I've owned a lot of pettersolis and generally they really work swell. but it wasn't until I finally bought that Kibler Southern Mountain Rifle, which is probably my favorite, when really it was like, this is really what Flint Locks are about.

Ethan: Yeah, it's kind of a next stage, really, for you.

Jake: Yeah.

Everything Black Powder YouTube channel started out as a necessity

Ethan: Progressing on your muzzle loading journey here, as I call it. What took you from enjoying muzzle loaders to creating the Everything Black Powder YouTube channel?

Jake: Well, I don't want to say it was almost an accident, but it was almost an accident, I guess. I think I put my first video up in January of 21 and so the world is still mostly shut down from COVID and all of that nonsense and I could not get any more black powder. I had burned through all of my gox and there was no more black powder to be had. everything and everybody was sold out and I wasn't about to start using Pyro decks again.

Ethan: You weren't going back?

Jake: I'm not going back. And so I just started making my own powder and ah, I don't know if I'm the first person on YouTube to do that, I'm probably one of the first. But when I started looking into what it takes to make sporting grade black powder because there are some videos of some guys doing, pyrotechnic powder, which is very different. Chemically, it's not, but as far as the quality, it's vastly different.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: but there wasn't any videos of anybody using it in muzzle loaders and so I just thought, you know, I'm going to start doing this and maybe I'll try it on YouTube. And so I kind of tested the waters with some other stuff. The first few videos I put up, I don't remember if they were entirely all black powder related, but I mentioned in a couple of my early videos that this is X amount of grains of homemade black powder. And yeah, my brother and I make this and I had a whole bunch of comments from people saying, hey man, how do you do that and have it work. Well, can you show us how to do that?

Ethan: Yeah.

Jake: And so I put together a video on making black powder for firearms and it just kind of took off. I wasn't expecting it to, but it sure did. And I just kind of rolled with it and pretty soon it's like, hey, I can film myself doing stuff and shooting and put it on there. And people seem to like it. That's pretty cool.

Ethan: That's awesome.

Jake: So that was kind of that.

Ethan: Wow, that's so cool. I mean, I'm looking at your YouTube here now and yeah, it's like.

Jake: Your.

Ethan: 7Th or eigth video here is how to make black powder. And the thumbnail is just wonderful. Ah, it looks like you igniting a big thing of powder on an old stump or an old bucket or something.

Jake: Yeah, that's it.

Ethan: So the reception for that was just so positive that you just continued kind of playing with it and just having fun with it.

Jake: Yeah. And I think there was a need for that and people just seemed to like it and go for it. I just kept developing how I make it and have just documented all of the stuff that we've done because I was making my own powder before I started YouTube stuff. Because out of necessity.

Ethan: Right.

You gave it to the Internet and the Internet fell in love with it

Ethan: That was my next question is, how long have you been playing with powder before then?

Jake: Well, when we started running low, in early 2020, when the world was all shut down, we started running low and we were like, hey, what are we going to do about this? And it's like, well, the pioneers could make it. I mean, we got electricity. I'm pretty sure we could do the same. Right. How hard could it be? But I've documented just about everything that we've done as far as the research and development of making sporting grade black powder all the way up until quite recently.

Ethan: Yeah.

Jake: I tell people this often because I get comments on that video all the time. They say, hey, well, what about this and what about that? And I say, hey, look, I don't make powder like that anymore. What do you do different? Well, nowadays we make powder that is comparable or even better than the stuff you can buy if you can buy it.

Ethan: Right? Yeah. That's awesome. I love that it came out of necessity and then you just kind of applied it. You gave it to the Internet and the Internet fell in love with it. Yeah.

Jake: And it just ran with it.

Ethan: That's awesome.

How do you enjoy muzzle loading on YouTube videos

Ethan: So has the YouTube channel changed? how you enjoy muzzle loading? Has it applied pressure to it? Or is muzzle loading still pretty much the same? I ask because in so many of your videos, you have kind of your shooting crew, it sounds like, behind the camera. And I just love that aspect of your videos, how laid back everybody is. So I had to ask.

Jake: Well, I think it makes it more entertaining. Or at least it's entertaining for us. Maybe everybody else thinks it's lame, but we think it's entertaining. But, no, we have a great time doing it. nobody else really wants to be in front of the camera. I'm the only one that says, well, okay, I'll do it. Right. My brother and our two buddies that we run everything with, well, I don't want to do that. Okay, I'll do it. Which you're kind of the face of the channel and everything, and you just kind of have to take the good with the bad, I guess. I do complain a little bit sometimes. I get some angry comment. everybody does. I think it's inevitable. But overall, it's 99% positive and people like it and it's very well received.

Ethan: Yeah.

Jake: And it just makes it even more fun for us.

Ethan: Right. I think at times it can feel a little bit frustrating when you get those comments here and there. But to, me, it goes back to you shooting the Cap and Ball revolvers when other people were shooting the 1022s. Like, you don't mind kind of working through that and trying to figure that stuff out.

Jake: I think you got to be up for a challenge if you're going to do that kind of stuff. If your mug is on the interweb, trust me, there's somebody that's going to be mad about something.

Thor Bullets have renewed their sponsorship of the I Love Muzzling podcast

Ethan: Welcome to another quick ad break here. I want to thank the folks that make this program possible. first up, Thor Bullets has renewed their sponsorship for the Isle of Muzleloading podcast here as we start getting more and more episodes out. If you haven't tried the Thor Bullets, I really encourage you to try them if you're interested in hunting with a modern projectile in your inline muzzle loader. A lot of people out there hunting with the inlines, and there's a lot of different bullet options out there. But I've played a lot with the Thor Bullets now for a few years, and it's really interesting to see how they perform, and compared to some of the other bullets that are on the market. something I like about the Thor Bullet is that it's sized to your specific bore. So if you're interested in trying out these bullets, you need to order their really cheap, sizing pack so that you can check each of the sized bullets to your bore to find the right one for you. After you've checked the four or five different sized bullets that they send you in that sizing pack, then you can order the specific size that your barrel wants so you know that you're getting a full bore riding bullet for the most accurate possible, in my opinion. And I think, maybe some engineers out there could explain it better. But you're getting a really accurate option out of your inline muzzle loader. And I mentioned a modern inline muzzle loader because these bullets are designed specifically to work in a faster twist muzzle loader. I've been asked a little bit about testing these in a one in 48 twist, kind of hawkin style, traditional muzle loader. I just haven't gotten it done yet. but if you have something that's shooting a one in 28 or one in 22 inch, twist for your barrel, the Thor Bullets are, I think, a viable option for you. And I'd just like to thank them again, thank Thor Bullets here for renewing their sponsorship of the I Love Muzzling podcast.

What have you learned as far as making your own powder and then sharing it

Ethan: So what I guess it's not something that I have in the questions list here, but what have you learned as far as making your own powder and then sharing that with people? Do you see yourself as a bit of an educator now, or are you still of the mindset you're just sharing what you're doing? Are you trying to answer people's questions.

Jake: Or are you just kind of leaving.

Ethan: It up to the videos and applying trying to answer questions in videos?

Jake: I make a point of answering any real question that I get, okay? And it does take a fair amount of time, and especially the last couple of months, it's gotten to the point where I just about can't get them all. But if anybody asks me a real question about something, I do my absolute best to answer it to the best of my ability. as far as educating people, yeah, I suppose I've gotten to the point where I'm an educator. I have read, quite recently, a couple of books about making black powder, because a lot of the information that I was getting when I started this whole thing a few years ago was, ah, Pyrotechnic grade black powder, okay? And the difference between Pyrotechnic grade quality and sporting grade quality is big. Now, in that original video of mine, how to make black powder, that's basically Pyrotechnic grade powder, okay? we call it screened powder, but it's basically the way black powder was made right up until the late 17 hundreds. The black powder that we know and love nowadays, that all the commercial brands sell us is pressed or corned black powder, okay? Right. So when they take their powder that comes out of the mill, it's very light and fluffy, like talcum powder. And they would compress it in a big press. I use a 20 ton press, and then they break it up into pieces. And that is compressed black powder that you would buy from Gox or Swiss. But the old screened black powder, which is what? Black powder going all the way back to the advent of firearms, all the way up until the late 17 hundreds, that was screened black powder, okay? And it takes roughly double the amount in volume to get the same charge as you would with modern day black powder. So it's not as powerful, it takes more, but it still works. And if you're using a muzzle loader, it'll still work fine. But what you would get with a 50 grain charge of Swiss, you'd have to use about 100 grain charge of this stuff.

Ethan: Okay, interesting. Now does it come down to the components used or is it just that screening versus pressing?

Jake: Oh no, the components are very crucial.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: I have people often they'll write me a comment saying, hey, I made black powder and I followed your instructions exactly and it turned out really lousy. What am I doing wrong? And I'll say, well, what kind of ingredients did you use? Well, I went to the hardware store and I bought some stump remover.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: What about the sulfur and the charcoal? Well, I used a charcoal briquette from my barbecue. Okay, well so you can make powder that will ignite and make smoke and fire with that stuff, but as far as it being any kind of reasonable quality that you can compare to a commercial grade powder, not, even close.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: The ingredients are crucial. High quality ingredients are crucial.

Ethan: M. And so do we see those same ingredients coming into use in the late 17 hundreds like you were talking about?

Jake: Yes. And in this particular book that I mentioned is written by Bret Givens and he has a YouTube channel called Paper Cartridges.

Ethan: Yes, absolutely.

Jake: And I read all three of Bret's books and I really enjoyed them. But in the particular one I'm talking about is called like, Fire and Powder and it's about how the British were making black powder in the 1850s because in the 1850s in England, that was really the height of development for black powder.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: There was never any powder that was made better or had any more power than the stuff that the Brits were making at that time. And so that's what his book is about.

Ethan: Got you. That's awesome. I've got Bret's books, I need to dive into them and learn a little bit about this. But I appreciate you sharing that. I haven't taken that step into making my own powder, but I'm fascinated with the process and I've been following along with your journey, so I appreciate you sharing that and answering those questions from me.

I enjoy the revolutionary period, but being in my particular part of the country

Ethan: So when we're talking about muzzle loading here, what errors do you enjoy and what do you enjoy about them?

Jake: I enjoy the revolutionary period, but being in my particular part of the country, there's not a lot of revolutionary stuff in that particular time. The Spanish still controlled all of this stuff, so we don't really have that around here. So as much as I enjoy it and I like watching videos and reading about it and stuff, I really don't get to experience like a lot of folks back east do.

Ethan: Right, you're a little far from kind of the historic sites and things right.

Jake: Yeah. But everything from the mid 17 hundreds all the way up until the Old West, all the way up until the late 18 hundreds, which is big around here. We got a lot of Wild West stuff going on.

Ethan: Right. Because your channel, you even go into some of those as I see them. Sinful breach loaders. Right.

Jake: Yes, I know.

What kind of research goes into making some of your other videos

Ethan: So we've talked a little bit about the black powder and kind of the research and things that went into that. But what kind of research goes into making some of your other videos that you produce?

Jake: Well, as much as I enjoy the history videos that a lot of other channels do, I try to stay away from that. I don't feel like I do it well. I've tried doing it and I don't feel like I do it well enough. So I try to stay away from that stuff. Mostly what I try to stick to is the research and development of whatever powder I'm dealing with or load that I'm trying it in. I do some, unorthodox things like see if black powder will work in a nine millimeter and function in an auto loading pistol right. Or a 1911 and stuff. So it's like the only thing you can really do with that is give it a try. Right. If anything's going to happen, it's going to happen out there.

Ethan: Yeah.

Jake: so as far as, any kind of research I do, I do check books and Mike Bellevue videos to make sure that I have dates and years right. Because I don't want to put something out there and then a day or two later say, hey, this is supposed to be that, oh, yeah, you're right.

Ethan: Yeah. That's always the worst. Some of the videos where you're doing some of these trick shots and some of the long range shots just off the top of your head, how many shots go into making that shot? Or are you just that good that you're knocking those trick shots off?

Jake: Well, okay, here's the deal. And you don't have to believe me, but in every one of the videos where I'm doing the trick shots with the mirror, where I'm shooting backwards, those all happened on the first try.

Ethan: I believe you. I fully believe you.

Jake: Okay, thanks. Now, I think I did one where I was splitting the ball backwards with the mirror, shooting the axe and splitting the ball, and I think I had to do that one twice.

Ethan: Okay.

Jake: But we've split the card. You shoot the card in half and all that stuff. But I think I did that with my rifle. I think I did a video on that.

Ethan: Yeah.

Jake: Sometimes those it takes me more than one shot. But the two videos of me doing the backwards trick with the mirror, both of those happened on the first try.

Ethan: I love that so much, which you.

Jake: Can kind of tell by the reaction from everybody in the background.

Ethan: Exactly.

Jake: When it happens on the first try, everyone's excited, but when you split the ball backward and everybody goes, oh, yeah, nice shot. You know, it didn't happen on the first try. You just tell from the enthusiasm.

Ethan: Right. The levels aren't there after the fifth or 6th.

Jake: Right.

Have you attended any local muzzle loading clubs or rendezvous

Ethan: So you mentioned that there's not a lot of the Rev War era stuff out where you're at, or have you attended any local muzzle loading clubs or rendezvous, or are you just not near okay.

Jake: Oh, yeah, we do rendezvous. Yeah. All of us do the rendezvous and stuff like that. And, we do historical reenacting and stuff like that. And when I do go to the rendezvous, I do wear my core discovery kind of deal. So I do have a cock hat and stuff, which nobody else does, but I really long for that kind of stuff, and we just don't have it around here, so that's what I go with.

Ethan: Right. I just asked because some of the trick shots that you've featured, I've seen and heard about a lot in the rendezvous circuit where some of those ideas and things came from. So I'm happy to hear that you have some clubs and things out there where you're at. Oh, yeah. When you're out shooting, is that just you and your buddies, or is that part of a local club?

Jake: That's just us.

Ethan: That's awesome.

Jake: Yes. that's just private property, and that's the pasture we get to go shoot at.

Ethan: man, that's great. I wish everybody had that.

Jake: Boy, I do too, man.

M: Just get after it and don't let anyone discourage you

Ethan: so, what kind of tips would you have for somebody that's new to muzzle loading? Maybe they found your channel, or haven't jumped into it yet. What would you say to somebody looking to start out?

Jake: Just get after it and don't let anyone discourage you. I've seen this a lot of times where someone will want to get into it, or they'll buy a budget gun, like a traditions or something, and they'll just get hammered by a bunch of people saying, oh, you just wasted your money. You need to buy one of these. Or if you don't spend X amount of money on this, you're just throwing your money away. I really hate to see that kind of stuff. Yeah, this really isn't something that you need to spend five grand on to be able to go out and do. So my advice would be just do what you can, buy what you can afford and just get after it.

Ethan: M, I think that's some solid advice, even down to doing what you can to get your propellant.

Jake: Yeah, we always make fun of Pyro decks and all that because we can afford to, I guess. But, hey, look, I started out with Pyro decks, and I still know a lot of people that use Pyro decks because that's all they can get. Well, you got to do what you got to do. I would rather see someone shoot with Pyro decks than not shoot at all.

Ethan: Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I've made jokes about it, in the past, as well, and I don't mean to be down on it. If that's the kind of thing that you have and that's what keeps you shooting, then by all means, please do it. What's important is that you're burning it, and it works for you.

Jake: Absolutely.

You recently shot a whitewashed pig with your Southern mountain rifle

Ethan: So, out where you're at, do you do a lot of hunting? I know your profile picture is you with a coyote. Was that a fun story to share, or is that just kind of a typical hunt for you?

Jake: It was pretty typical, except I was using, my Southern mountain rifle. So I was proud of the whitewashed pig to get him with that rifle because I've shot more dogs with my odd three Springfield than I can count. But I got that rifle, and, man, we're going to hunt squirrels. We're going to hunt coyotes. Man, we have a lot of coyotes, and we're always dealing with that.

Ethan: Yeah.

Jake: I prefer to hunt with a Flint locker or something like that. I like modern guns, too, don't get me wrong. But, again, it's always more of a challenge if you're using a Flint lock, right.

Ethan: Hard mode.

Jake: Yep.

Ethan: Well, apart from the Bret Gibbons books, are there some other resources or books that you'd recommend for people?

Jake: Well, it depends on what you're doing. I did buy a book for my Snyder. I was really struggling. I know it's a breach loader, but it still shoots a black powder cartridge.

Ethan: So maybe you'll let it slide this time.

Jake: Okay.

Ethan: I won't get out the ruler this.

Jake: So anytime if I have a firearm that I'm struggling with or something, I'll typically buy a book on it that's not, critically acclaimed, but, something, that somebody told me about, like, hey, you know, you should check out this book. But, the YouTube community, if you can call it there's there's a lot of great information, and there's so many channels of guys that know way more about this stuff than me, and I just asked them, like, hey, look, I got this Snyder. I'm struggling with it. And they said, hey, buy this book. Historical shooting with the Snyder Enfield rifle by Hugh Knight. Just buy that book. Okay? I buy it, and I read it and deal with whatever it is I got to deal with. And I shot it last weekend, and, hey, guess what? It worked great.

Ethan: That's awesome.

Jake: Yeah.

Ethan: I love that. I love that the Internet is kind of, I think it's found its place among the resources. It hasn't totally destroyed books, which is good.

Jake: Yeah, definitely.

You're on YouTube and rumble a little bit

Ethan: Well, man, the last question I've got for you is, where can people find your know, if they haven't heard of you yet? Which I'm sure many listeners have.

Jake: Well, I'm on YouTube and rumble a little bit. but I don't put all of my videos on Rumble, even though everybody tells me I should. But I'm definitely on YouTube, at least until they kick me off.

Ethan: Have you had any issues with that, with the videos that you make?

Jake: Well, I had a rough go at it at first. when I finally got to however many, subscribers you have to get to be monetized m. I applied for all the stuff and I filled out all the stuff on the deal. And they call it the YouTube partner program, I think is what they call it. And I sent it in, hit send. And they wrote me back in pretty short order. And they said, oh yeah, sorry, we looked over your stuff and, your channel doesn't qualify for Monetization. And so that took the wind out of my sales pretty quick.

Ethan: Right.

Jake: And for a few weeks, I don't know, lousy YouTube, blah, blah, blah. And then somebody said, well, did you appeal it? I said appeal it. And they said, yeah, you can appeal it. And I said, well, no. Where's that? Where's the appeal button?

Ethan: Right, yeah.

Jake: I opened up my email and sure enough, at the very bottom it's like, if you'd like to appeal it, click here. Like, well, jeez, so I appealed it and a few days later they're like, oh yeah, we looked it over and we're going to Monetize. Your channel. Like, oh, well, thanks Jeez. I missed out on a few weeks worth of however much money there,

Ethan: A couple of nickels.

Jake: Yeah, right, yeah. some people, they seem to think like, oh, you're on YouTube and you have a video that has half a million views. Well, you must be rich. well, I'm sorry, it doesn't pay that good. I'm not about to quit my day job or anything.

Ethan: Yeah. And I like to ask other people who make YouTube videos, you don't do that full time, right?

Jake: Me? No. Okay.

Ethan: Yeah, just for the record, I don't either. It'd be great if I could live off of shooting and having fun.

Jake: Ah, that would be great, man. If I just get paid to do shooting videos, holy cow, that would be awesome, right? Yeah, I'm a ways away from that.

Ethan: Pigs would fly too.

Jake: Yeah.

Ethan: shoot, I really appreciate it, man. This has been a lot of fun.

Your YouTube channel has surpassed 50,000 subscribers

Ethan: I don't want to keep you for too long, but if there's anything else that you want to talk about, this time is yours.

Jake: Well, tell me, man, what's your beef against, cartridges?

Ethan: They're just sinful, man. Nothing goes in my rear or my gun's rear is how I put it.

Jake: Oh, wow, okay. That's good way of putting it. So it's a religious conviction?

Ethan: It is, yeah.

Jake: Okay.

Ethan: That way the state can't make me do anything about it.

Jake: fair enough.

Ethan: Fair enough. I'm into modern guns, too. I don't just shoot muzzle loaders. I just think it's kind of funny to draw the line in the sand.

Jake: Okay.

Ethan: And it's funny to me how serious some people take it. Sometimes I make a joke about carrying a flintlock pistol as my carry gun. And I don't actually carry a flintlock pistol everywhere I carry a modern gun. I think someday I've got some, like, my father, and mother played the cartridge game, shot a lot of cartridge matches. So I've got the set up for that stuff, and I think at some point I'll dip into it to kind of get back into that. But for right now, muzzle loading is a big enough world for me.

Jake: That's good. Yeah. I run into the same thing. People think, well, you must be a FUD because you only deal with black powder stuff. And it's like, well, no, I don't only deal with black powder stuff. That's just what my YouTube channel is about.

Ethan: Exactly.

Jake: Yeah.

Jake: I don't really carry my 1861 Navy to town with me, as cool as that would be. I don't really do that. Sure. When I'm up on the ranch or out on the mountain or whatever. Sure. But I don't carry that to town.

Ethan: Right. That's not your business piece.

Jake: Yeah, right.

Ethan: It would make a dandy have a headline, though.

Jake: Sure.

Ethan: shoot. Well, dude, I just want to say how much of a fan I am of what you're doing. I know it's a vanity number, really, but seeing so many people enjoy your videos breaking 50,000, and now I can see 60,000 subscribers, dude, it's just incredible. And I wanted to tell you, not necessarily in person, but I guess voice to voice here, that that's awesome. And congratulations. And keep up the great work, dude.

Jake: Yeah.

Ethan: Thank you. Even out here, when I'm at a match or at a show or something, your channel comes up a lot. People really enjoy it.

Jake: Oh, good. I'm glad to hear it. Well, how close to friendship are you out there?

Ethan: I'm about 4 hours drive, from it. Okay. So I'm not too far, but I'm far enough that I'm not down there all the time.

Jake: Yeah. Well, thank you, man. I appreciate it. I send people your way all the time. I mention you all the time. It's like, yeah, look, I focus on the firearm aspect, really, but if you really want to talk to somebody that really lives and breathes it, you need to go see Ethan.

Ethan: No, I appreciate that. That's very kind of you.

This podcast is brought to you by Muzzleloader magazine, the publication for traditional black powder shooters. Since 1974, Muzzleloader has been the leading magazine devoted to traditional black powder hunting and shooting. Each issue is jampacked with articles on hunting, shooting gunsmithing, DO IT YOURSELF projects, living history, American history, book and product reviews, and much, much more. Muzzleloader magazine is the best traditional Muzzleloading magazine, bar none. I'd like to thank Jason at Muzzleloader magazine for his continued support of I Love Muzleloading and the I Love Muzzleloading podcast. I'd like to thank Jake again for taking time out of his evening and away from his family here to talk with me a little bit about Muzzleloading. Been following Jake, and I think we've been connected on Instagram now for quite a while, probably since he got on Instagram. and it's just been incredible to watch his channel grow as much as it has here. And I fully expect it to continue to grow. he's provided some great knowledge, and some great, I think, perspective on Muzzleloading that some of us here on the eastern side of the States just don't get a whole lot of. I love catching up, with Jake's videos and learning along with him as he continues his Muzzleloading journey, in particular, his making of homemade black powder. I know it's been an issue and it's been discussed quite a bit here in recent years as we heard Jake talk about. And I've been asked over and over again to go through the process of trying to make some, here at home and show it on my channel. But Jake's really done a great job at it. And I think, there's no point in me trying to double up on that, of sharing that information. I always try to point people and I always try to point people to Jake's channel if they're interested in that. Kind of always, you know, you want to be safe. Jake talks about safety a ton in his videos, which I appreciate. and it's been interesting to see him kind of work through some of these kinks. Even if you're not interested in making your own black powder, Jake has a ton of great muzzle loading shooting videos and a ton of black powder cartridge and things, even though we don't talk about those sinful breach letters here a whole lot on I Love Muzzle loading. it is a lot of fun to see Jake go through this stuff. His trick shots are, know, not trying to butter him up here, but it's just really a lot of fun. Thank you, Jake, again for coming onto the program.