Shope Arms

Tools and tips for the 18th century soldier and sporting enthusiast

06/03/2026

Throwback to the brick dust cleaning experiment I did a few years ago! Often I have seen it said that you have to use old bricks to polish your firelocks. The cutoff year varied from the 1850s to the 1950s and the reason ranged from composition, hardness, firing temperature, and harmful chemicals depending on who you asked. I couldn't find a consistent answer or a really solid explanation so I wanted to test it out.

I used modern paver and red clay brick from the hardware store and compared it to some 19th century brick. The overall results were that the modern bricks were harder to grind into a fine and consistent powder, BUT if you did that it worked just as well as the 19th century brick. Other historical polishing compounds include emory powder, rottenstone, and "whiting powder" (calcium carbonate ie chalk)

06/02/2026

Just so we are crystal clear, if you advertise your event using AI generated images instead of pulling from the plethora of real life pictures and paintings available, or hiring an actual artist to make something, I will not be attending the event and I hope others will follow suit.

If you can't put the bare minimum effort in a poster how can I trust that the necessary effort is going into accurately portraying history?

Likewise for all the "history" pages that post AI slop images and call it education. Nobody wants that and the only people who do, don't recognize it's AI, which makes the inaccuracies all the worse because now they think that's what the revolutionary war looked like. Again there are paintings, artifacts, and documents. Use something real.

06/01/2026

Tried to recreate a couple scenes of hessian soldiers at fort ligonier this past weekend

05/29/2026

Unfortunately I just caught a mistake in "How to Hessian" regarding bayonet drill.

What I initially thought were the commands for fixing bayonets (pg 9-10 of the Hessian 1767 regulations) are actually commands for taking it off 🙃

Bringt das Gewehr an die linke Seite!
Ergreift das Bajonet!
Das Bajonet hoch!
Das Bajonet an seinen Ort! (bayonet to its place ie the scabbard)
Das Gewehr hoch!

This is confirmed in "Der Wohl exercirte Preussische Soldat" (1759) pg 28

The actual commands for fixing the bayonet can be conveniently found on pg 436 of the Hessian regulations in the section regarding the exercising of watches in garrison

Das Gewehr an die linke Seite!
Ergreift das Bajonet!
Das Bajonet hoch!
Das Bajonet auf den Lauf! (bayonet on the barrel)
Schulter!

This is again corroborated in "Der Wohl exercirte Preussische Soldat" pg 11

All new copies of "How to Hessian" part one will have the corrections incorporated. For those who already have a copy I will be adding a page to my website for where the correct commands can be downloaded to replace/mark up pages 51-52, and 56-57. If you have questions or concerns about the correction please message me!

I don't want to make excuses for my mistakes but man this Hessian infantry regulation is NOT user friendly!!

05/22/2026

Headed to fort ligonier this weekend for more Hessian shenanigans! Von Itzenplitz is the group that got me into the German side of reenacting so I'm excited to do another event with them. I hear there is a very good musket collection there too so standby for pictures of that

05/21/2026

A pretty nice volley from a longrifle I built, a pedersoli Bess, and an original English Fowler

05/20/2026

If I've worked on your lock in the past I'd love to hear how it's holding up! It's one thing to get one working again, it's another for it to continue to work for a long time.

05/18/2026

Troubleshooting a lock that doesn't spark well can be tricky... On this one the pfannendeckel (hammer, frizzen) passed the file test, meaning a file couldn't scratch the surface. I changed the geometry to improve the throw and strike angle, but could only get some lackluster sparks.

Decided to take it through the hardening process and suddenly we are showering sparks! My theory is that it's not enough for the steel to be a certain hardness but that the alloy content matters as well. I'll be doing some tests on that theory someday!

05/16/2026

Fully scratch built matchlock! The lock and all hardware was all hand forged, stock was a chunk of walnut. So much fun to shoot, and this is an even better way to practice follow through and flinching than a flintlock 😅

05/15/2026

The Hessian Renaissance continues! At Mt Vernon I portrayed an officer for the first time with kit borrowed from the commander of von Huyn regiment. I've resisted going officer until now but the mistake I made was to study the Hessian tactical doctrine too much 😅

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29445

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