I would bet that the cost of their insurance and safety requirements contrasted with the ever-decreasing market for BP was the reason. Strictly business. Aside from the handful of flintlock shooters, most ML enthusiasts have gone to BP substitutes.
Yep, the Jeremiah Johnson generation is passing away, in terms of participants re-enactments around here are a shadow of what they were. Plus it’s a real PITA for a merchant to keep the stuff on the premises.
Not without reason, shoot a flintlock and you’ll learn how low the flashpoint of BP really is, one tiny spark sets it all off, right now. I have heard even static can set it off.
I’m in a major city, our one outlet that sold BP shut down with the retirement/passing of its proprietors a few years back, a three or four hour drive from here to find a place that still carried it even before Covid.
A real shame, flintlocks rock.
