Some Old-School Black Powder Shooting

[fncceo]

While I personally don't use black powder because of all the extra cleaning it requires, I would be proud to take a bullet from a black powder shooter.

The ker-bang just sounds so much better.

You don't need to sacrifice yourself like that!

We all have to die of something ... the best we can hope for is to go out with some dignity.

I'll be happy to help you out. You choose the method of your demise. I'll light candles and have Ebarme Dich playing on the stereo.

Jews go down fighting these days ... I'm afraid you're outgunned.

 

[JGalt]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

Uh-oh! What do you mean rancid?
I've seen 30-year old tubs of Crisco that didn't go bad. Ofc that was real lard.
There's no real black powder around here either, wonder why that is?
I do want to know about this rancid thing..I'm a BP noob.

My bad, you're right. Crisco is vegetable oil, not lard. I think I have some of that somewhere on a shelf in the garage, I forgot.

I made some lube out of solid coconut oil a few years ago but forgot the recipe.

 

[ReinyDays]

WOW ... cool pictures ... do a video on loading that Army pistol ... folks here would be interested

 

[Street Juice]

While I personally don't use black powder because of all the extra cleaning it requires, I would be proud to take a bullet from a black powder shooter.

The ker-bang just sounds so much better.

You don't need to sacrifice yourself like that!

We all have to die of something ... the best we can hope for is to go out with some dignity.

I'll be happy to help you out. You choose the method of your demise. I'll light candles and have Ebarme Dich playing on the stereo.

Jews go down fighting these days ... I'm afraid you're outgunned.

Jews go down fighting these days ... I'm afraid you're outgunned.

Like this?

 

[Shawnee_b]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

BP only way. Products Archive - mainepowderhouse.com

I get 25# as shot. PM I can help if you need

 

[Shawnee_b]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

Crisco messy. Use oxyoke or similar "wonder wads"

 

[Shawnee_b]

WOW ... cool pictures ... do a video on loading that Army pistol ... folks here would be interested

Back in the day. I did an oral presentation in HS, like 71. Showed them how to load one, minus powder of course.

 

[Marion Morrison]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

Crisco messy. Use oxyoke or similar "wonder wads"

Yeah, I like to keep it simple.

 

[Marion Morrison]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

Uh-oh! What do you mean rancid?
I've seen 30-year old tubs of Crisco that didn't go bad. Ofc that was real lard.
There's no real black powder around here either, wonder why that is?
I do want to know about this rancid thing..I'm a BP noob.

My bad, you're right. Crisco is vegetable oil, not lard. I think I have some of that somewhere on a shelf in the garage, I forgot.

I made some lube out of solid coconut oil a few years ago but forgot the recipe.

So does it go rancid or not?

I mean, it's in a gun and not being eaten, but still..

 

[JGalt]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

Crisco messy. Use oxyoke or similar "wonder wads"

Well fuck me running. I just looked in the box and found out I had three bags of Ox Yoke wonder wads in the bottom.

Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Marion Morrison]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

Crisco messy. Use oxyoke or similar "wonder wads"

Well fuck me running. I just looked in the box and found out I had three bags of Ox Yoke wonder wads in the bottom.

Thanks for the reminder.

You have a nice kit, I'm jealous!

 

[Vastator]

You forgot the Crisco!
15 grains is pretty light, no?
I love the smell of regular American bullets, but not Pyrodex..blech!
I say American bullets because I got this round of Eastern bloc bullets that stink!
Should sell them off cheap.

15 grains is a light load for the .36. You can go up to 20 grains for that and 20-28 grains for the .44. I've used Crisco before but that tends to go rancid after awhile. Bore Butter is pretty good but it gets a little messy when it's warm.

You're right about Pyrodex being smelly. I'd probably use real black powder but nobody around here sells it.

There's no real black powder around here either, wonder why that is?
I'm a BP noob.

The best explaination is transport, and storage. True black powder has different hazmat characteristics, than BP substitutes. Large quantities of BP are more expensive to ship, and require that a vendor have a specific type of storage for quantities of BP; whereas BP substitutes require no special storage considerations, and are usually cheaper to ship in quantity.

 

[Cellblock2429]

Beautiful day today, I thought I'd shoot some reproduction black powder rifles and pistols. From top to bottom is a 50 caliber Lyman Plains rifle, a reproduction of a Civil War era 1863 Remington Zouave rifle in 58 caliber, an Italian-made 58 caliber Hawken rifle, a reproduction Remington 1858 revolver in .36 caliber, and a reproduction Colt 1860 Army revolver in .44 caliber.

I have all the necessary items to shoot these in a toolbox: Powder, bullets, patches, percussion caps, tools, and stuff.

I'm going to shoot the 58 caliber Hawken rifle first..

It's loaded from the muzzle end by pouring a measured amount of powder down the bore. I'm using Pyrodex, which is a cleaner-burning substitute for black powder. I'm shooting a 440 grain cast lead maxi-bullet that packs a wallop, and loading it with 70 grains of Pyrodex. That's a medium load, as I could go up to 100 grains of powder. The bullet get greased with a lubricant, shoved down the bore with a ramrod, then a percussion cap is put on the nipple...

As you can see it's pretty accurate. I'm only shooting at 25 yards but this rifle is good out to 300 yards..

Next I'm going to shoot the 1863 Remington Zouave rifle. I'm using some different bullets that have a hollow base but this rifle really likes the traditional Minnie ball, which I don't any of right now. So it won't be as accurate...

Next I'm going to shoot the reproduction Remington 1858 revolver in .36 caliber. I start by pouring 15 grains of Pyrodex P (pistol) powder in each chamber, followed by some cornmeal as a buffer. Then I press the 36 caliber ball in the the loading leaver on the pistol. I thin put a dab of Bore Butter bullet lube on each chamber to keep from having a chain fire. That can happen when the fired chamber sparks over and ignites the adjacent chambers, which is not something you want. The last step is putting a percussion cap on each of the nipples...

Last is the reproduction Colt 1860 Army revolver in .44 caliber. It gets loaded the same way. I'm going to shoot this one at a 12" steel target I have 75 yards up the hill..

Tomorrow comes the fun part: Taking these apart, cleaning them with hot soapy water, blowing them dry with an air compressor, oiling them up, and putting them away until next time. They rust up pretty fast if you don't do that.

Adios.

/——/ Are the reproductions better quality than the originals?

 

[Shawnee_b]

Well fuck me running. I just looked in the box and found out I had three bags of Ox Yoke wonder wads in the bottom.

Thanks for the reminder.

No mess, no quick soaking of the powder. I never tried leaving them loaded though, think the lube on the wads will eventually wet some powder. No chain fires.

 

[Shawnee_b]

The best explaination is transport, and storage. True black powder has different hazmat characteristics, than BP substitutes. Large quantities of BP are more expensive to ship, and require that a vendor have a specific type of storage for quantities of BP; whereas BP substitutes require no special storage considerations, and are usually cheaper to ship in quantity.

Maine Powder house is free shipping on 25# I still have maybe 15# from my last order, 3 different types, 2 and 3 F

 

[Shawnee_b]

/——/ Are the reproductions better quality than the originals?

Generally safer, originals need to be inspected well, they can rot out near the breach, bad!

Not to mention their value.

Repros are generally very good quality but watch some of the repro revolvers. Get a good name. Had good luck myself. Being as the fouling goes everywhere, like in the receiver guts and so does the cleaning (hot water). They are not difficult to dissassemble completely, clean and lube. I don't use oil but TC lube, wonder lube etc, same with my long guns.

Also easy to get parts, I have also made some.

 

[Cellblock2429]

/——/ Are the reproductions better quality than the originals?

Generally safer, originals need to be inspected well, they can rot out near the breach, bad!

Not to mention their value.

Repros are generally very good quality but watch some of the repro revolvers. Get a good name. Had good luck myself. Being as the fouling goes everywhere, like in the receiver guts and so does the cleaning (hot water). They are not difficult to dissassemble completely, clean and lube. I don't use oil but TC lube, wonder lube etc, same with my long guns.

Also easy to get parts, I have also made some.

/——/ I meant compare to the originals when they were new. Obviously a new black powder Gun would be of higher quality than a 150 year old piece.

 

[Shawnee_b]

Here is an 1851 guts. Simple. Brands I like Uberti, Pietta, Navy Arms.

 

[Shawnee_b]

/——/ Are the reproductions better quality than the originals?

Generally safer, originals need to be inspected well, they can rot out near the breach, bad!

Not to mention their value.

Repros are generally very good quality but watch some of the repro revolvers. Get a good name. Had good luck myself. Being as the fouling goes everywhere, like in the receiver guts and so does the cleaning (hot water). They are not difficult to dissassemble completely, clean and lube. I don't use oil but TC lube, wonder lube etc, same with my long guns.

Also easy to get parts, I have also made some.

/——/ I meant compare to the originals when they were new. Obviously a new black powder Gun would be of higher quality than a 150 year old piece.

Yes, better steel, springs etc. Modern mfg better methods, better fit, better rifling machines.

 

[Marion Morrison]

Here is an 1851 guts. Simple. Brands I like Uberti, Pietta, Navy Arms.

View attachment 328402

That's a Colt.