Some Old-School Black Powder Shooting

[Marion Morrison]

If I ever have any disposable income again, I want me a Kentucky rifle.
A rifle just like in Sergeant York.
Hey..my cousin had a "Quigley down under" rifle. Yessir he did!

Sad thing is he couldn't get one like he went to war with, wtf?!

I found one for him, about a week b4 he died.
I never got to get that for him.
M1 Garand.

He had one similar, but it was synthetic and all this crap..

I found this place in GA, but he was on the outro.
Hoo-wee! My cousin had a lot of guns. A room with racks floor to ceiling filled with guns, anyplace they could be put.
Everything just about but what I wanted to get him. He deserved it. I loved my cousin. He loved me too.
Now that's all gone.

 

[Vastator]

You fuckers got me! You wanted some porn? Fine! Here’s some of my kit..!

 

[Vastator]

I mean, look at the patina on this shit! Tell me that ain’t sexy!

 

[Marion Morrison]

You fuckers got me! You wanted some porn? Fine! Here’s some of my kit..!View attachment 328408

Holy Colt-a-moly!

 

[Shawnee_b]

If I ever have any disposable income again, I want me a Kentucky rifle.
A rifle just like in Sergeant York.
Hey..my cousin had a "Quigley down under" rifle. Yessir he did!

Sad thing is he couldn't get one like he went to war with, wtf?!

I found one for him, about a week b4 he died.
I never got to get that for him.
M1 Garand.

He had one similar, but it was synthetic and all this crap..

I found this place in GA, but he was on the outro.
Hoo-wee! My cousin had a lot of guns. A room with racks floor to ceiling filled with guns, anyplace they could be put.
Everything just about but what I wanted to get him. He deserved it. I loved my cousin. He loved me too.
Now that's all gone.

If you can find one the Dixie Tennessee (very sim to KY) is awesome, run maybe $800 used now.

I did not have the exact Quigly rifle but did have and 1874 Sharps, couple 1863 too.

Believe York was a Springfield 1903. I was at a Vettes for Vets ride at the Bowling Green Museum, we gave woulded warriors rides around the 3.14 mile track. Had a speaker, Sgt Yorks grandson!!!

I have a Garand, 1954 Dec, all matching, H&R, cherry condition, my fav.

 

[Shawnee_b]

I mean, look at the patina on this shit! Tell me that ain’t sexy!
View attachment 328409

Nice kit, fine patina!!!

 

[Shawnee_b]

Never used a sub powder, always true BP. Shutz is great, Elephant dirty, Goex OK

 

[Marion Morrison]

If I ever have any disposable income again, I want me a Kentucky rifle.
A rifle just like in Sergeant York.
Hey..my cousin had a "Quigley down under" rifle. Yessir he did!

Sad thing is he couldn't get one like he went to war with, wtf?!

I found one for him, about a week b4 he died.
I never got to get that for him.
M1 Garand.

He had one similar, but it was synthetic and all this crap..

I found this place in GA, but he was on the outro.
Hoo-wee! My cousin had a lot of guns. A room with racks floor to ceiling filled with guns, anyplace they could be put.
Everything just about but what I wanted to get him. He deserved it. I loved my cousin. He loved me too.
Now that's all gone.

If you can find one the Dixie Tennessee (very sim to KY) is awesome, run maybe $800 used now.

I did not have the exact Quigly rifle but did have and 1874 Sharps, couple 1863 too.

Believe York was a Springfield 1903. I was at a Vettes for Vets ride at the Bowling Green Museum, we gave woulded warriors rides around the 3.14 mile track. Had a speaker, Sgt Yorks grandson!!!

I have a Garand, 1954 Dec, all matching, H&R, cherry condition, my fav.

Oh, he had the Quigley Down Under gun.

It was that m1 I was trying to get him. A rifle like he went to war with.

 

[JGalt]

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?

Some of the repros are pretty good, some are crap. I took both of the pistols completely apart today to give them a good cleaning. The metalwork on th internal parts of the FIE .36 caliber is pretty crappy and would require hours of honing and polishing to smooth it up.

The repro Colt 1860 .44 is pretty slick though. The hammer, trigger, hand, and cylinder lock are polished at the factory and it works smoothly. The problem I had with both of them was the last time I cleaned and lubricated them, I used CLP, which is a common oil-based gun cleaner/lube. That works great on cartridge guns, but natural lubes should only be used on black powder guns: Olive oil, vegetable oil, or better yet, Ballistol. That's a water-based lubricant that doesn't turn to gunk when it comes in contact with black powder fouling.

I have held in my hands several original Colts and Remingtons and if they have been taken care of, they have smooth actions.

 

[Ringel05]

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.

Hot water is too much cleaning? I've been reenacting since I was 29 years old, we'd come back from the field, put a patch over the nipple and pour hot water down the barrel. Let it sit for a minute then dump it out, repeat until the water came out clean, clean the nipple out with a pick. Now if you're target shooting run a brass brush down a few times to get any lead left behind in the grooves...... unless it's a smoothbore of course........

 

[Ringel05]

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.

You can get black powder online but it ain't cheap because typically they won't ship less than a 5 pound minimum. If you know someone who's reenacting they might be able to help you out. FFFg is generally a good all around grind, FFFFg is rather fine (great for flintlock pans).

buy fffg black powder at DuckDuckGo

 

[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.

You can get black powder online but it ain't cheap because typically they won't ship less than a 5 pound minimum. If you know someone who's reenacting they might be able to help you out. FFFg is generally a good all around grind, FFFFg is rather fine (great for flintlock pans).

buy fffg black powder at DuckDuckGo

Does Goex smell better than Pyrodex?
I love the smell of Cordite, but some of that black powder stinks!
It's Pyrodex, dammit!
That stuff be smelling unnatural, even!

 

[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.

You can get black powder online but it ain't cheap because typically they won't ship less than a 5 pound minimum. If you know someone who's reenacting they might be able to help you out. FFFg is generally a good all around grind, FFFFg is rather fine (great for flintlock pans).

buy fffg black powder at DuckDuckGo

I knew Ringel would know
He probably even has a real Kentucky Rifle.

 

[Ringel05]

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.

You can get black powder online but it ain't cheap because typically they won't ship less than a 5 pound minimum. If you know someone who's reenacting they might be able to help you out. FFFg is generally a good all around grind, FFFFg is rather fine (great for flintlock pans).

buy fffg black powder at DuckDuckGo

Does Goex smell better than Pyrodex?
I love the smell of Cordite, but some of that black powder stinks!
It's Pyrodex, dammit!
That stuff be smelling unnatural, even!

Goex is not Pyrodex, it's black powder and it's also not cordite. Does it smell better? I'm intimately familiar with the smell and to me it smell historically correct.......

 

[Jitss617]

I’m looking to buy a Black powder revolver made pre-1899

 

[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.

You can get black powder online but it ain't cheap because typically they won't ship less than a 5 pound minimum. If you know someone who's reenacting they might be able to help you out. FFFg is generally a good all around grind, FFFFg is rather fine (great for flintlock pans).

buy fffg black powder at DuckDuckGo

Does Goex smell better than Pyrodex?
I love the smell of Cordite, but some of that black powder stinks!
It's Pyrodex, dammit!
That stuff be smelling unnatural, even!

Goex is not Pyrodex, it's black powder and it's also not cordite. Does it smell better? I'm intimately familiar with the smell and to me it smell historically correct.......

Historically correct has to smell better than Pyrodex. I should get me some o' that!

 

[Jitss617]

 

[Ringel05]

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.

You can get black powder online but it ain't cheap because typically they won't ship less than a 5 pound minimum. If you know someone who's reenacting they might be able to help you out. FFFg is generally a good all around grind, FFFFg is rather fine (great for flintlock pans).

buy fffg black powder at DuckDuckGo

I knew Ringel would know
He probably even has a real Kentucky Rifle.

Nope, I would own a Pennsylvania Longifle instead......... The original name and place of origin for the Kentucky Longifle and the Pennsylvania Rifle is divided into distinct areas in Penn where they were made. The Pennsylvania Rifle is based on the German Jager Rifle.
Then there's the Southern Mountain Longifle, Virginia Longrifle, Tennessee Mountain Longrifle, etc. That doesn't even include the smoothbores........

Flintlock rifles - Track of the Wolf

Percussion rifles - Track of the Wolf

 

[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.

You can get black powder online but it ain't cheap because typically they won't ship less than a 5 pound minimum. If you know someone who's reenacting they might be able to help you out. FFFg is generally a good all around grind, FFFFg is rather fine (great for flintlock pans).

buy fffg black powder at DuckDuckGo

I knew Ringel would know
He probably even has a real Kentucky Rifle.

Nope, I would own a Pennsylvania Longifle instead......... The original name and place of origin for the Kentucky Longifle and the Pennsylvania Rifle is divided into distinct areas in Penn where they were made. The Pennsylvania Rifle is based on the German Jager Rifle.
Then there's the Southern Mountain Longifle, Virginia Longrifle, Tennessee Mountain Longrifle, etc. That doesn't even include the smoothbores........

Flintlock rifles - Track of the Wolf

Percussion rifles - Track of the Wolf

I want an Alvin York rifle..or a reasonable fascimile thereof.
Would that be "Tennessee Mountain" or what?

 

[Ringel05]

I’m looking to buy a Black powder revolver made pre-1899

Every revolver (and long arm) made pre-1889 fired black powder whether it fired cap and ball or cartridge. You can spend multiple thousands on an original that you may never want to fire or buy a quality reproduction.