So I've been thinking about black powder powder guns....

Jet A-1

Jet A-1

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.... specifically black powder revolvers. I have had conventional handguns in the past and am considering getting back into that aspect of the hobby (IPSC, IDPA, etc.) but lately have found myself going down the black powder rabbit hole on YouTube. That whole aspect of shooting is starting to appeal to me. My question and reason for this thread is why do you suppose black powder handguns are restricted? I mean surely they are not considered a real threat in terms of public safety. Certainly nowhere near the threat that even a single shot shotgun would pose. Six shots and you have to really goof around to reload. Might have been the answer to the question back in 1850 but really? These things should be considered no different than any unrestricted firearm. I'd nearly be more scared of a green gas air pistol. I would love to explore this part of the sport. The casting of projectiles, experimenting with different loads and powders, affordable guns and supplies. Seems like a lot of fun and super interesting, except for having to jump through the hoops. I wonder if any attempt has been made to reclassify black powder firearms. It would certainly change the landscape of the sport I think. Just a thought....
 
Asking why as far as any of our laws is just an excercise in frustration. The simple answer is lots of powerful people don't want you to have firearms and others use the topic for cheap political points. Black powder everything shouldn't be regulated, neither should smokeless...
 
I’m also into black powder revolvers. I have an antique 1858 that I shoot occasionally but have a couple of restricted 1858’s that I shoot more often to give the antique a break, lol. I’ve been buying round balls but just picked up the mould so I can roll my own. I have a S&W antique in 44 Russian and have acquired the components to load BP for it as well and looking forward to that. Once into the BP, you’ll be there for awhile, I’m sure…
 
If I shot you with a BP colt, you will be just as dead as if I shot you with a centerfire modern gun, so that part don't fly.
You are trying to make sense of Liberial gun laws, there is no common sense to them.
 
It is highly addicting!!!! I started with a Pietta 1851 in 44 which took me down the path of no return. I now own a few BP revolvers

Antique 1851 in 44 :)
Pietta 1851 Navy in 44
Pietta 1860 Army sheriff in 44
Pietta 1854 Army in 44
Pietta 1862 NY police in 36
Uberti Dragoon
Uberti Walker
Ruger old army in 44

Now with that being said there is one slight issue getting into BP shooting.... Black Powder. In my next of the woods we have Goex and substitutes. Goex has since closed and hodgdon has no plans on reopening another plant. I am not aware of another black powder available in Canada and IMO, substitutes suck. I have enough black powder to keep me going for a few years and have bough a bunch of different substitutes to try out also.
 
Estes apparently picked up the Goex plant, so hopefully there will be powder for shooting again and it won't all go into model rocket motors.

I've meanwhile read up quite a bit on black powder and am torn between simply going out and buying a musket or maybe a BP revolver and trying it out per the instructions, or whether I really ought to try and find a mentor at my club. Problem is that the BP session on the club calendar is during the day, obviously for retired guys. Do I put off BP until I turn 65 and can join them at an hour I'm currently at work, or are younger guys allowed to try BP before being pensioned off?
 
There’s a certain low booming sound quality to BP that just isn’t there with smokeless cartridges. When you light one off everyone tends to stop what they’re doing and start rubber necking.

There are a couple of pitfalls to avoid, but if you get a steel receiver BP reproduction made in the 2000’s then you’ll be fine. Anything prior to that you should be deeply suspect of, some of the early Italian repro’s are just terrible. I’d avoid brass receiver revolvers in 44cal but the 36cal pistols should be okay.

After that you might consider getting some proper sized nipples, but for plinking you can get away with the odd ball Italian sized ones, pinching the caps can be enough to avoid most cap jams.

If you haven’t done so already check out Mike Belliveau on youtube aka Duelist1954, he really knows his stuff.
 
Tudenom said:
There’s a certain low booming sound quality to BP that just isn’t there with smokeless cartridges. When you light one off everyone tends to stop what they’re doing and start rubber necking.

There are a couple of pitfalls to avoid, but if you get a steel receiver BP reproduction made in the 2000’s then you’ll be fine. Anything prior to that you should be deeply suspect of, some of the early Italian repro’s are just terrible. I’d avoid brass receiver revolvers in 44cal but the 36cal pistols should be okay.

After that you might consider getting some proper sized nipples, but for plinking you can get away with the odd ball Italian sized ones, pinching the caps can be enough to avoid most cap jams.

If you haven’t done so already check out Mike Belliveau on youtube aka Duelist1954, he really knows his stuff.
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JB weld on the hammer to get rid of the notch is critical to prevent it from sucking caps. Mike belliveau covers this as well as duelist1954
 
Thanks for all the info guys. I've been devouring what I can on YouTube. There is a bit to learn for sure. Still, it is annoying that I can go up in the woods not far from where I live with a 12 gauge and shoot paper all afternoon without any worries yet god forbid anyone would take a bp revolver and try to do the same. Oh well. It is what it is I suppose. Not putting that horse back in the barn at this point.
 
Jet A-1 said:
Thanks for all the info guys. I've been devouring what I can on YouTube. There is a bit to learn for sure. Still, it is annoying that I can go up in the woods not far from where I live with a 12 gauge and shoot paper all afternoon without any worries yet god forbid anyone would take a bp revolver and try to do the same. Oh well. It is what it is I suppose. Not putting that horse back in the barn at this point.
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Get yourself an antique revolver and you can fill that niche. I occasionally load up my 1858 Remington and fire it in my back yard. No township bylaw against that here and I quite enjoy doing it.
 
The best thing about shooting black powder guns is that it teaches you patience. They "shoot as fast as lightnin' but load a might slow" If you like to do mag dumps black powder is not your thing. Now that my range has recovered from the flood, I can't wait to take them out.
 
Ah buddy, your absolutely bang on there. Same as why is a 22lr pistol restricted and we can shoot big boys (no longer 50 bmg) long distance? The 22 isn't gonna hurt a damn thing. It's all lies and spin and misdirection.

The government is quite clearly the enemy. We used to think enemies were foreign, but all this anti racism jargon;) has taught me that the enemy is quite literally our clear and present overlords... just ask a Trucker!
 
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BP revolvers are restricted because the government fears the gang bangers would take them up and they would have a whole bunch of Josey Whales outlaws running around.Basically BP revolvers could get the job done like they did years ago but I don t think they would be popular with criminals as they take some knowledge and expertise in care and handling(especially the cleaning part)and you wouldn’t want to get into a fire fight with the police then you would have to carry four or five revolvers like Josey did as there would be no chance of reloading.Also a cap &ball gun might be hard to shoot sideways gangsta style lol.While it would be nice if they were non restricted all it would take would be some idiot shooting his neighbour etc and they would become restricted pretty quick.There was actually a case I remember thatI think it was on Dateline that a guy murdered his girlfriend with one
 
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Tudenom said:
There’s a certain low booming sound quality to BP that just isn’t there with smokeless cartridges. When you light one off everyone tends to stop what they’re doing and start rubber necking.

There are a couple of pitfalls to avoid, but if you get a steel receiver BP reproduction made in the 2000’s then you’ll be fine. Anything prior to that you should be deeply suspect of, some of the early Italian repro’s are just terrible. I’d avoid brass receiver revolvers in 44cal but the 36cal pistols should be okay.

After that you might consider getting some proper sized nipples, but for plinking you can get away with the odd ball Italian sized ones, pinching the caps can be enough to avoid most cap jams.

If you haven’t done so already check out Mike Belliveau on youtube aka Duelist1954, he really knows his stuff.
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Mike is a warehouse of BP info.

I have a lot of fun with my 1862 44cal Piettias. The nipples that came with with my revolvers have really huge diameter flash holes compared to the 50cal percussion rifle I used to have. IMO, because of the huge flash hole, it's the back pressure that blows the cap off the nipple, causing the cap jams. Reducing the FFFg BP load to about 22ish gn by volume of FFFg and 'pinching' the cap has reduced my cap jams to almost 0.

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I use Civil War style paper cartridges in my BP revolvers.
44cal - .457 ball, 22gn FFFg BP, hand dipped in homemade lube.
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Using the .457 balls, I get a nice lead ring when seating bullet. This seal c/w lube, so far, 'knock on wood', I haven't had any chain fires.

The first couple of times out, I just kept reloading and shooting, after about 4 rounds I would start to get the odd hang fire or needing a second cap. Now I inspect cylinder and fish out any left over paper before reloading another round.
ATM, my homemade lube consists of 2oz of Paraffin wax, 2oz Bee's wax, 4oz Lard, 2caps of Olive Oil, cap of Mr. Clean. The Revolvers clean up good in hot soapy water followed with a Ballistol rinse.

I tried making my own mandrel while waiting on a former kit. My mandrel was not tapered enough, too short & fat. I had several paper cartridges break inserting cartridge into cylinder, getting powder every where.
I got a the kit from 'capandball' on youtube. His cartridge former works good.
Another source for formers is 'gunsofthewest' on youtube, he wasn't selling internationally when I ordered from capandball.
They both have instructional videos on using their formers to make paper cartridges.
If you want a conical bullet mold for you revolvers see 'Era's Gone' for historical correct conical bullets.
 
The Ruger Old Army is a great gun. I believe built on the super Blackhawk frame.

There are videos of people loading them to the max with modern smokeless powder and the guns don't fail.

Very similar to the Rem 1858, which I have also owned. I prefer guns with the top strap but that is just me.

I have had several ROAs and still have one. It is the stainless target model and very accurate.
 
tbrwlf said:
The Ruger Old Army is a great gun.

There are videos of people loading them to the max with modern smokeless powder and the guns don't fail.
.
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I would hope that you mean one of the synthetic black powders when you say modern smokeless powder. Loading with a smokeless powder intended for modern cartridge rifles and shotguns is evolution in action waiting to happen. Percussion revolvers have the capacity to contain several times enough powder to blow the cylinder up

cheers mooncoon
 
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