Blackie Thomas (Great Videos)

Guys I came across bushcrafter Blackie Thomas on YouTube. He is a great man and he has an entire series of videos based on percussion revolvers. Guys this is some of the best, most insightful stuff I've ever found on the subject:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A-XuT-O6T4&list=PLrZ07-G4bVZeTzbAOXS2jUPKGHXsgHPhq

Every video is packed with knowledge. Any fan of these guns would do well to watch these. Just thought I'd pass on the information guys. Cheers!

-Smokey

I bounced around on one of them and what I saw seemed to be well explained and well done. I'll try to find time and bandwidth to watch all of them.

I also enjoy his videos.

Great videos :thumbsup:

I liked listening to some of his ideas except the one about filing a notch in a nipple top to facilitate cap expulsion.
Colt never made nipples that way as far as I know and it is not a good idea. The design idea is to hit the nipple top squarely so as not to bugger it and seal off the chamber from back pressure. The cap will split and fall away if the hammer nose is of the correct height, safety notch dressed and the nipples are shaped and dressed properly. The clearance trough under the right shield face needs to be smooth.
In my 1860 Pietta hammer I drilled a hole where the pin notch was and soldered in a cylindrical piece of hardened O-1 drill rod to hit the nipple face squarely.
Another doosey is hacking up the base pin with a file on a 58 to hold grease. Base pins on the 58 were designed for oil not grease as was the ribbed arbor on all open framed guns.
Still appreciated his videos just disagreed about a few of his methods. Each to his own.

I have always felt the pin notch useless as a safety and carry only five loaded chambers, hammer down on the empty.

I use Ballistol on my Remington base pin and it works exceptionally well. I wouldn’t hack mine either.

Thank you for sharing!

My pin notches on my Colt copies seem to work just fine.
I check them periodically, and keep them clean.

Always load with 6, and carry in a military-type flap holster which protects against a blow against the hammer just in case.

Yeah, that will work in a closed flap holster but I don't do it because as posted I altered the nose of my hammer and have no safety notch to engage the pins. There no longer is a notch to suck caps and five is all I need for match shooting.
I don't feel they are safe to carry all six chambers loaded in an open holster even with a hammer strap as all the strap really is for is to not loose the pistol while on horse back.

At a range or for stationary sessions I’ll load all six fer shur but I hike, walk, slip and shoot a lot on my local forest trails and consider the hammer down on an empty chamber as the best and safest bet. I don’t trust my knee caps to no Colt pins or Remington safety slots and we’re not exactly having a BP war here just now anyway so five at a time works just fine for being out on a scout. Mostly I use a flap holster too but still only load five if I'll be moving around much.


I like Black Oracle too. I admire the ageing he’s put on his G&G, ”˜61 and that 5.5” Remington. The guy knows some stuff. I do cringe though when he removes the cylinders from his Colt styles. I guess he just thumbs the hammer back to retract the bolt but him doing that is not always visible.

Blackie is a good guy. I've known him for at least three years now.

Yeah, his Cap and Ball Revolver series is what got me to get one myself. He's got around 30 or so years experience with these lovely guns. His experience, however, is in use as a woods gun and the mods are to facilitate reliability and ease of use in the modern replicas.

Thanks for posting the info about this YouTube site. I watched several and enjoyed them and will watch more. It is always interesting to hear someone's else's take on how to do things, even the basics. I also liked Blackie's low key delivery on the videos. I find myself more and more leaving the cartridge guns at home(although loaded with blackpowder cartridges) and spending an unhurried afternoon with the percussion pistols.

I too enjoy Blackie's videos and am a subscriber of his.

He reminds me of gentlemen that taught me to shoot and hunt growing up.

I really like Blackie. He's got some great videos out there! JA

He's tops. I have really enjoyed and benefited from all of his material. The man is a genuine asset. I subscribe, too.