The Black Powder Bug

[PreserveFreedom]

I bought my first BP gun with my tax refund earlier this year. It was an Italian copy of a .44 cal Remington 1858 revolver. Before I even got to fire it, I picked up a .45 cal "Kentuckian" pistol at the flea market. I brought both with me when I visited my dad in Alabama this summer. That is where I shot both for the first time. The feel, sight, and sound of them firing was just breathtaking. It was like a handgun and a work of art in one piece. My dad saw how much I loved them and he wound up sending me home with three percussion rifles (two that he had built from a kit and one that he had bought ready made) and a miniature cannon he had built. He was planning on leaving them to me some day, but he figured I might as well have fun with them now instead since he never played with them anymore.

When I got them back to my home I spent days cleaning them, polishing them, and admiring them. I took them to the range and immediately became as addicted to BP rifles as I had to BP pistols. It was then that I really wanted to learn the history of the evolution of small arms. I was surprised to learn that the Handgonne had been in service since the 1300's and that the evolution of small arms started so long ago.

Now, let me back up a bit. I was already an owner of modern arms. I still carry those modern arms for defense and I still keep a modern handgun on my nightstand. I have no intention of parting with the modern arms that I already own, but I sure have a lot of historic arms to acquire before I feel like I have a real collection. To be honest, I rarely even think about modern arms anymore. I also would not hesitate to use any of my black powder arms for defense.

Okay then...back to the timeline of my love affair with Black Powder arms. I have mixed feelings about inline rifles. Yes, I know the words "inline" and "rifle," when spoken together, can be considered a blasphemy. It would not be fair for me to not mention them though. If you read this far, at least hear me out. They would not be my first choice. In fact, I originally never thought I would own one. I did catch a sale on a couple though and I grabbed them. I have not fired either yet though. I figured if I could get one or two for dirt cheap it would be no different from getting any other small arms at a steal of a price. I also got to thinking that since I am passionate about the evolution of arms that I could not ignore this part of their evolution. While the inline era of muzzleloading arms is currently running parallel to cartridge arms, it is not a new idea. Inline flintlocks actually existed in the early 1700's.

Okay we will stop talking about those "evil black guns" now. Along with the evolution of actions and ignition systems, I found that there were a lot of "novelty" designs. There was the blunderbuss, duckfoot, snake eyes, twister, cavalier pistol, screw barrels, parlor pistols, and so many others. There was a volley gun and there were many attempts at a repeating rifle before cartridge ammunition made perfection of such possible. There were quality arms and there were junk guns, similar to today's "Saturday night specials." Even though some of these may have not been the best designs, they are still wicked cool.

My collection will still continue to grow. As long as I am welcomed here, you will continue to have the opportunity to see the newest pieces to my ever growing collection. Now I have just one question for you after you have read the story of how The Black Powder Bug bit me...

What is your story of how The Black Powder Bug bit you?

 

[nkbj]

One day there was this Japanese Kentucky hanging in a drug store on the east side of Houston...the rest just kinda happened.

 

[necchi]

Instead of cash for my labors, a Gentelman offered me a Renegade Rifle in .54, I accepted.
That was over 25 years ago.

wow, 25yrs ago,,, :shocked2:

 

[RADeO]

What is your story of how The Black Powder Bug bit you?

Back in the early sixties, Mechanix Illustrated magazine (I think it was) had an article detailing how to build a muzzle loading rifle that would handle DuPont Bulk Smokeless Shotgun Powder. The barrel used was a surplus Springfield M-1903A3 2-groove, which the author described how to order for the princely sum of $3.65, plus nominal postage. To make a long story short, over the course of several months I built something that somewhat resembled what one might generally (and humorously) call a "rifle". :rotf:

When I asked the owner of the local gun shop about Bulk Smokeless he told me it was no longer available. That kind of forced me into using black powder, which he would sell me if I brought a note from my mother. :redface: I eventually got the thing to shoot on a relatively routine basis, and it was all downhill from there.

 

[Cascade Pete]

My Uncle Charlie took me to the range when I was 11 and let me shoot his .50 T/C Hawken...worked all that summer painting 4 rail fence, over a mile of it..Took that money a purchased a .56 Renegade, and a .45 Flintlock by CVA...That was over 32 years ago. Uncle Charlie passed away 2 years ago, but his memory walks with me everytime I smell that wonderful black powder smell....R,I,P, Charles Thompson..You are missed, but well remembered...

 

[KHickam]

Not sure when I got bit - my Dad had a T/C Hawkin that he used for elk hunting - I shot it a bit - and I suppose I was around 15 or so when I bought my own T/C Renegade in 54 cal with money I saved working somewhere for $130 in 1980 or 1981 - it has been although I still own a few modern shotguns all my other guns have been black powder and I have killed lots of different kinds of game with them :thumbsup:

 

[smoothy]

As a young lad in 1972 my Dad got me a CVA colonial pistol kit. I still have the CVA brochure from that year and had looked at it a lot. It has pictures of the 1858 Remington revolver and the Zouave rifle. I desired both, but didn't get another BP until 1982 when I got a Thompson Center Renegade for hunting. The 1860 Colt Army was next, I think the open top frames are cool. Then I got into making my own - a pistol, rifle, and fowler (all flintlocks).
Let me add that I used my CVA pistol as a speech prop in a college class. Firearms weren't allowed on campus back then either (1981), but I had a cool professor. I shot a percussion cap off in the classroom for affect without announcing that I was going to do it. It was an attention getter, including the girl in the front row that was showing her disdain for firearms by her body language. She sat up straight for the rest of my speech. Sorry, but I like telling that story.

 

[ohio ramrod]

As you have learned black powder is addictive! I became addicted in the late 1950"s (my age is showing ) It was a black powder 28 gauge shotgun that I used on rabbits since at that time I could shoot it for 1/4 the cost of shooting modern. (It is interesting to note that today I can shoot modern shotguns for 1/3 the cost of shooting black )Times have changed! But while the boys have switched to modern shotguns :idunno: (If you can call a 1880's Bavarian Leader modern ) :idunno: I still shoot black about have the time with the shotguns. :idunno: AND ALL BLACK WITH THE RIFLES. :thumbsup:

 

[Jumpshot]

I grew up in a family that isn't into guns. I wasn't exposed to guns or hunting at all as I was growing up. I had the desire but no one to teach me. So I didn't get my first gun until I was an adult. I started reading books to learn. One day I was browsing in a gun shop and I saw a flint long rifle in the rack. That was the first time I had seen a muzzleloader. I didn't know until then that such guns were being made today and people were shooting them (this was before the internet). I handled the gun and immediately fell in love with the idea of owning and shooting one.

I did some searching and found Sam Fadala's Blackpowder Handbook. After that I started reading some other books to learn more. That was how I learned, by reading books and magazines. I got my first muzzleloader, which was a Pedersoli flintlock, and had good results with it right off the bat due to my educating myself first.

Since then my gun collection (most of them are centerfires) has grown enough that I have to keep most of them in a storage place instead of the house. My two favorite types of guns today are traditional muzzleloaders and military surplus, but I like pretty much everything. (Except inline muzzleloaders. That's the only type of gun I have no interest in at all. I don't hate them, they just don't interest me.)

I never had a teacher. I learned most of what I know about shooting on my own with books and magazines, and later the internet. On a side note, I've learned more about shooting from reading than the Army taught me in boot camp. The internet is a blessing, I wish I had it when I was getting started. It would have made the learning process much faster than just looking for blackpowder books in bookstores. Although getting a copy of Dixie's catalog helped a lot, because it has so many resources in it.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have a small antique signal cannon I found in a barn in Michigan when I was a child. In 1969 I heard about a cannon business in South Bend, Indiana. At the time we lived in the suburbs of Chicago and were making plans to move to southern Indiana to start a business. I wanted to learn about my cannon so one day we drove to Barney's Cannons (today known as South Bend Ordinance Works) and met the owner, Barney. Had a great visit and learned a lot about my cannon. During the conversation I told him we were about to move to Batesville, Indiana. He told us that wasn't far from a town named Friendship where big muzzle loading shoots were held. I didn't know apples from pickles about muzzle loaders. But right after our move in 1970 we went to Friendship during a big shoot. And, as they say, I was hooked and the rest is history.

 

[SgtSchutzen]

I got my first muzzleloader when I was still in high school to take advantage of the special muzzleloader deer season. That was probably 1978 or 79. I ordered a .50cal CVA Mountain Rifle from the sporting goods section of the J.C. Pennys catalog. Didn`t get a deer with it that first year but sure got hooked on shooting it. I still have that first rifle along with several others.
I`ve always been into shooting, hunting, and American history so soon got into doing the CVA kits because they were cheap. I did a Colonial Pistol, Philadelphia Derringer, Kentucky Rifle, and Frontier Rifle. Then I started makeing the acessories to go along with them.
Nowadays I hunt mostly with black powder. Except wingshooting, since I don`t have a smoothbore yet.

Very addictive hobby this is. :surrender:

 

[RBK]

Got the bug since in my father's collection, there were a few caplocks. I got to doing research a few years back and found that I had some nice antiques. Anyway, the mechanics of the thing, the marriage of wood and metal is something to be appreciated BP or modern gun. It is similar to a V8 engine, well made knife, nice painting or fine cigar. Something to be appreciated.
I am still searching for that nice flintlock rifle.
My quest for, investigation of fireams will not cease until I do.

 

[Semisane]

My Story:

In 1961 a sixteen year old kid was wandering around a gun show in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, and came upon a table with a stack of funny looking rusty double barrel shotguns. These things had two hammers, two triggers, and a stick hung under the barrel. And boy, they were cheap. Well, that young fellow had been washing cars on week-ends for a buck a car and had money to burn. So he turned over thirty of his hard earned dollars for one of those things without knowing a thing about them, other than it looked to be about 20 gauge. The guy who sold him that gun sure had a funny look on his face - said something about "wall hangers".

Back home, the kid took the barrel off of the stock and cleaned up the wood with mineral spirits and rubbed it down with furniture polish. It looked pretty good. Then he rubbed the barrel down with fine steel wool and oil. Most of the rust came off and the barrels had a pleasing brown color. There was even a little engraving on the top rib between the barrels. The insides of the barrels were pretty rusty. So he began scrubbing it out with his shotgun cleaning kit, but the back end of both barrels seemed to be blocked with something. So he filled them with soapy water and began poking around. When he dumped the water out, a bunch of bird shot and black gook poured out of the muzzle. After a while he got them pretty clean, and with some more steel wool wrapped around a 20 gauge brush the were shiny and fairly smooth.

Now there was no way to put shells in the darn thing. No matter how hard he pressed those protrusions sticking out of the breech, the gun would not open. So he visited one of the several local gun smiths (remember when there were several in your area?)

The fine old gentlemen (well, he seemed old at the time) explained the intricacies of muzzle loading. He also replaced the nipples on the gun and inspected it thoroughly, at no cost. He said the gun was made in Belgium in the late 1800's. He sold the kid a can of Dupont black powder and a tin of percussion caps, and gave him a sock full of #6 shot.

"This is what you do" he said, "fill the cap of the powder can with powder, and dump one cap full down each barrel. Then ball up two or three sheets of toilet paper and shove them down on top of the powder with the ramrod and pack them tight. Then fill the powder cap with shot and dump them down. Then ball up another sheet of toilet paper and push it down to hold the shot in place. Put caps on the nipples and you're ready to go. Be sure to carry the gun with the muzzle pointed up as much as possible and don't c0ck it all the way until you're ready to shoot." Then he gave the kid an old Dixie Gun Works catalog and said "here, read this".

Well, that kid took the gun to the batture of the Mississippi River that same evening when the blackbirds were coming back from the grain elevator up-river to roost in the willows, and had a blast wingshooting blackbirds at twenty yards. HOOKED FOR LIFE! (And stayed up all night reading that Dixie catalog.)

 

[VEARL]

I think that my addiction started way before some of you all were even born.
Broke my right arm playing football at 10 yrs old. Parents bought me a Davy Crockett cap rifle. Shot more imaginary Indians with that gun.
Came back from the Army in 1965. Got married in 1966. Bought my first CVA Mountain rifle kit and have been building, trading and shooting them ever since. My children claim that my mother used a powder horn instead of a bottle to fed me as a baby.LOL.
Down to 4 rifles at present time. All working guns and no custom made guns. Maybe one of these days, I might splurge and get a custom built rifle. No hurry though as I am still having fun shooting the ones I have.

 

[Levi]

Hi, I'm Levi and I'am a muzzleaholic......

Two years ago I bought a Kentucky looking rifle from a pawn shop in SE Tennessee for 75 bucks. It proudly hung on the wall in my living room for two years as "cool" decor. I've been in to military and hunting rifles for years but had zero interest in a gun that you have to clean in a bathtub. Well about 1 month ago I read James Fenimore Cooper's "Last of the Mochicians". It got me thinking about the Kentucky looking rifle hanging on my wall so I thought I should shoot it. Well I researched the gun JUKAR SPAIN. Cleaned it up as good as I could, found out how to laod and shoot it on the net. Got the powder 777, .015 patches a .40 round balls and a powder measure and starter. Finally shot it after work one evening and LOVED IT. So here I am learning as much as possible while I chase Whitetails here in North Georgia.

 

[Nappers]

I inherited my Custom California half stock from my dad when he passed away and he knew I wouldn't hawk it like my siblings. It sat for almost a year or less and I would take it out and look at it.....

I found out a buddy at work shoots them and if he is as precise at ML'ing as he is at work (we call him anal here at the klink LOL) then he would be my mentor to get this baby to fire without blowing myself or the gun up.

He took me out and we loaded it up and shot and I've been hooked since. In the next few months, I've spent hundreds on accessories, been to 2 rendezvous and bought a new Traditions Trapper pistol. When I grow up (the other Rondy guys say) then I want to try my aim with a flinter.

I love it and have aquired almost 50lbs in lead and the molds, furnace to start pouring .495/.490 balls for my guns. Now I'm prowling to get more guns to add to my cache. My poor centerfire guns don't get much attention, sans my service gun.

 

[jjackson]

well my roommate bought a sleek TC hawkin in 54. and we had grown up hunting together so i needed a smoke pole!But the problem was, in north west Oklahoma in 1985, ml were hard to come by. well after a few weeks, i heard tell of one at a local pawn shop, so i stopped by, found a sweet Investarms 50 cal hawkin, paid 100 bucks, which at the time seemed like a fortune. now jump forward 25 or so years, still have the sweet Investarms plus 3'50s 3'54s one 58 cal an still need more !!!!!!!!!! am so glad that there is a sight like this on the interwebs!! love hearing others stories and talking about muzzleloading!

 

[Stony]

Well, like many others I grew up around guns (dad was a LE) and he was always trading. He was also on the department's pistol shooting team so I went to a lot of shoots. We use to go bird hunting with my grandpa and stuff. I bought a 61 navy and took it with me when I joined the USAF in 1975. Went out busting jackrabbits while stationed in Idaho and increased my arsenal of modern guns but sold most of them off when I got out. Illinois had a ML season but nothing for modern guns so I bought a TC Renegade and found a nearby range up north in Wisconsin where I could shoot and learn. The girl I was dating (since high school) broke up with me and I meet another. Helped her out of a bad mess and we fell in love, got married and added a little one to our family. At the range up north, I was approached and invited to become a range officer on the black powder range. Bought a Lyman GPR and joined the Wisconsin MuzzleLoading Association and began attending shoots/rendezvous around the state. Picked up a Sharon 12 gauge so I could shoot smoothbore. Built a flintlock so I could shoot the flintlock matches but got bit by the IPSC bug and for a few years spent most of my time doing that. Got into Cowboy shooting and really got the bug bad (black powder class of course) but with just about a separate class for everyone, it stopped being fun anymore. Now I just shoot a real nice custom flintlock I bought from TOTW, got my original flintlock fixed (crown was off) and just placed an order with TVM for a fowler to match my custom flintlock. Myself and two other guys have been the longest serving range officers at the range up north. :thumbsup: