Hang Fire
01-01-2006, 05:16 PM
I saw no forum for cowboy shoots or black powder cartridge rifles, so will post thread here, all comments would be appreciated.
My neighbor has an original JM Marlin Ballard Pacific rifle in .45-70. He wants to shoot it, but I am leery of him using even factory loads (anemic as they be) with smokeless powder. I suggested we could load some rounds up with black powder, but BP is not to be had locally. I picked up some American Pioneer Powder synthetic BP, and it is recommended for cartridge guns, but note on the container it states, "use no lube." (I contacted them at their website, but have gotten no response)
Surely they do not mean no lube for cast bullets? Are they referring to using lubed wads and etc?
Story of his Ballard is, he had no idea as to what he had, his uncle had died and he had inherited the Ballard and some other old guns 20 years ago. He had just put the guns into the attic and forgot about them, until we were talking guns one day and he wanted to know if I would take a look at them. His Ballard is a beautiful gun, it has the double set triggers with wiping stick in ferrules under the barrel, he thought it was a muzzleloader of some kind. He couldn't believe me when I told him it was a very expensive gun, and was floored when I showed him on the Internet just how expensive it was. He is now all fired up to shoot it.
Another of the "old guns" he had, is a very early (SN proves just how early) Model P first generation Colt with the Eagle hard rubber grips in .44-40 WCF. It too is in great shape, with very little mechanical wear, but the base pin had seized and it had been mangled trying to remove it. After soaking in penetrating oil and using a soft brass curved drift on rear of the pin, I finally got it out. Lucky for him, Numrich still has the repro 1st generation cylinder base pins for sale at less than 11 bucks. It comes blued, but a little Navel Jelly and steel fur will remedy that.
My neighbor has an original JM Marlin Ballard Pacific rifle in .45-70. He wants to shoot it, but I am leery of him using even factory loads (anemic as they be) with smokeless powder. I suggested we could load some rounds up with black powder, but BP is not to be had locally. I picked up some American Pioneer Powder synthetic BP, and it is recommended for cartridge guns, but note on the container it states, "use no lube." (I contacted them at their website, but have gotten no response)
Surely they do not mean no lube for cast bullets? Are they referring to using lubed wads and etc?
Story of his Ballard is, he had no idea as to what he had, his uncle had died and he had inherited the Ballard and some other old guns 20 years ago. He had just put the guns into the attic and forgot about them, until we were talking guns one day and he wanted to know if I would take a look at them. His Ballard is a beautiful gun, it has the double set triggers with wiping stick in ferrules under the barrel, he thought it was a muzzleloader of some kind. He couldn't believe me when I told him it was a very expensive gun, and was floored when I showed him on the Internet just how expensive it was. He is now all fired up to shoot it.
Another of the "old guns" he had, is a very early (SN proves just how early) Model P first generation Colt with the Eagle hard rubber grips in .44-40 WCF. It too is in great shape, with very little mechanical wear, but the base pin had seized and it had been mangled trying to remove it. After soaking in penetrating oil and using a soft brass curved drift on rear of the pin, I finally got it out. Lucky for him, Numrich still has the repro 1st generation cylinder base pins for sale at less than 11 bucks. It comes blued, but a little Navel Jelly and steel fur will remedy that.