Black Powder Cartridge Rifles/The Blackpowder Report magazines

[ndnchf]

Who remembers these magazines? I first subscribed to Blackpowder Cartridge Rifles in early 1982. Sometime in 1984 it merged with The Buckskin Report to become The Blackpowder Report. Way back 30+ years ago it was the pioneering and only BPCR related magazine available. There were VERY few of us shooting BPCRS back then and unfortunately the magazine folded around 1987. I eagerly awaited every issue and still have them. I even wrote a few articles for it. I still pull mine out and read through them now and then. While we have come a long way since then, there is still valuable knowledge to be learned by re-reading thse early magazines.

[Bent Ramrod]

I found a few back issues at the Albuquerque Gun Show in the early '80's, and quickly subscribed and held on to the bitter end. The mountain man stuff was really not my thing, but I've saved all the issues and, like you, haul them out and go over the single shot rifle and black powder cartridge articles from time to time. A lot of good stuff there, and they also reprinted articles from other magazines I've never been able to find.

That guy John Baird was a major figure in the early days of the blackpowder revival in this country. It sticks in my mind that he was a Hawken rifle expert and wrote a book on them. I guess the magazine publishing business was too stressful; I wonder what happened to him.

[ndnchf]

The reprinted old articles were a treasure. Just tonight I was reading a Ned Roberts reprinted article that originally appeared in 1934. There were quite a few articles by Paul Matthews that are always enjoyable too.

[Tom Trevor]

I mentioned the two magazines on the Shiloh forum to answer a question and one of the frequent X-SPURT posters took me to task and informed me of no such merger.

[Bent Ramrod]

Rough bunch, over there on the Shiloh forum. I just lurk there; never post. Guess the "X-Spurt" never had the pleasure of reading the articles written in Mountain Man Speak ("Thass whar mah stick floats, pilgrim") on the way to the cartridge stuff. I was impressed by the historical rigor that those people brought to recreating the old days, but nobody wrote that way back then.

There was a semi-regular contributor to the magazine who had one of the early Shilohs in .50-140. I think he lived in Alaska. He wrote about shooting off the bench at oil drums out to enormous ranges. I thought that was pretty cool. Still do, actually, although I use gongs and less spectacular calibers.

[ndnchf]

There are too many self-proclaimed experts and not enough students of history. I recall that John Baird wrote an editorial explaining why the merger was necessary and some follow-on wailing from both camps about each not wanting to read the other side's material. Back then there were so few BPCR shooters and subscribers that they just couldn't sustain a standalone publication. Also there weren't enough contributing writers to fill a full magazine sometimes. They resorted to reprinting earlier articles (which was often a big plus for the readers). I remember the Alaskan with the 50-140. Other authors I recall were Gary Roedle, George Babits, Mike Venturino, George Layman, Paul Mathews and others. Elmer Keith was on the cover of one issue. It wasn't a fancy, slick magazine, but it offered a venue for BPCR guys to share their knowledge and experience in the pre-internet age. I remember typing out a few articles on an old manual typewriter and mailing them off in an envelope. This was the pre-CAS era and when BPCR competition was just getting started. So the focus was on the historical aspect of the guns and, in many cases re-learning how to load a black powder cartridge. Yes, we've come and long way, but they are still fun to pull out and read.

[waksupi]

I remember when John was explaining the merger of the magazines at one of the national rendezvous up on the North Fork of the Flathead. It did not go well, many tore up their membership cards then and there. He lost the ML crowd, plus alienating them with some of his personal dealings. Combining the magazines was pretty much the death knell.
Too bad, there really was some good discussion there. John always made out how busy he was, but when I went into the office several times, he was kicked back, feet on the desk, taking a nap. I can relate to that.
I still have a pile of them, I should peddle them to someone else to enjoy.

[ndnchf]

I'd be interested in any you have that are missing from my collection. I'll need to make an inventory of what I have and what I'm missing. I'll PM you.

[mazo kid]

I, too, have most of those early magazines. John was head-strong about ML barrels and manufacturers and didn't hesitate in making his feelings known and published. Dixie Gun Works has (or had) a 3 volume set of all the Black Powder Cartridge Magazines from 1980 through 1983.....complete with ads. ndnchf, what is your name or initials? Would be interested in looking up your articles.

[Tom Trevor]

Did he not get in financial trouble defending himself after he wrote a review of the Trail Arms Kodiak double rifle? Told it like it was, actually almost called it a pile of trash. Unlike today where anything ROAD TESTED is gods gift to the shooting world and you can not live without buying one.

[Don McDowell]

Between the lawsuits over the Kodiak Rifle and the Gun owners of America, the ending was not good.
I finally discarded my life member card for the NAPR.. don't guess it'll be coming back any time soon.

[ndnchf]

I, too, have most of those early magazines. John was head-strong about ML barrels and manufacturers and didn't hesitate in making his feelings known and published. Dixie Gun Works has (or had) a 3 volume set of all the Black Powder Cartridge Magazines from 1980 through 1983.....complete with ads. ndnchf, what is your name or initials? Would be interested in looking up your articles.

Mazo - in the June 1985 edition is my article on the Burnside carbine, August 1985 has my Evans repeating rifle article and the September 1985 edition has my Horzontal Shot Tower (Spencer) article. The funny thing is that I wrote these over the preceding year, but they were all published in the summer of 85.

[Tom Trevor]

Did he come back for a while and re-print some of the issues in West Virginia?

[ndnchf]

Did he come back for a while and re-print some of the issues in West Virginia?

I've not heard of that. I checked my collection. They last issue I have is from July 1986.

[Tom Trevor]

In the 1990's He called it Spyder Hill press. advertised printing and runs of back magazine issues. I saw adds for a few years and then they dissapeared.

[oldred]

I guess I'm late to the magazine game, at least the gun mags, but from what you guys are saying it looks as if that magazine is what I have been looking for and have decided does not exist. All I ever see is the latest issues of "AR15 whatever" or "Glocks-R-Us", they all are nothing more than cover-to-cover ads for the latest tacti-nonsense. I suppose they will print whatever sells but a slick magazine dedicated to BPCR and muzzleloaders along with the associated gear sure would be a refreshing change, the 'net is a great source for info but I still love to sit back with a good book or magazine.

[Gunlaker]

Oldred have you seen the Black Powder Cartridge News? I really like it, although there has been a lot of double rifle stuff in there in the last few years. That interests me less, but it's an excellent magazine.

The Singe Shot Exchange isn't too bad either. I like it more now that Lee Shaver has taken it over. Not that the quality is different, but the articles are often more interesting to me now.

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

Muzzleloader is a slick papered magazine that deals strictly in muzzleloading and the accessories.

[Bent Ramrod]

Jack O'Connor always insisted that sporting magazines that tried to feature multiple areas of interest were doomed in the long run, because the average shotgunner isn't interested in experimental handloading, the average hunter doesn't want to read about target shooting, the average rifle nut doesn't want to pay for articles about pistols, etc. The American Single Shot Rifle Association was formed by a bunch of National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association guys who had accumulated and developed interest in the breechloaders. Apparently, such dual interest couldn't be sustained, because the ASSRA split off from the NMLRA in the early '40's (IIRC) and formed their own newsletter/magazine.

I'm afraid if somebody wants to read a lot about both muzzle loaders and black powder cartridge rifles every month, he will have to subscribe to Muzzle Blasts, the ASSRA Journal, the Black Powder Cartridge News, Buckskinner and the Single Shot Exchange all at once.

[oldred]

Oldred have you seen the Black Powder Cartridge News? I really like it, although there has been a lot of double rifle stuff in there in the last few years. That interests me less, but it's an excellent magazine.

The Singe Shot Exchange isn't too bad either. I like it more now that Lee Shaver has taken it over. Not that the quality is different, but the articles are often more interesting to me now.

Chris.



Thanks!

No I was not at all familiar with those magazines but they sure look good, especially the Black Powder Cartridge News as that is the very thing I have looked for in the past. Gun magazines on the book store racks these days are a bad joke!

[rmark]

'I'm afraid if somebody wants to read a lot about both muzzle loaders and black powder cartridge rifles every month, he will have to subscribe to Muzzle Blasts, the ASSRA Journal, the Black Powder Cartridge News, Buckskinner and the Single Shot Exchange all at once.'


I read three out of five on that list.

[quasi]

Precision Shooting made a run of the books that Dixie Gun Works sells about 15 years ago.