Why we love Black Powder??????

[Fly]

I posted this same on another site also.Why do you like black powder shooting ? Funny in all my years of shooting this question I do not remember .So tell
us WHY you love it. This can be a very good
post. We all love black powder shooting, but in different ways. So lets here what type of BP shooting?

SO lets hear your thoughts on our great hobby, of SHOOTING BLACK POWDER!

Fly:lol:

[johnson1942]

accracy

[koehlerrk]

Black powder skeet shooting... it's just so much more fun when you need a spotter to confirm that you broke the clay bird! Best part was my brother and I getting a dose of humility from our 70 year old father. Gotta love the old man taking the boys and showing them how it's done.

But the best part, by far, is that black powder forces you to slow down. Slow down and savor the event, no matter what you're doing.

[irishtoo]

wow..... this might be along one. i got into muzzleloading because i wanted more of a challenge. shooting a deer with a scoped .308 frankly was too easy. also i like to build things, do woodworking, and love guns, shooting and hunting. so i put them all together and began to make my own. im also lefthanded. i think it is extremely gratifying to harvest your dinner with a gun i made, a ball i cast, and a knife of my own. few people in this world can say that. but.....it runs deeper that that. when im out in the woods with MY gun, i am in my own world. i go back to a time when a man lived or died by his own skills. he prospered or failed by his own hand. a time when your life was not controlled by a corporate ceo in an office a thousand miles away. it is my therapy, my church, my life. when i tell my hunting friends that saturday ill be in the woods staring at bark they get it. when i tell my non-hunting friends that they will never get it. irishtoo

[Rifle 57]

I like BP because of the sound you hear with it,very accurate,it makes me feel like I am in the 1800's and when you are shooting it in a muzzle loader it kind of slows down the world around you so you can enjoy life a little more.

[True.grit]

Love the smoke and the feel of a good Hawkins rifle in your hands, and the sound of the flint hitting the frizzen.

[mooman76]

The control and simplicity at the same time.

[koger]

Good rifles with zeroed, fixed sights never change zero, black powder is very accurate, has long shelf life. As mentioned above, I love hunting with a gun I built, or accurized. Though I have modern inlines, a Ky long rifle or Southern Mtn. rifle is one of my all time favorite rifles, along with a Rem rolling block, and sharps rifles, Marlin and Winchester lever rifles. I have taken 44 deer with a Side hammer rifle of several types, my last this winter with a flintlock, my first deer with one, but not the last. JUst plain FUN!!!!!

[triggerhappy243]

I would have to say exactly what irishtoo said,... irishtoo.... are you irish too?

[irishtoo]

I would have to say exactly what irishtoo said,... irishtoo.... are you irish too?
yes sir.......irish also.

[reloader4410]

Time machine, takes us back to a place were things were simple, & good. WE all love the smells, the fire, doing something our for fathers done, as a time before all this modern stuff hit the fan. To all, happy trails & keep making smoke.

[Rustyleee]

Love the smell of the smoke!

[Coogs]

Been trying to get into The Cowboy thing. Right now all my .44-40's have been smokeless, but have all my components lined up for PB. Loaded some .50-70 for my original Sharps carbine and some .45-70 for some of my trap doors in BP. Haven't squeezed the trigger on them yet, but, BP does take you back to a very simple time. Coogs.

[Coogs]

Guess I missed the title of this forum "muzzleloading" Guess anything I was just talking about ain't loaded from the muzzle!!!! But I do enjoy PA flintlock season, does that help? Coogs.

[RhodeHunter]

I like the challenge of one shot at a time. The simplicity of the round ball. I don't need a lot of extra equipment to make round balls, and the government or corporations isn't likely to price me out of the ammunition. I like the beauty of the old guns, and the hand-crafted nature of them. BP guns give me just enough advantage over the deer, and I don't need to practice a whole lot, compared to archery. Happy shooting everyone.

[johnson1942]

the other thing is, when koger and i hunted the muzzleloader season up here in western ne. i dont recall seeing any other hunter out their. we had this whole wonderful place to hunt for our selves. modern rifle season was like ants on a ant hill. everybody on edge, as well as the deer. im not going to hunt the modern rifle hunting season any more, just muzzle loader. the feeling of knowing what your doing and makeing one shot count with no one else around is as good as it gets. like it was ment to be.

[HangFireW8]

Even the big guns push instead of punch.

[ShooterAZ]

Nostalgia, limited opportunity hunts, and the challenge. Here in AZ in the general elk season it gets crazy, WAY too many people out there tripping over each other. In areas that have 500 tags in the general season, the ML hunt may only have 25.

[rfd]

that good rotten egg smell ... and if it's a trad ml, a connection back in time to a different era and way of life.

[ogre]

The sense of history and the challenge of the single shot.

[LuckyDog]

The slower pace at a line shoot.
The fun and comradrie at a woods walk.

and the harkening back to the earlier days. :)

[newrib]

I shot repro civil war muskets mostly last year and what I love about shooting black powder is: The smoke, flame, the challenge, the load work up, not having to pick up and find the time to reload the brass (thats also why I like .22s so much), inexpensive to shoot, and muzzle loader rifles clean up real easy.

[mooman76]

I forgot to mention the comradery. Can't tell tall tails and storys at a regular rang with people shooting fast as they can but while loaing and shooting a ML you can and usually someone looses tract and dry balls which is always fun.

[Col4570]

http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s452/livebattery/th_IMG_1723.mp4 (http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s452/livebattery/IMG_1723.mp4)
Click on the Picture.

[FSR]

Nothing like setting off the old .58 caliber rifled musket at the range when the only other shooters are the "tacticool brigade."

[HangFireW8]

http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s452/livebattery/th_IMG_1723.mp4 (http://i1052.photobucket.com/albums/s452/livebattery/IMG_1723.mp4)
Click on the Picture.

I see a tiny thumbnail of what might be a bucket and a walker.

???????

[LuckyDog]

Oh good, that's what I saw too

[flyingmonkey35]

159209

This is why I love black powder so much.
My father inlaw introduced it to me when I was dating my wife. / girlfriend back when I was a kid. 18ish.

He bought me my first rifle for a wedding present I still shoot it 20 years later

[Old Scribe]

I enjoy the slower pace of shooting a M/L. All my muzzleloaders are traditional and I enjoy shooting my custom Poor Boy flinter and double barrel 20 gauge. Nothin' can beat bringing home the meat with the knowledge that it took one well placed shot with a round ball.
:bigsmyl2:

[Fly]

Some great answers. A lot is around the history of it. I think that is my main love of the sport.
I love the smell of bp, & the sound. But casting my bullets & making my own black powder enhances
even more.

But keep the thread alive with your thoughts also.
Fly

[Rifle 57]

159209

This is why I love black powder so much.
My father inlaw introduced it to me when I was dating my wife. / girlfriend back when I was a kid. 18ish.

He bought me my first rifle for a wedding present I still shoot it 20 years later

This is what it should all be about family and you have a nice one flyingmonkey

[flyingmonkey35]

Thanks

[Col4570]

HangFire W8,you should be getting a very short video of me trying out an own built flintlock Shotgun.

[Whiterabbit]

Slower shooting, fewer iterations and options of tuning to make things right. A design conducive and almost demanding of firing offhand rather than strapped to a bench. Strong preferences by shooters to use home cast projectiles, and expected excellent performance from such. The reality of making every shot count rather than knowing at a moment you can just jack another cartridge in there. knowing your gun must be capable of withstanding a beating and shoot great. Three parts (lock...stock....). about 5 moving parts. The aforementioned throwback to simpler times.

Why like it? My perspective is the reverse. I like it because there is a total lack of factors to NOT like.








I also like hearing the people on range next to me making jokes ("reload! reload!") after I shoot, and compare targets or watch them miss shot after shot as I make the steel ring.

[Whiterabbit]

It's also a great response to people with muzzle brakes.

[Sharpsman]

I've killed hundreds of whitetail bucks over these past 65 years along with quite a few mulie, sometimes hunting five different states in one year and frankly I've grown tired of using a center-fire rifle! And I don't shoot In-Line ML if that's what you're thinking! IMO....everybody using those things may as well just shoot their regular center-fire rifle because I've tested a few In-Lines and one in particular will do the job out to 400 yards! So....I'll be shooting a traditional ML from now on and using BLACKPOWDER!! It's the challenge and it's going to make me change my hunting tactics a bit but I know how to do that!

[Mumblypeg]

Because I always wanted to be a Mountain Man when I grow up ! :-)

[sharps4590]

Goodness...seems all the answers I have are posted. I'm pretty much a hide bound traditionalist so when using a muzzleloader it has to be correct to the period I am wanting to emulate or take an experience from. I want to KNOW how it was "back when". Obviously we can't duplicate the times of the Longhunters or Mountain Men or Pioneers but we can experience what using the firearms they used was like. As with others I've taken several heads of larger game and a pile of squirrels and rabbits with BP and muzzleloaders and there is what might be considered a smug satisfaction that came from those successes. It's history, it's sometimes a challenge, it's accurate, one is compelled to slow down, it can be simple and easy or make you pull out your hair, I love the rifles, fowlers and double guns of the time when BP was king. Most of what I use these days is flintlocks but do have a nice, very authentic looking Hawken I cannot nor will not part with. I would dearly love to find a 16 bore German double gun, ML in shooting condition I could afford. I believe that would complete my ML accumulation. I also have a very weak spot for BP cartridge rifles, drillings and combination guns.

[horseman308]

First, it's a sense of connection to my Dad. He actually isn't much of a ML shooter (though I did build him a Chambers York rifle), but as a boy he told me all kinds of stories about David Crockett, and we played all sorts of similar themes. As an adult he gave me my Tennessee Mountain counter that I took my first deer with while he and I hunted together. He is still living, but due to distance we don't get to shoot much together anymore, but shooting my rifle still makes it seem like he's there.

Also, everyone tells me I was born in the wrong century. I don't reenact, but I've always been intrigued by the tangible sense of history you get from old weapons. With ML, of course I love getting to handle all the pieces, like horns, patches, RB, patch knives, etc. Normally I even like cleaning them! Really, though, its that they seem to have "soul." Nice wood (especially with some tasteful carving), oil finished, mated well to fine steel. Any gun like that is way more appealing than any plastic AR or Glock. For me, it's something almost indescribable.

[Hickok]

I shoot Civil War era rifles and handguns. Goes back to family history.

I did re-enacting for some years and it was a pure joy.

Along with two .577/.58 caliber Enfields, I have a Pedersoli Sharps Berdan that has the breech block redone by Charlie Hahn. This rifle is amazingly accurate. The paper cartridges are fast and easy to load.

The C&B revolvers are my favorites. I have always said, when you master these revolvers, you can call yourself a shootist.

I was trying to get started in N-SSA shooting for the last 3 years. The people down in Winchester VA. treated me great. But my job/ lack of job of late has pretty well put this endeavor out of reach.

The N-SSA shooters are a fine group of people.

[OverMax]

Why do I like Black? Probably because everything else powder is a hybrid of Black. My idea of enjoyment is: it's better to go original than follow those others and be ordinary.

[dbarry1]

It is like I'm stepping back in time when I pick up ye ole charcoal burner. I love shooting any kind of gun: bb/air, homemade potato canon, pistols (glocks/1911's - ACP & GAP btw), shotgun, rifles of any & all types. But when I pick up the flintlock, I feel a connection to those gone before us. Weird in a cool, nostalgic way.

[Texantothecore]

Why do I enjoy black powder shooting?

Sense of history:
Bp gives me insight into our own history and connects me to it directly. My great grandfather shot black powder and it connects me to him. We have one of his guns.

Artistic considerations:
The most beautiful guns ever made are bp guns. Muzzle loader or bpcr, cheap or expensive, they are simply beautiful.
Steel, wood and brass. My favorite materials for guns.

Lots of Very Cool projects:
Make your own equipment
Make tools to make your own equipment
Simplicity of equipment is amazing.

Chemistry! metallurgy! Ballistics!:
Make your own black powder
Percussion caps
Bullets

Flexibility:
Very flexible loading everything from light bunny loads to loads which will drop a buffalo on the first shot. All in one gun.

Ability to load sub bore loads using nothing more than fabric or leather patches stacked.

In the field:
Very accurate guns!
Very reliable. My most reliable pistol is an 1851 Navy. I recently went 650 shots without a fail to fire. Had one ftf, changed the nipple and haven't had another ftf since.

The boom!
The light from a massive muzzle flash
The smoke!
The wonderful smell of burning black powder.

I never shoot alone. I always shoot with someone who comes over and asks me questions. They usually end up loading and shooting one of my rifles or revolvers.

Current projects:
A new Jim Chambers flintlock
Refinish Navy grips with ebony dye and linseed oil.
Getting better at bp making.

[Blizzard63]

There,s the satisfaction I get when making my own , and perfecting it is even better . The casting and melting lead ? Oh yeah ,for sure ! then comes loading your rifle with what you made your own self and to find out it all works great, is awesome. I also like that muzzle loaders have been around for such a long time and wars have been fought with them .. It all makes you pay attention to what your doing too ..the safety part of it ..watch how you load your rifle etc .. Also theres nothing like the beauty of that one of a kind cap lock, or flint lock rifle theyre just awsome how they look I love it !

[Lead Fred]

I like holy black because after shooting smokeless for 50 years, its darn boring.

Black powder in a muzzle stuffer, or cartridge is always a challenge

[aephilli822]

Jeremiah Johnson made his way into the mountains........:bigsmyl2:

[SSGOldfart]

Why do I enjoy black powder shooting?

Sense of history:
Bp gives me insight into our own history and connects me to it directly. My great grandfather shot black powder and it connects me to him. We have one of his guns.

Artistic considerations:
The most beautiful guns ever made are bp guns. Muzzle loader or bpcr, cheap or expensive, they are simply beautiful.
Steel, wood and brass. My favorite materials for guns.

Lots of Very Cool projects:
Make your own equipment
Make tools to make your own equipment
Simplicity of equipment is amazing.

Chemistry! metallurgy! Ballistics!:
Make your own black powder
Percussion caps
Bullets

Flexibility:
Very flexible loading everything from light bunny loads to loads which will drop a buffalo on the first shot. All in one gun.

Ability to load sub bore loads using nothing more than fabric or leather patches stacked.

In the field:
Very accurate guns!
Very reliable. My most reliable pistol is an 1851 Navy. I recently went 650 shots without a fail to fire. Had one ftf, changed the nipple and haven't had another ftf since.

The boom!
The light from a massive muzzle flash
The smoke!
The wonderful smell of burning black powder.

I never shoot alone. I always shoot with someone who comes over and asks me questions. They usually end up loading and shooting one of my rifles or revolvers.

Current projects:
A new Jim Chambers flintlock
Refinish Navy grips with ebony dye and linseed oil.
Getting better at bp making.
Mostly all of the above fits me,other than I do a lot of shooting alone.

You can't beat a muzzleloader for a D-I-Y project the black powder is where it all started even smokeless powder started as a black powder substitute.

[flyingmonkey35]

Annual spring club shoot. Lots of fun . http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160515/05e88f6a0ccc31a09ffff987bf812b53.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160515/be4fa9858bdc3bbaef7dde2018727c0f.jpghttp://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160515/2bf899701ef4eae8375572cdd59db9e8.jpg

Sent from my draconis using Tapatalk

[Nobade]

I like black powder shooting because breathing the smoke makes you faster, smarter, and better looking. Just ask the guys I shoot with!

-Nobade

[Fly]

What a Great bunch of answers. I think it is more about our history than any other thing. Kind of like
watching a western, ever catch yourself checking out what gun there using. God do I love it.

Fly

[rfd]

tastes great, less filling. 8-)