Where did your Black Powder addiction come from? Where you at now?

[Remmy4477]

Unsure if this is where it needs to be? Long, but here it goes.

Back in the late 80's me and my dad were always messing with military rifles, 1917 Eddystone's, Mosin Nagants, 03A3's, Mauser's, mainly anything 30 caliber. Seemed like it was simple to make them shoot well, almost boring for me at the time.

In 1990, Quigley Down Under came out, me being a big fan of westerns I went to see it, twice that weekend! I was smitten with that big rifle and all that smoke! So I started collecting books and magazines with anything black powder related. Lots of stuff written by Mike Venturino, Steve Garb and SPG (same) I was hooked!

In the 90's you could find an original sharps or remington roller for less than $2000 in shootable condition, the copy's were around the $500 mark, either might has well been $100K to this young man back then. I was in the market for a rifle but raising a young family at the time, money was extra tight!

In 92, I happened to stop in at a local pawn shop, I always visited their gun rack. That day they had just put out a used Navy Arms copy of the Remington rolling block in 45-70. It was the heavy octagon version with the brass barrel band fitted forearm, 20 inch barrel wearing a globe front sight and a pedersoli tang sight. Price out the door was $300. Bummer I could not swing it at the time. So I waited, saved and watched it sit in that pawn shop for three months. I finally had $300 saved up and walked into that shop. Got the manager to show me that roller, talked, bartered back and forth on the price. After an hour I walked out with $125 still in my pocket and the proud owner of a fine (at the time) rolling block rifle.

I spent the rest of the cash on dies, primers, powder, brass, and boolits. Pyrodex was the only bp you could get at the time in our area. Boolits were mail order montana precision in 405 grns.

Back then I had access to all kinds of shooting areas, less than a 5 minuets from the house. I could shoot a mile in any direction if I wanted. Could shoot coyotes or ground critters on any given farm. Spent many days shooting in my spare time. Life was good! Fast forward to 2024, all the free range is gone now, homes being built everywhere. Farms are gone and housing has sprung up. Got to drive 50 miles to get free range or 10 miles and pay $20 an hour for range time.

I put 100's of rounds through that rifle. Learned a lot about pyrodex. Then was lucky enough to get a pound of Goex and I dropped the other like a rock. Never used pyrodex again!

2 years later the navy arms went down the road in favor of an original rolling block in 43 spanish. Had lots of fun with that one too till the brass became expensive. A buck+ a case was more than I wanted to spend. That one went down the road.

Since the mid 90's I have owned several rollers, mainly 43 spanish only because they had brass with them. One roller in 444 marlin, that was an interesting rifle, just never had the guts to shoot it. Down the road it went. Then life got crazy and I strayed for a few years.

In the early 2000's I picked up a nice roller that had been converted to 45-70, Badger 34 inch octagon barrel, slicked sporter action and snover sights. All set up for competition. Shot the crazies out of this one! Accurate and fun no matter the load. Sold it a few years ago, kind of regretted doing so then months later if fell back into my lap. It's a keeper now. Don't shoot it much anymore, it's a heavy rifle and old age sneaks up on you when you shoulder it.

I just recently picked up a Spanish Remington saddle ring carbine that has been relined in 44-40. Shoots great with smokeless but am currently gearing it up for the black powder full time. Nice rifle, it shoulders well and weight is not an issue! Going to be a fun one!

I know I've missed a few rifles in here, never mentioned some of the pistols I have, mostly 44 colt and 44-40. BP driven of course.

So far it's been a fun ride with the Black Powder!

[LAGS]

When I was a kid.
I would go to my grandfathers house about twice a year.
He was a home gunsmith from back in the ‘30s
But when he retired from the Naval Yard , he only made BP rifles for the last 10 years of his life.
I have retired.
So I too mostly do BP guns even though I have been doing gunsmithing as a hobby since the ‘70s

[Harter66]

Never got into bpcr .....
I tried a few in 45 Colts in a BlackHawk , I don't recommend it .

My kids got me an 1858 44 Rem Pietta brasser . I'd talked occasionally about a companion for the 50 TC Hawkins.
That got me going some . With some haggle and swap I eventually found a Dragoon and a 36 cal 1858 in steel .
I went through 3-4 1860 Colts , love the feel , hate the function. I even had a c&b version of the 1873 SAA , that also cured my want of an SAA ..... Don't ask I can't explain it but I don't like Bisley's either . I'm beginning to think it's just an aversion to Colts revolvers .

I went down the hole and made some screen powder , bought a cap tool and proved I could make a serviceable cap to go with the serviceable powder . 2 Hawkins ,2 Carolinas , a Frontier Rifle , a couple of Philadelphia Darangers , couple of flint lock pistols the 36&44 58s , a project "pimp" 1860 ASM , and the 2nd Mod Dragoon .

Took the Frontier Rifle out for the only hunt I've been on since moving to Arkansas.

I'm short on shooting company here and back raising littles again , my 3rd batch . I have a lot of time for the 20 mile drive and cleaning up after the fun these days .

[Brimstone]

Family were hunters. I made some effort. Florida has a black powder season and I wanted the extra days so I dropped $80 on a CVA Bobcat.

I carried that thing everywhere and even into regular rifle season.

Made my first batch of generic screened black powder. The classic alchemist style of wood mortar and pestle I picked up at Walmart along with the nitrate and sulfur.

I skipped the scale because what's the fun in being scientific when you can waste 3 pounds of nitrate, give yourself arthritis in the wrist and make lots of disappointing smoke until one day.....one day you make a batch, squat down to light it and wind up on your butt with a face full of smoke and no more arm hair.
Good times.

I got out of the black powder thing for nearly 20 years until my cousin dragged me back into it with his Brown Bess he picked up just before 4th of July and it needed powder.

Now I'm down a scientific rabbit hole of charcoal and black powder analysis. There are a lot of other people stuck in this hole too, a whole community in fact.

[JFoster48386]

After we moved into our last house while growing up, my dad bought me a CVA percussion rifle and percussion pistol kit. The rifle was a .50 and the pistol was a .45. I must have been at least 7-8 years old. My dad always kept me busy building and making stuff. We were lucky to have a full shop in our basement too. I remember building both kits in record time. I used the rifle to hunt Deer for close to 20 years. Until I built a new rifle as an adult. All of them are still here and in perfect working condition. So, the addiction, for me, easily started before I was 10 years old... And is still ongoing... :razz:

Jon.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

Bought my first muzzleloader in 1970, a Dixie Gunworks 32cal "squirrle" rifle and after 12 months traded up to a Thompson Centre 50cal Hawken (no doubt influenced by the movie Jerimah Johnson). That little gun was certainly one I should never have sold.

Then came "Quigley down under" and I had to have a Sharps; well now I have 5 - 45/70, 45/90, 40/65, 50/70 and 50/90; as well as RB's, Martini's, Trapdoors.

https://i.imgur.com/OwOZYlzl.jpg

[gwpercle]

I wanted to buy and shoot a handgun ... but I wasn't old enough ... you had to be either 18 or 21 to buy a handgun in Louisiana at the time and I wasn't ... this was about 1963 or 1964 ... but the shop owner showed me a Replica Colt 1851 Navy cap & ball revolver that he said I was old enough to buy ... and the price was only $35 ! Who-Wee I left the shop with the 1851 Navy , lead balls , black powder and percussion caps and that got me off on a life-long addiction to Handguns and Black Powder . Own several and still enjoy shooting them .
Never did get into rifles ... handguns always were my love and main interest .
Gary

[country gent]

Bought a thompsen center renegade kit in 50 cal to get the extra deer season in ohio. actually used for slug gun season also I was more comfortable with it than the shotgun and slugs.

Then around 2010 I had to give up NRA High Power rifle with the MS I just could keep up with the pace of most matches. I then started in BPCR silhouettes More laid back and I could shoot from my wheel chair ( saved me making a stool). Started this with a CSharps Hepburn in 45-90 which did the job but was way to much recoil from the chair. I then went to a cpa in 40-65. Last I went to a high wall in 38-55 and a DZ hepburn in 38-55. Also are 3 45-70s a rolling block a brochardt and a pedersoli 74 sharpps long range.

Yea Im Hooked

[Griff]

Probably "Jeremiah Johnson" influenced my desire for a Hawken. I found an affordable .54 TC Hawken kit and proceeded to speed my nights off and a few days making it acceptably useable. But, I found I never would get the RB accuracy I wanted out of that 1-48" twist. So it went down the road and I picked up a mail order Uberti Santa Fe Hawken in .53. Molds in .520 & .526 I found the accuracy I wanted for both hunting, and friendly competition at the local BP shoots on the range. Then I read an article in Guns & Ammo in late 1982 about a little shoot they were holding in So Calif called "End of Trail"... about cowboy guns and stuff... but the article lacked locale info, so it took me until mid 1985 to find out where they were held on the 4th Sunday each month. What kid of the 50s & 60 raised on Gunsmoke, Bonanza, Rawhide, JW, Hoppy, Roy & Gene didn't want to be a cowboy? Heck I already had a Colt SAA, mdl 94 Winchester and a double coach gun... Right up my alley! Except, 1985 was also the year they banned any rifle cartridges in the main match, now had to be a pistol caliber rifle. So I added a Rossi and went every 4th Sunday and 1st Saturday at the other cowboy match being held in SoCal. At EOT the next year I saw that they had a "long range" side match, shooting at a 200 yard "buffalo" with a paper center, most hits outta 10 with time as a tie breaker. The only rifle of a "buffalo" type I had was that Hawken... so I climbed up on that "horse" and proceeded to hit 7 of 10, dumping powder and loose balls down the barrel, slamming the butt on my foot to seat the ball. But against cartridge guns, it was laughable. But, I had fun doin' it!
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/d197/sass93/eot87-1.jpg
I didn't do all that well in the competition, and thought... "Hey, they have a Black Powder category with fewer entrants." It required a C& B pistol, so I bought a ASM copy of the Colt 1851 and proceeded to practice a bit more. That summer 3 of us ordered Shilohs to shoot the Long Range stuff with. Mine arrived in time for the '97 EOT. Early '97 I bought a Uberti 1873 in 45 Colt, taught myself how to load those and 12 gauge shotshells with BP.

Been there, doin' that, ever since. Now it's the Frontiersman category or a Plainsman side match (difference being a single shot BP cartridge rifle vs, a lever) with a Browning 1885 LowWall in 45 Colt! I have 3 Patersons that I truly itch to shoot in a match, but of the matching pair, one just doesn't work quite right...

[Minerat]

Mind starten when my girlfriend (wife now) got me a TC Hawken .54 kit in 1985. Then a 44 Remington CVA pistol kit 1987. I hunted elk 2 years with the Hawken and.just shot it for fun. Next was a SS ROA that I got a good deal on and the jumped into the Shiloh Sharps rabbit hole with a No1 .45-90 last year. Only use black powder in them.

[HWooldridge]

I wanted to buy and shoot a handgun ... but I wasn't old enough ... you had to be either 18 or 21 to buy a handgun in Louisiana at the time and I wasn't ... this was about 1963 or 1964 ... but the shop owner showed me a Replica Colt 1851 Navy cap & ball revolver that he said I was old enough to buy ... and the price was only $35 ! Who-Wee I left the shop with the 1851 Navy , lead balls , black powder and percussion caps and that got me off on a life-long addiction to Handguns and Black Powder . Own several and still enjoy shooting them .
Never did get into rifles ... handguns always were my love and main interest .
Gary

That’s basically what happened to me. I turned 18 and wanted a pistol but couldn’t buy a cartridge gun, but Dixie was happy to send an 1858 Remington target model through the mail, along with balls and caps - I bought the Goex locally. That revolver was quite accurate and several of my friends also shot it - was their first experience with a handgun and BP.

However, that was not my first experience - my dad had inherited an 1860 Army and I shot it a few times when I was 15 or so. That old warhorse was also accurate; I remember we put a one gallon Clorox bleach bottle out at 50 paces and proceeded to ventilate it. The sights were on target at 50 but shot high up close. I quit shooting the Colt because I was afraid it would come apart on me.

[mike salyards]

I started out with a cartridge again from Shiloh sharps. That stupid Quigley movie got me going, it's not stupid it just cost me lots of money. I now own three sharps from Shiloh. I also have several muzzle loaders and one handgun.

[Chill Wills]

Mind starten when my girlfriend (wife now) got me a TC Hawken .54 kit in 1985. Then a 44 Remington CVA pistol kit 1987. I hunted elk 2 years with the Hawken and.just shot it for fun. Next was a SS ROA that I got a good deal on and the jumped into the Shiloh Sharps rabbit hole with a No1 .45-90 last year. Only use black powder in them.

Come shoot the Watkins silhouette shoot east of Denver with the rest of us once a month. It's just for fun!!!

[Remmy4477]

Come shoot the Watkins silhouette shoot east of Denver with the rest of us once a month. It's just for fun!!!

Get Minerat to go. Then I'd drag my roller out of the gun cabinet and show up. What weekend of the month they doing those? I've been trying to make the cowboy silhouette shoots out there but the rifle and pistol keep getting cancelled due to the weather.

[Minerat]

Come shoot the Watkins silhouette shoot east of Denver with the rest of us once a month. It's just for fun!!!

I'm a member at CRC but been planning to give the steel shoot a go at Watkins. But on 4/13 I took a bug chunk of meat out of the outside of my trigger finger when I put it into a compressor fan. (Long story involving a loose fan shroud, a brain fart, and 5 hrs in the ER). It's still too swollen and sore to shoot yet. But thanks for the invite, I let you know when I'm ready.

[Rockingkj]

Originally got a BP TC to deer hunt in the 80’s then put it aside. About 15 years ago made friends with some guys into BP shooting. Tried it again and it rekindled my competitive shooting nature. Now have more black powder guns than those new fangled cartridge guns. Just spent 2 1/2 days over memorial weekend shooting muzzle stuffers. Managed to win and place in a fair number of targets. Usually the 1st at the range and about the last to leave. The shooting is great but have made lifelong friends with the same passion for shooting.

[GregLaROCHE]

When I made my first BP cannonin the early eighties.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I still love my muzzle loaders and shoot them as often as my BPCR collection.

https://i.imgur.com/SY6JH8Gl.jpg

[sailcaptain]

Like Greg LaRoche said….when I made my cannon back in early 80’s. Been hook ever since. Now I too, want a 45-110 caliber.
Still looking for it, a while back I did enter a contest to win one. I didn’t, but I did get a very nice “autographed” replica cartridge.
The love for BP is still real and the search still goes on.
327055
327056

[Chill Wills]

Get Minerat to go. Then I'd drag my roller out of the gun cabinet and show up. What weekend of the month they doing those? I've been trying to make the cowboy silhouette shoots out there but the rifle and pistol keep getting cancelled due to the weather.

The First Saturday of each month. This Saturday, 3 days from now is the next one. If you can't get loaded for a full match by then, just bring what ammo you have and I will let you shoot some pigs or what every you want to see how you like it. We have all the other equipment needed, you only need to bring a rifle. We are a friendly, helpful bunch.

[Deadeye Bly]

Watching Davy Crockett on TV in the 50's was my first inspiration and I wanted a flintlock rifle but I was much too young. In my late teen years some neighbors had a keg of black blasting powder that was probably 50 years old at the time. We experimented trying to make firecrackers with limited success. I made a cannon out of a bicycle tire pump that shot D size flashlight batteries at the corn crib. It's a wonder we didn't blow ourselves up but I was always very careful. Later on a friend bought some old single barrel shotgun barrels at an auction for a few bucks. I took one and made a muzzle loading shotgun out of one with some parts from Dixie Gun Works. the movie Jeremiah Johnson inspired me to make my first Hawken rifle. Then Virginia started a primitive rifle season for flintlock only so I ordered a kit from Dixie and built one. I finally had my flintlock rifle I had wanted as a kid. I spent some years with a Rev War re-enactment unit during and after the bicentennial.Then I got into shooting in the N-SSA with Civil War rifled muskets. In 1992 I started shooting BPCR silhouette with a Sharps rifle. In 2024 I'm still shooting in the N-SSA and shooting BPCR silhouette. That's about it.