What is going on with black powder pistols?

Shooters looking for new/alternative avenues to “scratch the itch”

My vote is a little of both! They weren't ready for those that decided to get something in black powder cause all the cartridge arms were missing the cartridge part and none on the shelves. Black powder and round balls were the last things to disappear from what I could tell. Those did not require a BC check either and add some of the .gov is coming for them tinfoil hattery and GONE!

ETA: this is the first time that there has been NO shotgun ammo on the shelves at places like wallyworld since I have been buying ammo (50+ years). People are not happy about things IMO.

Add in the havoc to the logistic system and nearly all of the cap n ball guns are made in one place in Italy and presto, a shortage.

As for BP supplies “missing”. You just have to know where to look. The brick n mortar places carry very little in that regard due to storage regs by the feds and because of relatively low demand compared to pew pew stuff.

Probably increased demand and Italy was hit especially hard by COVID.

Uberti, and Pietta have been hit by the corona (China) virus real hard. Their has not been enough manufacturing to keep up with the regular supply chain, let alone the high demand, and the covid factor.
You know its bad cause Pietta owns EMF, and they only have some brass framed 51s in stock, as of the other day.
It will come back with new stock as soon a they can get back to full manufacturing.
Dave

You can cast lead balls and make your own BP. Caps are a problem, so I keep a couple of flintlocks around.

JMHO- it's like everything else hunting/
camping/survival related. People panicked
and started scooping everything up. Or at
least it was that way here. Most everything
here got scarce as everyone went down the
list. First, " assault wheppons ". Then regular
hunting and target firearms. Then black
powder firearms. Then archery, air guns,
and slingshots.
For a while, there wasn't any sheath knives
or pocket knives to be had.

There's just very few things I'd like to have
but can't get, but I won't pay panic/gouge
prices to get them. I'm not hurting for
much of anything myself

They are all made in Italy and if you remember Italy was hit really hard with Covid. They were shut down for a while and it's my understanding they have ran smaller shifts. Plus they were recently shut down for their normal long vacation period they do every year so with all this and the extra demand for firearms recently it's going to take some time for them to catch up.

I think the idea is to be armed with a black powder firearm is better than to be armed with nothing else in the firearm field.

If one looks at the listings on Gunbroker under the "black Powder Pistols for sale" category, it's 5 pages of 96 items on each page. Not all of these listings are
actually pistols since some are accessories--like at least a page or more. Consequently, there are about 384 pistols listed--consisting of single shots
and revolvers in both new and used conditions--plus a few kits.

At this time a year ago, it would have averaged 10 pages or more every day. just happened to be aware of these numbers because at one time I when I was still actively collecting 2nd gen Colt Black powder revolvers, I spent a lot of time reviewing that particular section of Gunbroker for an occasional bargain. I'm full up with them now and have stopped.

Obviously, the general availability and traffic are down. I would imagine that Gunbroker is also not very happy about the situation.

Cheers