Black powder in 45L/C...WHAT A MESS!!

[jeeptim]

So I got on this black powder kick. Assembled all stuff to load 45 colt loaded up 25 went to the range today loaded and shot six rounds shot nice lots of smoke everything I wanted except soot covered the the cylinder frame my hands chambers were a mess I knew it would be dirty but this was bad. Dont think ill shoot any more.
I do want to thank everybody's input getting me going on this it was very cool anf fun shooting. Live and learn.
Merry Christmas.

 

[jaguarxk120]

Now is the time for the soap and water clean up.

You wash everything in soap and water, the best blackpowder solvent ever made. Down to the last screw and spring.

Rinse everything with VERY hot water so the parts will dry quickly, then use your favorite oil to lube and coat all the parts.

While your at it dump the fired case's in too, less they turn green shortly.

 

[Don McDowell]

Clean up is simple. Take the cylinder out and blow down the barrel about 4 deep breaths, then run a dry patch on a jag down the tube. Follow that with a couple 3 patches wet with water , soap and water, bp solvent take your pick, then a dry patch. IF those bullets you used were lubed with a lube that didn't take offense to the bp fouling, and IF you didn't fill the bore with lead , now you just put an oiled patch down the bore and it's done.
No turn your attention to the cylinder. Wipe the outside off with a damp rag. Push some damp patches thru each cylinder, dry and oil.
Wipe the outside of the gun off and oil.
Now it's time to take care of those cases. Punch the primers, drop the cases in a container with a couple drops of dish soap and cover with water, shake them around a bit, rinse in the can until the water comes out clean, dry the cases, and then run them thru the tumbler if you want to put the pretty shine back on them.
Takes more effort to type this all out , than it does to actually do it.

 

[FROGO207]

Yeah us smokeless shooters have it made. Those guys a century or so ago really had to work at it when going for a short range session. BP is fun to mess around with but not what I would want to do EVERY time if I had a choice.

 

[Foto Joe]

Black Powder in 45 Colt is a labor of love I'm afraid. Unfortunately if you start out with the improper components, i.e. wrong lube or boolit, your first experience with it could easily be your last. I've loaded a BUNCH of 45 Colt with Black Powder, everything from full house loads to Gallery Loads and yes the cleanup can be a bit of a pain but it's nothing worse than I'm willing to put into it. One of these days I'll load up a few dozen 45ACP for a 1911 but that one will definitely be a chore to clean up afterwards.

 

[RClem]

SS

I used Pyrodex in my 44 mag some years back then went to black powder. Much prefer the black, clean ups a snap if you have a stainless steel revolver. All I do is load the cases with 20 grains of black, compress it a little, 1/16" or so install a card wad (.030), grease cookie of lube, and seat a 225 grain black powder lubed slug and go have fun. Take some water to swab out the barrel after 25 or so shots. When I get home I remove the grips and soak the whole gun in very hot water with soap for a 1/2 hour or so, then rinse in hot water. Let it dry, swab the barrel till dry and spray oil the entire revolver, reinstall the grips and it's done. I have done the same with my blued 357, it does require more time to dry, but works just as well. Complete dis assembly every couple months assures me that there is no rusting or corrosion in side the mechanism.

Ray

 

[rsrocket1]

Try Alliant Black MZ. It produces about as much smoke as black powder, but not as much fowling and none of the stench. Just smells like a really smokey "smokeless" powder. The grains look more like kitty litter but are much less regular . You have to really crunch the bullet down hard for a consistent velocity. So far I haven't gotten it to produce any accuracy decent in my rifle yet, but it's fun to blast out so much smoke. Cleanup is not as time critical as black powder either.

 

[RClem]

If you are shooting a stainless firearm time is less of a factor, but I would guess anything inside an 8 hour time frame would be OK with black
As for smell, that is something those of us who really like black have come to enjoy! Thanks for the tip, I will get a pound and try it with the rest of what has become called "substitute", I just counted, I have 7 different, all work OK, just some are better, none have met or surpassed black, but I will try it.

Ray

 

[Don McDowell]

I'm on the why bother ticket when it comes to subs. What exactly is one trying to accomplish other than having a cloud of smoke? If you don't like to clean a gun after using it, then just use smokeless. It's easier cheaper and most generally more accurate than any of the subs. Most if not all the subs while they may not be "as corrosive" as black will destroy the cartridge cases even if a good case cleaning regimen is in place, and all of the subs I've been around tell you to clean the gun after firing. So we fall back on the question if you don't want to shoot black then why not just stick with smokeless?

 

[Hanshi]

I used black powder to get the best accuracy from two guns I've had trouble with. Accuracy was mediocre with a Colt SSA and a S&W M65. Black in a .357?! It worked great and in the .45 Colt, too. I shoot muzzleloaders 95% of the time so the mess is no problem IMHO.

 

[RClem]

Yea, BP in a 357, as I remember, the first loads in the little .38 special were BP, then it went to smokeless. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.38_Special) the link shows this. So I had to try BP in a longer case, don't remember what the grain weight of, just a nearly full case, the slug was a 158 gr.
I haven't fired a lot of them in my 357, but will in the future, never did a chrony on them, but would guess it to be 500 to 650 fps with a 158 gr. slug. May be good for home defense, if you don't hit em, you will gas them.

Ray

 

[jeeptim]

Why bothrr is right. Took the grips and gave her a bath olmost tossed it in the dishwasher.
Buy we are clean tossed the brass.
Black powder will never see a gun of mine again.
WHAT A MESS.
and thanks for all thr good info.
Merry Christmas.

 

[Don McDowell]

I'm not sure just exactly what sort of a mess a person would of made that would require taking the grips off the gun and thouroughly scrubbing it out after even a hundred rounds of blackpowder??
Tossing the brass was something of a silly move as well, as a simple cleaning and it's good to go for as it's regular life span.

Lots of nonsense floating around on the net about shooting blackpowder, it's not the problem some think it to be:banghead:

 

[Foto Joe]

Black Powder I'm afraid is a labor of love and unfortunately a lot of peoples first experience with it can also be their last. It's really too bad because some of the original Black Powder cartridges like 45 Colt, 38 Special and 44-40 really can produce superior results to smokeless. One of the problems that occurs is that a LOT of modern guns have had some of the modifications to fire Black Powder removed or reduced simply because they aren't necessary for smokeless. The blast shield on the cylinder pin on the Uberti Schofield revolvers is one that comes to mind.

Pulling the grips and soaking the whole gun in water to clean it really isn't necessary if the proper lubricant is used nor is putting it in the dishwasher. I would suggest that if anybody wants to try Black Powder in their guns they first head over to the BP section of THR and do a little research first, it will save you a lot of headaches and you might just find that it can be quite a bit of fun.

 

[silicosys4]

my first experience with black powder was every bit as corrosive, and labor intensive to clean, as people have been saying.
Boiling the gun in soap and water with the grips off did NOT stop my gun from corroding heavily.
I had to dissassemble the gun, boil and clean each part individually with soap and water, leave it to dry piping hot after boiling, then scrub each part and oil each part ALL OVER with CLP.
Only then could I leave the gun overnight without rusting.

 

[Don McDowell]

Nothing anymore complicated than straight water will kill any and all "corrosive" affects of blackpowder residue. Some of the subs will turn severely corrosive with a water based solvent, but not real black.
If there was corrosion problems going on it was most likely from some other cause than the blackpowder. I go thru 25-50 lbs of blackpowder a year, and you will not find any "corrosion" on any of my rifles or handguns.

 

[silicosys4]

Yea...you live in a much drier climate. Of course you aren't going to have issues with BP corrosion....depending on where you are in Wy, you might not have to clean at all. Being in the Pacific NW, 1/2 mile from saltwater, where it rains a lot with high humidity pretty much 24/7.....you bet your bottom dollar BP residue is corrosive here. My experiences have been very different than yours. I can assure you, my bp gun rusted and "corroded" heavily after being boiled and oiled then left in a dry closet for a week. Permanent pitting and heavy, flaky orange rust is corrosion in my book.

 

[Don McDowell]

Strange, I know a number of blackpowder shooters, in the Pacific northwest. Not a one of them has a corroded gun either... Another feller lives 200 yds off the Jersey shore, no corrosion there either. Same for the guys on the gulf coast..
Pyrodex will do that to a gun, but blackpowder not so much..

 

[silicosys4]

Sounds like I should switch to goex and see if that makes a difference. Thanks for the tip.

 

[Don McDowell]

Goex,Swiss,Schuetzen, Diamondback, as long as it's real blackpowder there shouldn't be any corrosion problems after the cleaning and oiling.

 

[jeeptim]

Yep it was goex maybe I'm just not used th all the black. Kinda freakish about maintenance and kreping things clean. Keep your on the market place here as I will be unloading all my black powder stuff.
Merry Christmas

 

[748]

The best tip is after you run some black powder loads fire some modern smokeless ammo through it. You will be surprised how much modern smokeless shells can clean up black powders mess.

Years ago loaded up maybe 10 or 12 rounds with lead bullets and black powder for my 44mag. I loaded up the cylinders with bore butter and fired them off, it made a huge mess.
Then I fired some Winchester white box and that knocked off a lot of the black powder soot. Still had to give it a good cleaning afterwards.