Kramer Krazy
Member
I appreciate all the help that everyone gave me in this forum as I was finally deciding to shoot the Euroarms black-powder pistol. After talking to my mother and grandmother, I pin-pointed that I've owned this gun for about 15 years. It belonged to my uncle, and I got it after he passed. Well, I finally shot it. 
I didn't know ANYTHING about BP firearms until checking this portion of the THR, and through everyone's help, and some searching on the internet, I slowly gathered the necessary materials over the last 3 weeks or so. I did NOT know that shooting this thing would be as costly as shooting my 44-magnum cartridge pistol. After buying 100 round of .454 roundball, 100 caps, 100 wads, and the powder, 100 rounds will run me about $16-$18! That's "ok", as it I won't shoot through the ammo like I do with my semi-auto pistols.
Anyway, on Thursday, my round ball finally came in, so I loaded one chamber in the cylinder and found a dead-end, cul-de-sac, in a developing industrial park in the country to test it out. I took a bottle with me, and happened to miss it. I went back home and loaded all 6 chambers in the cylinder to prepare it for Friday.
Friday after work, the wife, kid, and I went to the same cul-de-sac with the 6-rounds loaded. I was about 15 yards from the bottle and discovered the pistol was shooting high. By the fifth round, I aimed low enough to finally hit the bottle. I was happy. This is a neat gun to tinker with on a small-scale, for me.
Saturday, the wife and I went to the outdoor range with some pistols and rifles. I took the black powder pistol with a full cylinder. We went to the pistol range, and I shot the BP first. Since I knew the gun shot high, I put the target at about 12 yards and let the six rounds fly. I aimed about 6 inches low, shot with one hand (free-standing), and I pulled a 6-shot group of 2 1/2" with two in the bulls-eye.
Looks like I'll plink with this gun from time-to-time. I'm thinking of buying a newer pistol and know of a Hawkin reproduction at a local pawn shop for about $100. I may have to check out that rifle and look into another pistol. I don't want to fire my uncle's old pistol too much. It is a little bit of a family heirloom, now. For some reason I got the pistol instead of either of my two cousins (both girls). I'm thinking, when one of my cousin's children gets old enough to appreciate it. I may turn the pistol over to their side of the family. I believe it would be the thing to do (none of my uncle's grandchildren ever met him, as he died about 5-6 years before the first was born).
Oh yeah......the only powder measure I could get locally was a rifle one for 10-120 gr in 10 gr increments. I first loaded the gun with 20 gr of Hodgen's Triple 7, but found out that an empty 45ACP case is about 23-25 gr, so I'm using that as my measure for right now. Not a lot of recoil, and I don't get any flash or powder burn, eventhough I'm running a .014" gap between the barrel and cylinder.
I didn't know ANYTHING about BP firearms until checking this portion of the THR, and through everyone's help, and some searching on the internet, I slowly gathered the necessary materials over the last 3 weeks or so. I did NOT know that shooting this thing would be as costly as shooting my 44-magnum cartridge pistol. After buying 100 round of .454 roundball, 100 caps, 100 wads, and the powder, 100 rounds will run me about $16-$18!
That's "ok", as it I won't shoot through the ammo like I do with my semi-auto pistols. Anyway, on Thursday, my round ball finally came in, so I loaded one chamber in the cylinder and found a dead-end, cul-de-sac, in a developing industrial park in the country to test it out. I took a bottle with me, and happened to miss it.
I went back home and loaded all 6 chambers in the cylinder to prepare it for Friday.Friday after work, the wife, kid, and I went to the same cul-de-sac with the 6-rounds loaded. I was about 15 yards from the bottle and discovered the pistol was shooting high. By the fifth round, I aimed low enough to finally hit the bottle. I was happy. This is a neat gun to tinker with on a small-scale, for me.
Saturday, the wife and I went to the outdoor range with some pistols and rifles. I took the black powder pistol with a full cylinder. We went to the pistol range, and I shot the BP first. Since I knew the gun shot high, I put the target at about 12 yards and let the six rounds fly. I aimed about 6 inches low, shot with one hand (free-standing), and I pulled a 6-shot group of 2 1/2" with two in the bulls-eye.
Looks like I'll plink with this gun from time-to-time. I'm thinking of buying a newer pistol and know of a Hawkin reproduction at a local pawn shop for about $100. I may have to check out that rifle and look into another pistol. I don't want to fire my uncle's old pistol too much. It is a little bit of a family heirloom, now. For some reason I got the pistol instead of either of my two cousins (both girls). I'm thinking, when one of my cousin's children gets old enough to appreciate it. I may turn the pistol over to their side of the family. I believe it would be the thing to do (none of my uncle's grandchildren ever met him, as he died about 5-6 years before the first was born).
Oh yeah......the only powder measure I could get locally was a rifle one for 10-120 gr in 10 gr increments. I first loaded the gun with 20 gr of Hodgen's Triple 7, but found out that an empty 45ACP case is about 23-25 gr, so I'm using that as my measure for right now. Not a lot of recoil, and I don't get any flash or powder burn, eventhough I'm running a .014" gap between the barrel and cylinder.
