How long do black powder revolvers last?

[sigwally]

How long do black powder revolvers last? A long time. Unless your shooting a Ruger Old Army and using Unique. Then about 100 rounds...( It was a long time ago...I've learned my lesson )

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

The brass frames were a wartime substitute-think of the German word ersatz.
The real enemy of BP guns is rust, a wipe down as soon as the shooting session is over, a proper cleaning "back at the ranch", a good oiling. In reenacting we used a 3-in-1 solution of Murphy's Oil Soap, peroxide, rubbing alcohol for cleaning bores.

 

[Onty]

How long do black powder revolvers last? A long time. Unless your shooting a Ruger Old Army and using Unique. Then about 100 rounds...( It was a long time ago...I've learned my lesson )

How did you manage to wreck Ruger Old Army? I understand that with enough Unique pressure could easily reach (revolver) magnum level, but all main parts are almost strong as on Blackhawk models.

 

[sigwally]

IMPORTANT!! NEVER USE SMOKELESS GUNPOWDER IN ANY BLACK POWDER REVOLVER. YOU RISK SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.

This is, of course an example of sheer stupidity. About 45 years or so ago I was about 15 years old, which explains a lot. I actually owned 2 Ruger Old Armys. In the first one I shot about 100 rounds with about 7 grains of unique. I say "about" because the red plastic scoop thingy held 7 point "something" of Unique, which I have now forgotten what that extra point something was. It was given to me by a helpful (???) adult reloader, who cautioned me never to use more than one scoop. On the next session I shot another 94 rounds with 2 full scoops. 14 grains of Unique. Recoil about a factory .44 mag. The PERFECT load. My last 6 rounds were 3 full scoops. 21 or 22 grains of unique. I was using .45 long Colt bullets. Which worked great. To say recoil was stout would be an understatement. The blast was incredible and the loading lever dropped with every shot. I was shooting in the N.J. meadowlands. Unfortuneitly I had attracted the attention of the North Bergan N.J. police. LONG story short they "confiscated" everything I had. My teary Aunt Dolly convinced them not to press charges. But I had that little red scoop in my pocket, everything else was gone.
A couple years later I was about 17, had gotten my license and my friends and I drove to some deserted area far from North Bergan. I could not legally own a handgun for 4 more long years so I bought another Old Army from a mail order company called "Cassanova Guns". I was impressed and fascinated by my previous one so armed with a new can of Unique, Crisco, a box of .45 Long Colt bullets ( 250 grain Hornady .454 JHP I believe, same as before ) and my trusty .powder scoop. I proceeded to load the new Ruger STARTING with 3 scoops. On the 10th shot or so the gun exploded in my friends hand. The top 3 chambers and the top strap vanished. The gun recoiled straight DOWN. Pointed at the ground. My friend sustained a minor injury where the hammer hit the web of his hand. I had the damaged gun for many years. For the life of me I can't remember what happened to it...

 

[woodnbow]

IMPORTANT!! NEVER USE SMOKELESS GUNPOWDER IN ANY BLACK POWDER REVOLVER. YOU RISK SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.

This is, of course an example of sheer stupidity. About 45 years or so ago I was about 15 years old, which explains a lot. I actually owned 2 Ruger Old Armys. In the first one I shot about 100 rounds with about 7 grains of unique. I say "about" because the red plastic scoop thingy held 7 point "something" of Unique, which I have now forgotten what that extra point something was. It was given to me by a helpful (???) adult reloader, who cautioned me never to use more than one scoop. On the next session I shot another 94 rounds with 2 full scoops. 14 grains of Unique. Recoil about a factory .44 mag. The PERFECT load. My last 6 rounds were 3 full scoops. 21 or 22 grains of unique. I was using .45 long Colt bullets. Which worked great. To say recoil was stout would be an understatement. The blast was incredible and the loading lever dropped with every shot. I was shooting in the N.J. meadowlands. Unfortuneitly I had attracted the attention of the North Bergan N.J. police. LONG story short they "confiscated" everything I had. My teary Aunt Dolly convinced them not to press charges. But I had that little red scoop in my pocket, everything else was gone.
A couple years later I was about 17, had gotten my license and my friends and I drove to some deserted area far from North Bergan. I could not legally own a handgun for 4 more long years so I bought another Old Army from a mail order company called "Cassanova Guns". I was impressed and fascinated by my previous one so armed with a new can of Unique, Crisco, a box of .45 Long Colt bullets ( 250 grain Hornady .454 I believe, same as before ) and my trusty .powder scoop. I proceeded to load the new Ruger STARTING with 3 scoops. On the 10th shot or so the gun exploded in my friends hand. The top 3 chambers and the top strap vanished. The gun recoiled straight DOWN. Pointed at the ground. My friend sustained a minor injury where the hammer hit the web of his hand. I had the damaged gun for many years. For the life of me I can't remember what happened to it...

Too bad you don’t have at least a picture to show to the grown ass men who insist that smokeless can be safely fired in the Old Army...

 

[NathanHale]

What you put into it is what you will get out of it. A house can last 100s of years. Thousands in Europe and the middle east. If built right to begin with and well maintained from the cornerstone to the roof tiles, they will likely be around for another thousand years. Same for a black powder or any gun for that matter. Start with a great design, make it with quality parts and maintain it with cleaning and, like stated above, your great grand kids will inherit the same gun you buy today. And learn from everyone here. It is a treasure of knowledge and passion for the hobby.

 

[sigwally]

To woodnbow. It's crazy I CAN remember the tiny insignificant detail of WHERE I bought it from. But it drives me crazy I can't remember what I did with the actual gun...!!! I remember one of my friends has a picture of the damaged gun, I will try to contact him to see if he still has it.

 

[woodnbow]

To woodnbow. It's crazy I CAN remember the tiny insignificant detail of WHERE I bought it from. But it drives me crazy I can't remember what I did with the actual gun...!!! I remember one of my friends has a picture of the damaged gun, I will try to contact him to see if he still has it.

Some of the stuff I’ve done in my teens and twenties I’ll never forget. Some I’ll probably never remember...

 

[gobsauce]

Some of the stuff I’ve done in my teens and twenties I’ll never forget. Some I’ll probably never remember...

Most, I'll forget on purpose.

 

[woodnbow]

Most, I'll forget on purpose.

And some you’ll never forget no matter how much you wish you could. That sounds dark and maybe it is but the younger ones need to know that. But like all of us, they’ll get the test before the lesson...

 

[Onty]

IMPORTANT!! NEVER USE SMOKELESS GUNPOWDER IN ANY BLACK POWDER REVOLVER. YOU RISK SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.

This is, of course an example of sheer stupidity. About 45 years or so ago I was about 15 years old, which explains a lot. I actually owned 2 Ruger Old Armys. In the first one I shot about 100 rounds with about 7 grains of unique. I say "about" because the red plastic scoop thingy held 7 point "something" of Unique, which I have now forgotten what that extra point something was. It was given to me by a helpful (???) adult reloader, who cautioned me never to use more than one scoop. On the next session I shot another 94 rounds with 2 full scoops. 14 grains of Unique. Recoil about a factory .44 mag. The PERFECT load. My last 6 rounds were 3 full scoops. 21 or 22 grains of unique. I was using .45 long Colt bullets. Which worked great. To say recoil was stout would be an understatement. The blast was incredible and the loading lever dropped with every shot. I was shooting in the N.J. meadowlands. Unfortuneitly I had attracted the attention of the North Bergan N.J. police. LONG story short they "confiscated" everything I had. My teary Aunt Dolly convinced them not to press charges. But I had that little red scoop in my pocket, everything else was gone.
A couple years later I was about 17, had gotten my license and my friends and I drove to some deserted area far from North Bergan. I could not legally own a handgun for 4 more long years so I bought another Old Army from a mail order company called "Cassanova Guns". I was impressed and fascinated by my previous one so armed with a new can of Unique, Crisco, a box of .45 Long Colt bullets ( 250 grain Hornady .454 JHP I believe, same as before ) and my trusty .powder scoop. I proceeded to load the new Ruger STARTING with 3 scoops. On the 10th shot or so the gun exploded in my friends hand. The top 3 chambers and the top strap vanished. The gun recoiled straight DOWN. Pointed at the ground. My friend sustained a minor injury where the hammer hit the web of his hand. I had the damaged gun for many years. For the life of me I can't remember what happened to it...

OH MY GOD!!!

I just checked depth of Ruger Old Army chambers, they are about OAL of 45 ACP or 45 AR. Roughly, if 250 grain bullet is pushed all the way in lever permits, powder space is approximately same as 250 bullet is loaded into those two rounds. Here are loads for center-fire rounds using Unique powder https://www.alliantpowder.com/reloaders/Powder.aspx?powderid=3 . 21-22 grains of Unique in such small powder space will probably wreck even 454 revolver.

All I can say that two of you are living proof that there is GOD. Also, I must say same for myself, consider what I was doing as a kid, and still have both eyes and all 10 fingers.

 

[Bill Raby]

Take care of it, don't abuse it, and it won't matter if it is brass or steel. In the 18th and 19th century they used to make rifle and cannon barrels out of brass and they worked just fine.