How To Ruin A $1,200 Revolver

[StrikeEagle]

From time to time I read books on Colt SAA's and they often suggest reloading the rounds with black power for maximum authenticity.

I've fired rather a lot of black powder over the years in muskets, rifles, revolvers and pistols. It is filthy.

It's fun... but let's face it, it's extremely dirty. It gets into cracks and crannies like nothing else. And not only is it dirty, but it's kind of corrosive. It attacks metal in a way that's very hard to stop completely.

I just cannot conceive firing black powder rounds in my Colt SAA's. Not in my most fanciful imaginings.

Yes, I know that those revolvers were made and designed for black powder. I also know that the firearm made its reputation with black powder. But I know that when smokeless powder came out, folks moved to it pretty quick.

My Colts where 'sorta' expensive when I bought them... but today they're stratospheric. And Mike Venturino and his buds are suggesting I fire black powder cartridges through them?

Is this just me, being obsessive? Would any of you do the black powder thing with your clean 2nd gen Colts?

 

[TimboKhan]

My main reason for saying that I would shoot BP is really pretty simple: I would rather shoot blackpowder at the signifigantly lower pressures in an old gun that was more or less designed around BP than I would having to find modern smokeless loads that will work in it safely. You sort of said that yourself in your post, but it's worth thinking about...

 

[tinygnat219]

Depends on the age of your SAA. Colt didn't certify them as safe for Smokeless until something like 1901. If yours is from before that era, I wouldn't even keep it in the same room as smokeless. If it's from after that timeframe. Shoot away, just don't overdo the handloads.

 

[foghornl]

I only shoot blackpowder in my F.LLI Pietta "Navy Colt" repro and the Lyman Trade Rifle Flintlock.

I had shot my 'Navy Colt" some, cleaned as normal, and put away. A couple of weeks later, it took it out and EEEEEEEEK! Corrosion EVERYWHERE.

Don't have a real 2Gen or 3Gen SAA, but not a chance i would load up BP loads for that.

 

[silverlance]

it takes a long time to clean after bp or corrosive ammo. that is because we are collectors as well as shooters - back then, folks just wanted their shooting irons to last - they didn't care about things like a little pitting or surface rust.

 

[cpirtle]

I know several black powder guys who shoot Colt's in CAS. But I think it's a different mentality from collectors, not that either is bad but if you plan to shoot CAS you have to expect your guns to take quite a bit of punsihment.

What some cowboy shooters do with $1,000 firearms would shock most sane people.

I don't shoot on the dark side but I do have a Ruger Old Army I'm pretty fond of

 

[Cougfan2]

Interesting thread. I wonder about shooting Pyrodex in the older Colt SAA's? I should know this since I worked for Hodgdon Powder Co many moons ago, but I worked for their disti business, not strictly on the powder side.

Anybody have any experience loading Pyrodex for metallic cartridge?

 

[StrikeEagle]

Anybody have any experience loading Pyrodex for metallic cartridge?

I'm curious about this as well... are the black powder substitutes just as rough on the merchandise as BP itself?

In any case, I don't think I'd try it with a particularly valuable firearm.

 

[cpirtle]

Black Powder is only rough on the firearm if you don't clean it well afterwards. Most guys just wash them in hot water and Murphy's Oil Soap and/or put them in the dish washer. (the way cowboy's of yore did it)

Pyrodex is not as corrosive as true BP, but still more-so than smokeless.

My understanding is it works fine in metallic cartridges with proper load development. I could be wrong though.

 

[Confederate]

I used to go shooting with a friend after work at an old rock quarry. He shot black powder and I shot smokeless revolver cartridges. After shooting, however, my friend had to rush right home and scrub his bore and clean all parts of his gun. I could easily wait until the next day...or the next week...or the next month or two, as my Ruger stainless Security-Six could go for quite a while.

They do make stainless black powder revolvers, and these can be soaked in a number of fluids. So can blued revolvers for that matter. There are even cleaning systems using mineral spirits and sonic tubs. It will clean black powder from every crevice.

That said, I'm with you on the mess. Who needs it? Still, I've heard of folks who remove the grips from their stainless revolvers, then put them in their dish washers. (I tried to use my dish washer, but she wouldn't do it!)

 

[RyanM]

Ruin? Maybe if you don't clean it, or something. I tried BP handloads in a Ruger SP-101, once. That was pretty fun. When the cylinder started binding because of fouling, I threw it in a mud puddle, then took it out, shook it dry, and it worked again. Ahh, the joy of inexpensive guns.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about BP. Just clean it after, and it's fine.

 

[TexasRifleman]

After shooting, however, my friend had to rush right home and scrub his bore and clean all parts of his gun.

That's only because he's paranoid.

I've left most of my BP revolvers dirty for 3 or 4 days at a time before cleaning. Some with BP substitutes, some with real Goex.

It's not nearly as bad as the myths would lead you to believe.

It is a pain to clean though, no way to sugarcoat that.

 

[StrikeEagle]

I've left most of my BP revolvers dirty for 3 or 4 days at a time before cleaning. Some with BP substitutes, some with real Goex.

But would you do that with your 95% 2nd Gen Colt SAA's?

 

[TexasRifleman]

But would you do that with your 95% 2nd Gen Colt SAA's?

Using one of the BP substitutes like 777 I would.

Probably not with real deal Goex.

That said, I wouldn't freak out if it took me 12-24 hours before I could get around to cleaning things up even with the real thing.

There is little reason to use real black powder these days anyway. I'm sure I'll take flak from the purists, but the substitutes are much better, and MUCH cleaner.

 

[peacemaker45]

If you want all the hassle with about half the fun, subs are fine. Real Holy Black, on the other hand, has a sound, a feel, and a footlong flame out the muzzle going for it.

Of course, I can see your point, if you're trying to use an inline deer rifle in a state that won't let you use a centerfire, yeah, subs and pellets and sabots and all that are great. but for fun? real black runs away with the title.

~~~Mat

 

[RyanM]

Real Holy Black, on the other hand, has a sound, a feel, and a footlong flame out the muzzle going for it.

You forgot the smell!

 

[buttrap]

BP gunk is really not corrosive. It can and does draw moistrue though. Back in the day of corrosive priming all the nasty primer salts in the BP residue was corrosive as all get out but now ahhh no.

 

[Old Fuff]

But would you do that with your 95% 2nd Gen Colt SAA's?

Sure, and I've done so on a number of occasions for various reasons. Never had a revolver rust. When I got home I cleaned the bore and chambers with a warm soap & water solution and wiped off the exposed exterior surfaces. Sometime later I would disassemble the gun and finish cleaning it. Never had any problems. I usually followed the same procedure when shooting smokeless powder, except with bore solvent rather then water.

 

[CZ223]

You will not ruin your revolver with BP

unless you try to or are very lazy. I know a lot of guys who shoot BP at Cowboy matches, myself included. I do shoot Stainless Rugers so I have less worry than most but I know guys who do no more cleaning than I at a match, 5minutes per revolver and 10 minutes or so for the rifle less for the shotgun and their guns are in pristine condition. Not all of my guns are pristine because I fall into the very lazy category sometimes. My Rifle is a Marlin 94 that I ruined not with BP but by leaving it a soft case for a week in the back of my pickup with high humidity and 95 plus temps. I wasn't even shooting BP then. Believe me when Isay I have gotten away with a lot when it comes to being lazy and not cleaning up after shooting with BP.

 

[sandy4570]

Anybody have any experience loading Pyrodex for metallic cartridge?

I load .357 Magnum, .38 Spc and .45 Colt with Pyrodex P and shoot them through my Winchester M94 and Ruger Vaquero .I use the bullet that I plan to reload to match with the outside case (split case that can not be use to reload ) and I estimate how much power will be need with the bullet seat properly and then I just trim that case and attach it to the stick and turn it into Lee dipper . It is very time consuming and the lead bullet need different kind of lube so I have to put them in the oven to melt the factory lube and then reapply SPG lube on the groove.

I don't know if the black powder substitue is rough on firearms because I did not take no chance and clean them up right away .

The only problem with Pyrodex and Black powder load is they are very time consuming .