Packman
Member
After almost a year of owning it, I finally got around to shooting my Howdah today. In the process, I learned a few things.
Pyrodex sucks. I bought some when I first started shooting BP, and I've been trying to get rid of it. My revolvers eat it up just fine with no issues, but I didn't even consider what I was doing when I packed my stuff for the range this morning. Loaded up my first barrel, capped it, cocked the hammer, and POP! Just the cap, no boom. Went through about 5 caps, still nothing.
Have the right tools. I didn't have a nipple pick, but I did have a stiff piece of fishing line, so I picked out the charge through the nipple, filled the nipple up with FFg grade Pyrodex, and capped it again. POP...BOOM! After a noticable delay, I was able to get it to go off. I ended up having to charge the nipple every time I shot the gun. Stupid Pyrodex.
Be patient. When I got to the range, all the 7 yard spots were taken, so I grabbed one of the 15 yard spots. This made it kind of tricky to figure out where some of the balls where going, so I had a hard time keeping track of the accuracy, sight picture and effectiveness of different powder loads, ball sizes and patch thicknesses.
Roll your own if needed. The Howdah has a built in ramrod on a swivel under the barrel. It doesn't detach from the gun, just pivots around. I had originally taken it off because I don't like how it looks, but I put it back on today for lack of a better ramrod. It sucked. It was hard to get it positioned right, and it was hard to get enough leverage on it to ram a tightly patched ball. Next time, I'm making a range rod with a nice big handle on the end so I can get some better leverage.
Waste stuff if needed. I was trying to be conservative with how much patch I was cutting, so I'd start the ball right near the end of the patch. I recovered 3 of my patches, and all of them were pretty asymmetrical. I saw one fly off at about a 30 degree angle to my shot. I'm pretty sure this wasn't helping my accuracy at all. Next time I'll use more material and cut more off of each side. The stuff is pretty darn cheap.
Have some variety. I should have brought Goex along with the Pyrodex, but I wasn't thinking. I was also using CCI #11 caps, which work well in my revolvers, but aren't all that hot. I used to keep some Winchester #11 Magnum caps on hand, but didn't have any. I wish I had, they throw a lot more flame and likely would have helped with the ignition problems. I went out and got some after the range.
Share. A kid and his dad were admiring all the smoke I was making, and came over to talk. I offered to let them shoot my 1858, and the kid's face positively lit up. I loaded up some nice soft loads for him and handed it over. Six shots later he was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and it was pretty cool to see him get so excited.
Black powder is fun. I need to shoot more.
What did you learn today?
Pyrodex sucks. I bought some when I first started shooting BP, and I've been trying to get rid of it. My revolvers eat it up just fine with no issues, but I didn't even consider what I was doing when I packed my stuff for the range this morning. Loaded up my first barrel, capped it, cocked the hammer, and POP! Just the cap, no boom. Went through about 5 caps, still nothing.
Have the right tools. I didn't have a nipple pick, but I did have a stiff piece of fishing line, so I picked out the charge through the nipple, filled the nipple up with FFg grade Pyrodex, and capped it again. POP...BOOM! After a noticable delay, I was able to get it to go off. I ended up having to charge the nipple every time I shot the gun. Stupid Pyrodex.
Be patient. When I got to the range, all the 7 yard spots were taken, so I grabbed one of the 15 yard spots. This made it kind of tricky to figure out where some of the balls where going, so I had a hard time keeping track of the accuracy, sight picture and effectiveness of different powder loads, ball sizes and patch thicknesses.
Roll your own if needed. The Howdah has a built in ramrod on a swivel under the barrel. It doesn't detach from the gun, just pivots around. I had originally taken it off because I don't like how it looks, but I put it back on today for lack of a better ramrod. It sucked. It was hard to get it positioned right, and it was hard to get enough leverage on it to ram a tightly patched ball. Next time, I'm making a range rod with a nice big handle on the end so I can get some better leverage.
Waste stuff if needed. I was trying to be conservative with how much patch I was cutting, so I'd start the ball right near the end of the patch. I recovered 3 of my patches, and all of them were pretty asymmetrical. I saw one fly off at about a 30 degree angle to my shot. I'm pretty sure this wasn't helping my accuracy at all. Next time I'll use more material and cut more off of each side. The stuff is pretty darn cheap.
Have some variety. I should have brought Goex along with the Pyrodex, but I wasn't thinking. I was also using CCI #11 caps, which work well in my revolvers, but aren't all that hot. I used to keep some Winchester #11 Magnum caps on hand, but didn't have any. I wish I had, they throw a lot more flame and likely would have helped with the ignition problems. I went out and got some after the range.
Share. A kid and his dad were admiring all the smoke I was making, and came over to talk. I offered to let them shoot my 1858, and the kid's face positively lit up. I loaded up some nice soft loads for him and handed it over. Six shots later he was grinning like a Cheshire cat, and it was pretty cool to see him get so excited.
Black powder is fun. I need to shoot more.
What did you learn today?
I put real sugar in my ice tea, not an artificial sweetener. 
