must be old age

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Gordon

Gordon

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I have been a gun nut maybe 65 years now, never really was into black powder all tho I did have some antique blunderbus flinters and cap lock Howdah pistols, the real deal not replicas, over the years and shot them for kicks or as a stunt on holidays. I have spent over $100,000 dollars of my own $ to "train" with the best I could find since late 70s, in pistol rifle, carbine and shot gun (not to mention the martial arts training :) ) . I hunted extensively most of my life and am a combat vet. Since I hit about 65 I halfway seriously started shooting and collecting Cap ignition Black powder replicas . I seem to be accelerating in this desire and ignoring my 200 cartridge weapons. :) The problem is the black powder stuff is LOUD and disturbs my neighbors , who kept quiet about a few .38s, some .32s and reasonably quiet rimfire regularly fired thru my halve a dozen airplane tire 25 yard range at the back of my property ! I fired my black powder stuff one cylinder each or one shot for the Muzzle loaders and my friend the sheriff showed up as I was field stripping and hot water washing. He thought they were kewl BUT I guess the twin 10 gauge blasts from the 16"er kinda rocked the valley. :( . So I guess I will have to pack my kit and drive 30 miles for a range day. :(.
Anyway I am totally jonesing on BP and look forward to doing alot, maybe going to the local rendevouxs . The Sass is 50 miles away and I did that with cartridge stuff for 10 years. That is what got me into the new Replicas. My first BP revolver was a Pietta 1851 Navy Colt 10 years ago. I enjoyed it in SASS but the guys with the Remmy quick change cylinders seemed the hot set up about the time I quit going .
I am gonna show pics if I lived in say 1852 in say NJ and decided to cash in my chips and go to California :) which is what I did basicly in 1971 :)
I would have asked for a short barrel (24-28") .50 cap lock rifle with a matching 10" barreled pistol. The locks and caliber should interchange as should wedges.
Also I would have a short barrel, say around 20" 10 Guage double , cylinder bore of course as choke had not been really invented.
And for state of the art I would holster regularly an 1851 Colt Navy .36.. I have found .375" balls stack very well in my Pedrasoli 10 guage coach gun. That would mean the revolver and the shotgun had fodder. The .50s would be hunting weapons primarily , as would the SG which I would bring as much bird shot as I could afford to carry. Think I would take a ship to SF and buy a few horses to pack into Big Sur and Homestead it. More pics to follow
 
reguarding Big Sur , south of Monterey, there was gold mining going on from 1853 or so and they had a hard time ranching the beautiful cattle land because the place was crawling with California Grizzlies and Mountain lion. I was the last person to live in the Cooper Homestead cabin ,built
circa 1853 in Big Sur, before it became a state park. It was wild and wooly in 1972 still ! Since then it is wired up , look at the the Mexican girl I lasssoed :)

 
A very interesting history you have.
For some reason, history and blackpowder go together. I am the fifth generation of my family to enjoy making a living on this farm that they bought in 1852. There have been many changes here but I still hunt my deer and turkey on this property the old way.
I killed this buck with the rifle that my ancestor carried when he walked here from Ohio.
20151213_163050.jpg
It looks like your best day's work catching that Mexican filly!

Those are both .44s. The short one is a Pietta, the original length gun is a Uberti. They shoot good. Very satisfying.
 
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maybe this is nit picking, But if that is a SASS or similar sanctioned event. And they are so picky over all on authenticity,
I have to ask why is the structure obviously of wafer board (OSB) and plywood.
While plywood was available in Europe around the 1850s, it was not introduced here until 1865 and was not established as a building product for several more years. although there are samples of a laminated wood clear back to Egypt. But concern here was widespread usage was not until after civil war period
and the OSB clearly in the picture, was not invented until 1963.
Yep nit picking but still if you going to demand authenticity, It needs to cover everything.

But still a neat smoke screen!
 
DD4lifeusmc said:
maybe this is nit picking, But if that is a SASS or similar sanctioned event. And they are so picky over all on authenticity,
I have to ask why is the structure obviously of wafer board (OSB) and plywood.
While plywood was available in Europe around the 1850s, it was not introduced here until 1865 and was not established as a building product for several more years. although there are samples of a laminated wood clear back to Egypt. But concern here was widespread usage was not until after civil war period
and the OSB clearly in the picture, was not invented until 1963.
Yep nit picking but still if you going to demand authenticity, It needs to cover everything.

But still a neat smoke screen!
Click to expand...
I participated in two "Cowboy" shoots. The camaraderie was great. The concepts of original dress and firearms were stressed. My interest is more in the shooting aspect of gun sports. :)
 
Actually, this isn't SASS, we are western reenactors that are hired for Town Events or background for movies or documentaries. This was at a boarded up storefront at a town festival where we robbed the bank.
 
here is a question posed by my son to me: IF one was to construct say an all stainless monocore suppressor with the tube permantly attached to the muzzle of a BP gun , with the monocore quickly removeable for loading and cleaning, would that be legal :) ?
 
"If that is SASS..."

SASS does not emphasize period authenticity in prop construction, firearms, or dress. It is a fantasy pastime based on fun, western movies, fun, western TV shows, fun, western books, fun, western history, and fun. No one is criticized for using antique guns or dressing in period correct costumes, but neither are they criticized for dressing like Roy Rogers at the height of his B-Western movie days, or a modern day rancher going to the farm supply store. NCOWS, the National Congress of Old West Shootists, is more restrictive in dress, firearms allowed, etc., but still puts a big emphasis on fun.

Did I mention that cowboy action shooting is fun?

:)
 
Back in the sixties and through the seventies my wife and I regularly went through over a keg of powder and about a hundred pounds of lead a year. Friendship spring and fall, regional and state shoots, the whole thing. Then came little league, more demanding careers and church and community involvement.
About once a week I go down to the vault and pick up the flinter, the ROA, a shotgun, and dream. It gets in your blood, (and digestive system as anyone knows), and while you develop resistance, you are never cured.
 
I used SASS mostly as an example and based on reports from others about adhering to authenticity.
If I am going to emulate a specific period, I tend to be as authentic as possible.
 
Gordon said:
here is a question posed by my son to me: IF one was to construct say an all stainless monocore suppressor with the tube permantly attached to the muzzle of a BP gun , with the monocore quickly removeable for loading and cleaning, would that be legal :) ?
Click to expand...

Any supressor would come under the BATF rules & licensing stuff. Doesn't matter if it's BP or smokeless.
also, it would be best to actually contact BATF for clarification, since our opinions don't matter LOL.

yhs
shunka
 
Specifically to BP, i think age and Sam Colt's theory apply. As we get older and more experienced as shootists we like to tailor each round. And the novelty and challenge of using older technology that most can't.
 
shunka said:
Any supressor would come under the BATF rules & licensing stuff. Doesn't matter if it's BP or smokeless.
also, it would be best to actually contact BATF for clarification, since our opinions don't matter LOL.

yhs
shunka
Click to expand...
So you are saying Black powder non cartridge guns are ruled on differently than pellet guns with fixed suppressors ?
 
Gordon,

Good questions - SBR and SBS rules don't apply to Black Powder rifles and shotguns. You can put a stock on a BP revolver. Why not a fixed suppressor on a BP revolver?
 
I've dabbled in BP for the last past half decade but only recently get into it really big. I have loved it, and my area of interest is caplock rifles. I have a Lyman great plains rifle that is really nice:

20170315_185941-1.jpg


20170323_205651-1.jpg


I am also having a gun maker make me a .36 caliber squirrel rifle as we speak. I plan to do a lot of hunting with it come fall, and target shoot with it all summer once it arrives. In addition at least for me, I have found things like the powder horns and shooting pouches to be a great fun and I have really enjoyed learning about them and if you've never shot from a pouch and horn like the old timers did, you owe it to yourself to try. I never knew how much more fun that is and getting out into the woods to plink than it is to fool around at the public range shooting of a bench and out of a box.

Also I am a younger guy (26) and I think it's important we keep up the traditions of our ancestors so I sort of take a bit of pride in continuing on the tradition and having a good time doing it. When I have my kids, they'll know how to shoot a caplock rifle that's for sure. :)
 
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