Why is C&B revolver shooting so expensive.?

[piettakid]

A tiny little percussion cap costs 7 cents - same as a 22LR cartridge. And wads are 10 cents each.

BP shooting used to be cheaper than smokeless - as it should be. You are buying the components and making the ammo.

Fortunately the guns themselves are still pretty cheap.

 

[Curator]

Percussion caps can be had a bit cheaper but you'll have to buy a couple of thousand to reduce the HazMat fee on each tin of 100. Maybe share an order with a few friends. I cut my own wads from hard felt or cardboard, and cast my own balls with scavenged lead (free) I buy powder in 25 pound lots and share with 4 other shooters. I figure my cost at about 10 cents per round. This is just about what cheap .22 rim fire costs around here, but they are no where as much fun. Shooting black powder firearms is only inexpensive if you make most of your components.

 

[badkarmamib]

Short answer - because it is worth it

 

[piettakid]

I cut my own wads from hard felt or cardboard, .

Cardboard wads? I hadn't thought of that.

 

[mr wack]

I'm like Curator as I cast , make Wads and powder so my only expense is the caps , and a little R&R doing the making part of it.
To me it's like badkarmamib say's " it's worth it " and more fun than a cookie tin full of Spider Monkeys,,,,

 

[Ironhand54]

Economy of scale. Inlines have reduced the number of caps being sold. As sales volume goes down the price per unit has to go up to maintain profitability. Sad but true.

Ironhand

 

[Saddlebag Preacher]

piettakid,

I don't know where you live, but I stock up at Walmart during black powder deer season for caps and Pyrodex. If you catch it right, after the BP season closes, they will go on the sale rack. I usually prefer to use real BP, but will stock up on Pyrodex just to have in case of hard times, or the family comes out to the farm and wants to shoot a lot.

 

[swathdiver]

As for me and my house, one of the joys of shooting these old guns is making most everything to shoot and maintain them. While the caps are the most expensive item, like Curator, my per round count is around a dime depending on the caliber.

 

[expat_alaska]

It beats the crap out of shooting .22 LR these days.

 

[Mike OTDP]

Let's see here....

Caps are running $70/1000, for $0.07/shot

Powder is $22/lb for Swiss. 7000 grains per pound, average is 20 grains (including wastage), for $0.06/shot.

Bullets are $0.10 shot for swaged...but I laid in a large supply years ago at half that.

Total: $0.18/round.

Comparison to .22LR: Middling match grade ammo (RWS Target Rifle) is $6.50/50 from the specialty suppliers in case quantity. So $0.13/round.

If you want cheap, try air guns. Top-of-the-line pellets (meaning Olympic grade) run $12/500 in bulk. $0.024/shot.

 

[piettakid]

piettakid,

I don't know where you live, but I stock up at Walmart during black powder deer season for caps and Pyrodex.

I don't think my wally sells caps or powder. At least i've never seen any. I'm gonna check tmrw.

 

[Panzerschwein]

More expensive??

Do you cast your own balls from the free, unwanted and soft lead that roofers throw away?

Do you make your own black powder?

Do you make your own caps with one of those presses and some beer cans and kid's toy cap gun caps?

If not... what are you doing with your life?? If you do that, cap and ball shooting is dirt cheap!!

Really though, I too have found it pricey as of late. I've also found it more trouble than it's worth. I do however, love to shoot quality single-shot percussion black powder pistols, rifles and shotguns. Those are typically much less trouble than the revolvers.

 

[noelf2]

Get a flintlock single shot pistol for when caps are scarce. Like the preacher does, I also stock up after muzzleloader season. Usually get Pyrodex for about $9 or $10 a pound, and shoot that in my shotguns, even shotgun shells. I make several types of powder as well, with my own homemade charcoal. Screened, corned, both with sulfur and without sulfur. I'd say that makes it much cheaper, but if my time is worth something, it's probably even more expensive. I just like doing it.

 

[LonesomePigeon]

In my area:
Remington #10 caps are $6/100*
Remington #11 caps are $11/100
.375 round ball are $13/100
.457 round ball are $23/100
Real bp is $27/lb.

*when current stocks of #10's run out they will be going up to $11/100.

 

[Crawdad1]

Expensive? Calculate the time in to load and reload and clean these guns and its down right cheap. I go to the range and shoot and I lose count of how many shooters with cartridge guns that come and go while I'm still there shooting. Then I have to go home and clean it, that's even more time.

 

[rodwha]

I buy caps by the 1000 from BassPro and 3 lbs of Olde E powder from Grafs. I buy a roll of felt from DuroFelt, beeswax, and mutton tallow (DGW) to make my own felt wads and bullet lube which makes it dirt cheap. And I bought my lead at $1/lb which I can cast 48 balls (.457") or 35 bullets (195 grns) for that dollar. I also buy lengths of pillow ticking for shooting patches and have been keeping old T-shirts for cleaning patches, though I also have store bought.

My performance levels are no less than .45 ACP with my ROA loads coming in as mildly hot .45 Colt loads (~500 ft/lbs). Outside of cheap practice ammo I doubt it's more expensive.

*EDIT*

Looking for something similar DoubleTap has .45 ACP ammo that, bought in a 500 bulk box, is $0.98/shot vs about $0.31/shot from my ROA.

 

[BCRider]

A few years back when things got to where I could not find factory round ball for under $18/100 I sighed and bought a mold and a Lyman Big Dipper pot. The lead I've managed to find for free or pennies on the dollar so far.

Cap prices sure have jumped. Eight years ago when I started they were $4/100. Now they are $7/100. So yes, even with casting my own round ball each shot is still more than a .22. But as someone above said already it's still worth it.

Wads? Either set up and make your own as suggested or just don't use them and go for a lube that goes on the ball instead of behind it. In my case I've gotten by with using a drop of Canola cooking oil placed in the "V" between the ball and chamber wall for my whole time shooting C&B revolvers. Using a small plastic squeeze bottle it's fast, neat and much less messy than goobering wads of Crisco into the chamber mouths. And it keeps the fouling soft and grease like. Cost is just about nothing if you use it for cooking as well.

As hobbies go I've found that the shooting sport isn't too bad. It costs a lot more than just playing tennis or buying a nice bicycle and riding it a lot or doing some sort of hand craft hobby. But compared to the scuba diving, skiing, windsurfing, motorcycle racing and a couple of other things I've done in my life buying a few guns and keeping them fed isn't all that bad.

 

[44-henry]

For me the expense is negligible when you consider the volume of what you shoot. I was at the range awhile back and watched a shooter at the next line go through a couple hundred rounds of 40 S&W in about the same timd it took me to run 5 cylinders through my 58 remington. Perhaps I am just a slow loader, but I don't seem to shoot as much with black powder arms as I might with cartridge, though I enjoy it more. I might also add that this particular shooter did not seem to hit the target any more than I did so I am not sure where their other 175 shots went. I do know they left a nice pile of brass on the ground that I was more than happy to take home, so it actually paid to shoot my cap and ball that time

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

Cardboard wads? I hadn't thought of that

Buffalo Arms (and possibly others) sells punches to make them.

 

[splattergun]

I'm not paying for the wads, I'm paying for the SMOKE!

 

[piettakid]

Cardboard wads? I hadn't thought of that

Buffalo Arms (and possibly others) sells punches to make them.

I just checked out their website and all their hammer-struck punches are $18.!! That's pretty steep. Thought it would be $5. Yes, i know it will pay for itself shortly, but i still don't like being ripped off.

 

[44 Dave]

If you shoot Navy caliber you can use a 3/8 punch, which are easy to find.
The Navy also uses less lead and powder and is just as much fun to shoot, and my London is "dead on"!
Yes, I have a pair of 1860 Armies and a Rem. New Model Army but usually shoot my '51s.

 

[IlikeSA]

It's worth shopping around. Hornady lead ball (.454) is about 14 dollars per hundred, #10 caps at the local gun shop are 4.99 per hundred, and I make my own wads from egg cartons. I bought bore butter from Wal-Mart on clearance, but cannot remember the cost. For powder I use pyrodex but have recently gotten into Black MZ, which I get for 9.99 per pound from Sportsman's Warehouse when it is in stock.

 

[BullRunBear]

Even if the cost per shot is comparable to 22lr ammo, each range session will be a lot less expensive. How long does it take someone to go through a couple hundred 22s? Not long, especially if they are using a semi auto. It would take me a VERY long time to fire a C&B revolver that much.

As others have noted, you can reduce the costs of shooting C&Bs. One big help is I'm lucky enough to be able to buy bulk BP an easy drive from home so there's no hazmat fee. And I always keep an eye open for deals on caps and round ball.

The cost of the mold and punch is no big deal. My 18 dollar punch has made thousands of wads and is still working fine. I use those same lubed wads in 45 Colt and 45-70 BP cartridges. I use Lee molds which are relatively inexpensive to start with and this one was bought used for a couple of bucks. I've been using some of my Lee molds for thirty years. With a little care, they'll last a long time.

Jeff

 

[birdshot8's]

Harbor Freight sells wad punches, I forget what they call theirs. I bought one for five dollars recently, and they threw in 4 others of incorrect size for free. I also got a free flashlight on checkout.

I have not found flintlocks to be cheaper to shoot. Paying 14 bucks a flint and I have yet to get a hundred shots out of a flint.