Billy Shears
Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2008
- Messages
- 1,020
If nothing else were available, sure. A cap and ball revolver would be better than no gun at all if one were under attack. But let's be realistic here; for how many of us would no other gun be available? And if open carry with a modern firearm is illegal in your area, you may reason that a BP gun will be fine, since it's in a different legal class. Let me tell you, being a cop, I know that most other cops are regrettably unfamiliar with such details of the law. They shouldn't be, but they are. They will see you as someone carrying "a gun," and you are likely to find yourself arrested and charged with carrying a firearm, even if you can beat it later in court because technically, it's not a firearm according to the BATF, and your local state and city legal statutes don't include restrictions on it. It's quite likely that all that would only be cleared up after your arrest.If nothing else was available heck yeah, the gun you have is better than the one you dont when you need it
The one realistic exception might be for someone who can't own a firearm, for whatever reason, and wants to keep a BP arm for self defense in the home. But even there... Well, let's put it this way: Wild Bill Hickok continued to favor his Colt Navy .36s, even after cartridge revolvers were available (and he appears to have been the exception rather than the rule), but he also had the habit of shooting them empty every morning, and then cleaning and reloading them. He did that to ensure that the loads were fresh, with no damp in the chambers that would cause a misfire. That was a much, much greater danger with loose powder and ball in the chambers than it is with a self-contained metallic cartridge. If you opt to use a cap and ball revolver, are you able to maintain yours so rigorously? If not, you may be better off with another sort of weapon. The longer you let it sit, the more likely it is to go "click" instead of "boom" when you need it (or maybe "pop" when the cap explodes, but doesn't ignite the powder charge).
And anyway, I say again, how many of us really have no modern gun available for carry and/or self defense? Not many, I'd warrant. If you do have one, frankly, it's rather foolish deliberately to choose a less efficient, less reliable firearm with which to defend one's very life.
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