Shooting Black Powder Guns

Shooting Black Powder Cartridge Firearms

One of the earliest if not the earliest rimfire cartridge was the 22 BB cap which came out in 1845. It was chambered in Flobert rifles for indoor practice hence it had no powder just priming. Later on some variations of the BB and CB caps did contain a small amount of black powder. In fact I shoot BB caps on occasion and find it enjoyable. They are capable of killing a rat at a few yards given good shot placement. The oldest cartridge in continues production is the 22 short which came out in 1857. It was the first cartridge meant for self defense and outdoor shooting. Of course the pin fires preceded them by some years but for our purposes we wont get into them. Rim fires became popular during the 1860s and some militaries used them as large as a 50 caliber. An example is the 44 Henry rimfire used during the Civil War between the states. At one there was quite a selection of rimfire cartridges in the US. They went from the 22s to some 56 and even 58 calibers. The Swiss and S wedish military used rimfires in their military for a few years. I have a nice example of a Swiss military rimfire in my collection dated from the late 1860s and if I get a few loose cartridges will shoot it. By the late 1860s centerfire cartridges were being perfected and they have some advantages over the rim fire verity. They were generally more powerful and they could be reloaded which was an important factor especially to western settlers and buffalo hunters. When done shooting for the day commercial buffalo hunters dug out the slugs and re-molded them. They then reloaded their brass with the nut cracker looking tools available then. Weight and space was a precious commodity so any way they could save on that they did.Competition target shooters also preferred the center fires as they could custom load the ammo to their rifle.

The centerfire as we know it will be the focal point of this article. Centerfires as we know them started to be developed in the 1860s and by the 1870s they in some instances started to use the common Boxer primer while many did and still do use the Berdan type of primer. Some ammo was made with an inside primer which wasnt visible from the outside of the case. My guess is it is cheaper to make a Bearden type case and primer which is why some countries still use them. Apparently serving the reloader isnt a priority. While the Berdan primer can be reloaded it is much more difficult and time consuming. Many times you also need a special size primer which can be difficult to get. You need a special decapping tool for that and for the most part it isnt worth it. I use them in the 577 Snider and 577/450 because I cant always get Boxer primed cases.I have seen cases that were converted from Berdan to Boxer primers and that can work ok if done correctly.

When shooting old guns that are designed for black powder there are a couple of things to keep in mind. Frequently these guns are well over a hundred years old and arent getting any stronger. The designs and metal technology from the 1860s through the 1880s wasnt what it is today. If you have an antique black powder gun and you want to shoot it there are two things to keep in mind. First make sure it is in good enough shape to shoot. If the action is extremely loose or its excessively rusty then you might want to hang it on the wall. You should also look for any tampering which might render it unsafe to fire. Sometimes they might be rechambered and I have run across that a couple of times. If in doubt have an experienced gunsmith check it out. The other thing to look for is the correct caliber. Many of the old guns werent marked so it would behoove you to do a chamber cast and a bore slug to ascertain the correct caliber. Firing the wrong ammo in a gun can be extremely hazar dous to your health. Once you have determined the safety and caliber you are ready to shoot and enjoy a piece of history.

The next thing is where you are going to get the proper ammo. There is no major company that loads actual black powder loads as far as I know. However there are a couple of specialty outfits that will. For the most part you will have to roll your own if you want to shoot it. In many instances the brass can be difficult to get especially some of the old foreign calibers. Frequently you will have to make it or buy it from someone who does. Buffalo Arms makes a lot of odd ball calibers and I use them for some of my needs. Starline brass makes some of the old timers and their line is expanding. They make good quality brass and it can be used to make other cartridges. The 40-65 case can be used to make such black powder numbers as the 40-60 Winchester and Marlin. is an easy way to browse their catalog. You are not going to go to the local gun shop and pick up some 11 mm Grass ammo. Many of the American calibers are easier to find brass for as companies such as Starline make qua lity brass for many of the obsolete calibers such as the 41 Long Colt and the 45-90. Because of the good quality I can make many other cases from the Starline cases. Part of the fun of shooting these guns is the challenge of getting the brass and bullets. Anyone can walk into Wal Marts and buy some 223s but where is the challenge to that? As for bullets you will have to either mold them or find a specialty maker who does. Ah then you have to buy the dies which while can be found can be expensive. Hey if it was easy where would the challenge be? Then you have to get the powder. Since they are called black powder guns you should start with black powder. Lets examine your options on propellants.

Black powder is by far the oldest propellant in use. If you can obtain it I would recommend that you start there. The reason is if properly used it is very safe in old weapons because it doesnt generate dangerous pressures that can damage a fine old gun. Other advantages of black powder are it produces excellent accuracy and is consistent given proper loading procedures. It is also relatively inexpensive. There are a couple of downsides also. First of all it is regarded as an explosive as opposed to a propellant such as all other powders are. That makes it more regulated and sometimes more difficult to buy. Many stores wont carry it because of the regulations and licensing requirements.It is corrosive demanding immediate cleaning after shooting especially in damp climates. It is hydroscopic which means that it absorbs moisture which causes rust. It fouls the bore badly and needs brushing between every few shots to maintain accuracy. You should also clean your empty cases wit h soap and water as soon as possible. If you let them sit they will corrode and be no longer reloadable in advanced instances. The corrosion will eat through the necks rendering them useless. If you spent a lot of time or money getting those cases that is a major consideration.

To give an example of powder fouling a couple of months ago I was doing some velocity and accuracy tests on 38 short and long Colts. I was using a S & W model 15 which is chambered for the longer 38 special round. Anyway I shot a few dozen shorts with black powder and when I tried to chamber some longs they would not fit in. I dry brushed out the chambers and went back to testing without a problem. I then brushed the chambers again and fired some 38 special smokeless to start the cleaning process. Like all black powder guns I shoot they are cleaned with soap and water then left in the sun to dry after which I check them and lightly oil it. I am not crazy about the Arizona sun but it is good for drying guns. Is that an unconventional to clean guns?Maybe but it works for me. If the sun isnt available for drying I use the hottest water I can get to help out with the drying process. There are many products made to clean black powder guns if you dont like the water method employe d by me. Also I had a client send me some 43 Beaumont that he fired and wanted me to reload. Unfortunately he didnt take care of the brass and it grew a mess of corrosion. (See picture) Anyway I was able to remove enough of to salvage and load the cases. These cases are very expensive and hard to get. They will sell for over $3.00 a piece so it behooves you to properly care for them.

If you cant get black powder for some reason there are some alternatives. Pyrodex is the oldest substitute that is useful. It acts like the original given the same loads. I have shot it along side black powder and for the most part there is little or no difference. Like all guns if you switch propellants for some reason check your sighting and accuracy before using it for some serious purpose. It comes in FFG and FFFG grades as well as a cartridge grade. One advantage is it isnt considered an explosive so it is less regulated.It fouls and is corrosive like black powder so clean accordingly. The price on Pyrodex is generally pretty reasonable and it is widely available.

Cleanshot came out a few years ago as a non corrosive black powder substitute. In that regard it works very well. While non corrosive it leaves a lot of residue in the cases and barrel though it can be cleaned fairly easily. With cases if you dont tumble them first the powder will fall off the insides of the cases when you resize them. I dont consider it a real problem though a minor nuisance. The inside of the barrel will be white and requires some cleaning. It is very course in both grades FFG & FFFG.Powder measures might have a hard time digesting it causing it to bridge in them. Grain for grain it produces more velocity then either black powder or Pyrodex. Like its predecessors it should not have airspace between the bullet and powder. It gives off smoke like the original stuff. It also works well in blanks making a loud noise and produces a lot of smoke. Like the others it ignites easily though it looks funny.

A new powder that came out recently is Blackhorn 209. It is made for inline muzzle loaders advertising higher velocity plus little residue. A few months ago they sent me a bottle of it to evaluate and comment on. At the time I didnt have an inline handy so I decided to try it in some of my black powder guns. Wow!It is the cleanest burning of all the propellants I have tried. Another thing I found it produces more velocity by far with less powder then any of the other powders including Cleanshot. This is true for rifles with fairly large to large cases. In small rifles and handguns there is no velocity advantage though it produces good accuracy. It is a low density propellant with a hole in each kernel.The two problems with Blackhorn 209 are high price and it is hard to ignite though in cartridge arms I never had a problem with that. I always use magnum primers which helps that out. It doesnt work well in blanks because of its hard ignition and somewhat slow burning character istics. There are other powder substitutes out there but I havent used them so I wont comment as to how well they perform.

I am covering the alternatives to black powder in order to give you some options in case black powder isnt available or desirable. Smokeless powder can be used but caution is the byword. You are dealing with antiques or replicas of them. Most of them were designed years before smokeless powder came out. Even the replicas require care in loading smokeless because even though they are better built they still have the original designs which requires some common sense. Smokeless powder can generate much more pressure thus putting the gun at risk. There are some suitable powders out there if used carefully. Accurate Arms produces one called 5744 which is an excellent powder for many rifles and they provide some data. Some other good powders are IMR 4198 and Data 4197 both are good if used correctly. For handguns and small rifles, powders such as Unique and Herco work well and I have used them for many years. A fairly new powder Trail Boss is made especially for those types of gun s and works very well. It is a low density powder which takes up a lot of airspace without generating excess pressures. I urge you not to attempt to increase velocities over the originals especially in antiques as it will surely lead to grief. Smokeless powders have different pressure characteristics then black powder and the differences can ruin a gun.The object should be getting a gun to shoot well with a bullet similar to the original. The velocity should be around the original also. In my experience those are the most accurate loads most of the time. The idea is to have fun shooting a part of history.

Some people like a lot of power and that is fine but it is achieved somewhat differently in a black powder gun then something new. Most black powder loads seldom chronograph much over 1500 FPS. That is the nature of the beast and there is nothing you can do about that. Cleanshot and Blackhorn 209 will produce more velocity but it wont put the gun into the wiz-bang category. To get more power in the old smoke pole you need to increase the weight and size of the bullet. A large capacity case will increase velocity to an extent. A 45-120 will shoot a 500 grain bullet at 1500 fps as compared to the 45-70 at 1200 merely by being able to use more powder. Another example a 45-60 will shoot a 300 grain bullet at about 1200 FPS while a 45-70 will shoot a 500 grain slug at the same velocity both using black powder. The 500 grain will hit a lot harder and travel further. I have a client who wanted to take a 500 Nitro Express black powder double to Africa and asked me to work up a load. After some experimenting and punishment I used a 515 grain bullet at 1400 FPS backed by 135 grains of FFG powder. It was impressive on both ends and he had good results in Africa. At one time the British had a 4 bore that shot a 4 oz slug at about 1300 FPS giving it more energy then a 460 Weatherby magnum. The powder charge was 325 to 380 grains what fun. You couldnt pay me enough to shoot that monstrosity. They also had an 8 bore which only weighed 15 lbs as opposed to the 25 for the 4 bore. Big guns were used in the good ol U.S. with some of the bigger ones being the 45-120 and 50-140 as well as some of their shorter cousins. In spite of the pedestrian velocities they were and are very effective rounds on most anything that walks. Big heavy, slow moving bullets hit hard and penetrate deeply. They also produce a large hole and a good blood trail. A good friend of mine used my 45-120 on an American Bison with a 520 grain at just over 1600 feet per second. He didnt want blac k powder so I loaded 5744 which performs well in those rifles. Anyway he dropped a bull at about 50 yards with one shot and it didnt move after it was shot. The bullet broke the near shoulder went through the heart and stopped just under the hide expanding to twice its diameter. The Bison weighed about a ton.Some of the European military calibers were pretty potent such as the 577/450, 11 mm French Gras and the 11 mm Mauser. They like the Sharps rounds can be used to hunt large game successfully.Not a well know fact but the 303 British started out life as a black powder round. They used a heavily compressed load of 70 grains with a 215 grain round nose. The heavily compressed load was rated at about 2100 fps no doubt because of the compression and the bottle neck. I also wonder if that rating was a bit optimistic. In 1891 they went to smokeless and the 303 became one of the great military cartridges of the 20Th century.

To make life interesting for western settlers there were frequently two or even three cartridges with the same name but they were not interchangeable. Remington, Winchester and Sharps among others would put out their version. Many times the main difference was one was bottlenecked and another might be straight. One claim was that the straight case didnt kick as much though if that was the scenario then perhaps the bottle neck case shot a little faster given the same load. It would be an interesting study to compare them. Looking at old ammo tables the bottle neck seems to have a slight advantage but it was small. The bottom line was if went to the local hardware store you better know which version you had.

If power isnt important there are some fine cartridges out there for you to use. A 32-40 loaded with black powder is a joy to shoot and is super accurate. It shoots a 170 grain bullet at around 1200 fps or so and at 200 yards can produce excellent accuracy. It would work fine on small game though it would be light for deer. With modern loads in a strong rifle you can safely take that 170 up to 1700 + fps but dont try that in an old gun. The 38-55 is another fine round from the 19Th century that started as a black powder round that made the transition to smokeless powder. Three cartridges that came out in the black powder era are the 32-20, 38-40 and the 44-40. They are popular because they can be chambered in both rifles and handguns. They are low powered rounds suitable for small game and two legged critters. One thing worth mentioning is that the cases made in the 1800s were frequently of the balloon type. That means that the head was thinner and the rim was hollow. That a llowed a little more powder to be loaded in those rounds giving it a little more velocity. With the advent of smokeless powder it was discovered that the balloon head cases wouldnt always hold up to the higher pressures.

There have been many handgun cartridges brought out during the black powder era. They range from the tiny 22 short to the massive 11 mm Montenegrin. A large percentage of them are badly underpowered by todays standards though they were popular in their day. Many of the derringers chambered such rounds as the 32 and 41 short rimfires. They were so underpowered that they would bounce off a tree but ladies of the night liked them because they were small and easy to conceal. The card players of the day also had an affinity for them for various nefarious reasons. The early center fires for the most part were also anemic though there were exceptions. The 44 Bull Dog came out around 1880 and was popular in spite of its anemic ballistics giving a muzzle energy of only 80 lbs. The 50 Army and Navy were fairly decent in power as well as the 11 mm Montenegrin revolver which is a massive affair. The U.S came out with such offerings as the 44 American and the 44 Colt neither which would light the world on fire. The 44 Russian was known for accuracy though not particularly powerful. When the 45 Colt came out in 1873 it quickly was regarded as great man stopper shooting a 255 grain bullet at 930 fps giving around 490 ft lbs of energy. Now that is a man stopper! The 38-40 and 44-40 were popular by virtue of being chambered in a revolver and rifle which was an important consideration during the frontier days. While decent man stoppers they were on the light side for large game. To my knowledge they didnt chamber a rifle for the 45 Colt which has me scratching my head as it is superior to both of the other cartridges especially for hunting. The 41 Long Colt was fairly popular for a number of years while the 41 short fell into deserved obsolesce. The 41 Long Colt was well regarded as a man stopper because of its blunt 200 grain bullet. It has a smaller frame which appealed to some folks and it was said that it was Billy the Kids favorite weapon as he had small ha nds.The 38 Short Colt was also a weak sister though it was the forerunner of the 38 special. The British came out with their verity of 45 caliber Webley revolvers. They shot a big chunk of lead at low velocities usually around 600 feet per second. The Brits believed that if the bullet expanded all its energy in the target it would be a better stopper. They carried that philosophy to the 38 S & W AKA 38-200. It shot a 200 grain bullet around 500 feet per second according to their info. Try as I might I couldnt get one much over 400 fps no matter how much I packed the powder. Maybe they used balloon head cases. Anyway I have shot a lot of good groups with various black powder pistols from the 9.4 Dutch to the 10.4 Italian revolvers. Black powder produces low pressure and mild recoil in these arms.

If you have a Damascus barrel shotgun and want to shoot it I would strongly advise sticking with black powder. They are a twist steel and arent as strong as modern shotgun barrels. Yes I have talked to folks who use smokeless and all I say to them is its not if it will blow it up but when. You can load 50-60 grains of black powder and 1 & 1/8 oz of shot and have a good small game load. You can also load buckshot or slugs if desired but you wont get the same velocity as modern loads produce. You can also use modern plastic hulls to good effect. There are brass hulls for those who want to be authentic or for re-enactors. A little experimenting and you can get good loads that pattern well. Pyrodex and Clean Shot seem to work well though the same isnt true for 209. Black powder also makes impressive blanks in the various gauges. Back in the good ol days the 10 gauge was very popular because it held more shot and powder then the 12.

When you load black powder it is very important to keep it away from any open flame or static electricity. Any spark will set it off. If you use a powder measure be sure it is no non sparking or have the ability to produce static electricity. There are special measures out there for that. Buffalo Arms sells them. To put the most powder you can in a case you might try a drop tube. That seems to allow a few more grains and help it settle. The substitutes arent as dangerous but if you act foolish it will cost you dearly. I run all of them through a measure and they meter well except Cleanshot FFG and 209 with a small measure. Just watch your cases and make sure that you are getting the same amount of powder in each shell. That is also true of smokeless powder.With the larger cases and blanks I use magnum primers which will increase velocity a bit and may help the powder to burn a little cleaner. If you chronograph your loads you will have to step back a few feet especially with the larger guns. They produce so much smoke that it can obscure the screens rendering them useless because they cant see the bullet. Normally I stand 10 feet away from the first screen but with black powder or a substitute I move back to 15 feet and a breeze doesnt hurt either.

To give you an idea of how black powder and substitutes perform I am going to include some of my chronograph results. All of the loads were slightly compressed regardless of the propellant used. Note that Clean Shot and especially Blackhorn give higher velocities with less powder in almost all of the loads in the rifles.

LOADCALIBER-BULLETVELOCITYCOMMENT

40 X FFG C.S.38-55245 grain cast1555accurate

30 X 20938-55245 grain cast1526consistent

37 X FFG PYRO45-60300 grain cast1316accurate

64 X FFG BP45-70500 grain cast1025ok

70 X FFG BP45-70400 grain cast1203accurate

60 X FFG CS45-70400 grain cast1244consistent

55 X 20945-90300 grain cast1656good load

90 X CS45-120535 grain cast1634consistent

103 X FFG BP45-120535 grain cast1405accurate

72 X CTG PYRO45-120535 grain cast1410ok

69 X 20945-120535 grain cast1693OUCH

75 X CS11mm Gras370 grain cast1543accurate

89 X FFGBP11 mm Gras 370 grain cast1465good load

73 X CS11 mm Gras 385 grain cast1534potent

81 X FFG BP11 mm Gras 385 grain cast1405consistent

53 X 20911 mm Gras385 grain cast1669WOW

52 X CS12.17 X 44300 grain cast1183Ok

60 X FFG BP12.17 X 44300 grain cast1222accurate

40 X 20912.17 X 44300 grain cast1402deer

115 X FFG BP577 Snider500 grain cast1110consistent

76 X CS577 Snider500 grain cast1270potent

110 X FFG BP577/450300 grain cast1626pleasant

100 X FFG BP577/450400 grain cast1416accurate

82 X CS577/450510 grain cast1494potent

Handguns

19 X FFFG BP32-20115 grain cast785accurate

14 X FFFG CS32-20115 grain cast653ok

10 X 20932-20115 grain cast586slow

10 X FFFG38 Long Colt158 grain cast498slow

17 X FFFG BP9.4 Dutch180 grain509slow

13 X 2099.4 Dutch135 grain619accurate

11 X 2099.4 Dutch180 grain557ok

14.5 X PYRO41 Long Colt192 grain cast730good load

10.5 X 20941 Long Colt192 grain cast642consistent

9 X FFFG BP41 Short Colt135 grain385useless

10 X FFFG BP41 Short Colt148 grain502fair

Thats just a partial list did some of the odd balls. CS Clean Shot,PYRO Pyrodex, BP black powderNote in rifles CS and 209 produced the highest velocities but not in the handguns. This just gives you an idea as to what a black powder firearm will do. There is a lot of potential and fun in shooting these old fashioned guns. Everyone should give it a try and you wont be sorry you did.

Bob Shell