Shooting my "new" blackpowder gun this weekend.
Never before I shot such an interesting gun and interesting result.
I pretty much make a sieve of the target with holes all over the place covering all the target surface
Maybe need more practice in loading it properly.

A couple of tricks that I have learned while watching the guys who shoot muzzle loaders well:
1. all your loads have to be exactly the same. that means exact powder measuring, the same wadding, compressed to the same distance. So get an accurate powder measure. Get wadding that puts just enough pressure on the ball. Mark your push stick at the point where the muzzle is when your load is seated just right.

2. fire the gun, practicing to remain motionless until you count to three after it fires. Because of the slow ignition it is easy to pull the shot off target after you pull the trigger.

3. Work your loads up making only one change at a time. Try different loads then try different wads, follow that by different powders and finally try different caps.

You have to be sure to run a wad down the bore after each shot. You don't want any live embers in the bore when you pour the powder in.

You are basically reloading a cartridge each time you reload. The case is your barrel so use the same care that you do loading any other ammo.

By all means have fun with it. If it isn't fun, it ain't worth doing.

gelandangan, was it a rifle or a shotgun? Either way, Pauls good tips still apply.

sounds like the target was dead......mission accomplished.

LOL

It was my "new" Uberti Colt Navy copy, a .36 revolver.

IMHO PaulS's tricks might work for a single shot frontloader, be it pistol or rifle, but a revolver is somewhat different.
So my point of view:
- don't worry about a few grains more or less. When you want to devellop a load, as you would do for a non-BP-rifle, use only 1 chamber of the revolver. So use your revolver single shot. Afterwards check this best load for each chamber. A tip: less BP can be better! You don't need a flat shooting lasergun this time...
- when using moulded balls, always put the sprue-mark on top.
- use a benchrest to support your wrists. Don't let the gun touch hard items (not the barrel nor the grip should touch other things but your hands or a sandbag). Pay attention to the gap between cilinder and barrel as it produces a hot pressure flame each shot!
- be happy you're already on target and you don't have to file the front blade. And remember those things were not made for long distance, even in the old days they would take a rifle for that job.

how did you load it? Put BP in the chamber, put ball down and afterwards put grease on top of each ball befor you put on the caps?

gelandangan, that is a great looking pistol. I have a similar BP pistol that I haven't shot yet so this will be helpful for me also. Thanks, Aloys for those pistolaro tips. Not easy to get black powder around here so I'm just going to use synthetic BP.

Hodgdon 777 (powder) is the closest to Black Powder.

Pyrodex sucks.

Muzzleloading is my #1 favorite way to hunt and I've been doing it for well over 3 decades now.

777 is by far one of the most inconsistent and inaccurate powders I've ever tried. In fact its been a running joke on another site where I've been trying to give away a can of 777 for 10 years (finally did this past summer LOL).

Goex FFF is the best for your pistol. Pyrodex P is the closest 1:1 with true black powder. All of these other substitute powders have crazy different burn rates which are very hit and miss.

Finally, with my smokepoles for the utmost accuracy I swab between shots with a patch just slightly wet with windex. It cuts the fouling and evaporates quickly enough I dont worry about moisture when reloading for the next shot.

I've often wanted a black powder pistol, just never gotten around to getting one.

Sidenote: our ML deer season starts Wednesday!!! And we just got a freak fall snowstorm so it looks like late Oct. Its going to be amazing I hope.


-DallanC

Just be very sure to seal your chamber mouths after loading to prevent "chain fire". Many used to use Crisco, but that gets very messy in the heat. I used to melt beeswax with lanolin (about 3 parts beeswax to 1 part lanolin) and pour into a flat pan to cool (about 1/8 - 1/4" in depth). Once cooled, I used a sharpened piece of tubing with an inside diameter a bit larger than the chamber of whatever caliber I was shooting as a cookie cutter to cut discs. I placed them on wax paper in a convenient container for the range. In use, just press a disc into the chambers, over the loaded rounds, and press firmly. This does a great job of sealing the chambers, is less messy and the lube/wax helps keep fouling soft.

It always amazes me every time I go back and look at what it took to use a black powder firearm at how complex this rifle solution really was. That's why I decided to load my 1896 Rem Rolling Block with H2895 instead of BP or substitute. Also, I've seen several BP barrel makers not warrantee their barrels if a substitute BP is used.

Interesting posts. I have a .44 caliber percussion revolver and enjoy shooting it. Two problems were encountered and solved. The percussion caps sometimes fell off so I found slightly smaller diameter caps and they stayed put on the nipples. The other problem is the cleanup after shooting. It takes some time and a lot of hot soapy water, hot water, dry patches and oil patches. All the best...
Gil

Gelan, what diameter bullet are you using?

Dallan, I found your experience with 777 interesting. When a friend and I tried it in our T/C Encore .50s we both got good results. He used two 50 grain pellets and I used about 110 grains of loose powder, both with Powerbelt bullets. We both got 3 shot groups around 1.5" at 100 yards.

Pretty well duplicates my results with both 777 and Powerbelts in my Pedersoli Rolling block .50 caliber. 1-22" twist does a great job stabilizing the Powerbelts.

I agree with you about Goex black powder if you can find it.

My experience with 777 is about what Pumpkinslinger is getting with patched ball at 100 yards. Not quite as good, but close with a T/C Hawken .50. 90 grains of 777 under a patched .490 ball.