Black powder revolvers

[WLW]

I use 777 most of the time. I have tried American Pioneer, but that stuff is way too inconsistent. Pyrodex is fine, but it is corrosive and stinks. I like 777 because it's clean shooting (for me). I'd like real BP too, but its hard to come by. I know you can get it at Friendship during one of the NMRLA shoots.

 

[Delmar]

i just put 50 rounds down range with my new cap and ball . and i'll i got to say is sweet . i tried the whole crisco crap . all it did is make it more messy and i seen that if your not care-full your powder will get stuck on it and just make it a mess .
the cc .11 caps don't work very good for me . there to small and hard to get on the nipple and when i do get them on some times they don't fire the first time and i got to hit them again with the hammer to fire . but the remington .11 work every time . and fit just snug too .

That seems pretty strange to me. You got the Pietta 1860 from Cabella's is that correct? The cci #11 caps are too big for my Pietta 1858 clone.

something else i wanna know is what kinda of powder are you guys using ??


i was using the hodgon triple 777 and i used pyrodex once . at all worked fine but it really didn't make awhole lot of smoke or make the gun messy .
i tried to find some real black powder at gun stores but no seems to sell it .

]I have been using more FFF Pyrodex than anything else so far, because it has been the easiest to find, but I am working on making my own. I have made some white powder out of KNO3 and sugar, which works fine in a front stuffer, because you can put in as much as you want before you seat the ball, but it is too weak to make an effective load in a percussion revolver. The next recipe I am going to try is a sulfurless BP. KNO3, sugar and charcoal. I made a batch of charcoal last week out of poplar and I am building a ball mill. to mix the stuff up with. I don't have a problem with using sulfur but I just haven't found a good source of it locally so that I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for shipping.

 

[Jack Ryan]

i just put 50 rounds down range with my new cap and ball . and i'll i got to say is sweet . i tried the whole crisco crap . all it did is make it more messy and i seen that if your not care-full your powder will get stuck on it and just make it a mess .
the cc .11 caps don't work very good for me . there to small and hard to get on the nipple and when i do get them on some times they don't fire the first time and i got to hit them again with the hammer to fire . but the remington .11 work every time . and fit just snug too .

something else i wanna know is what kinda of powder are you guys using ??

i was using the hodgon triple 777 and i used pyrodex once . at all worked fine but it really didn't make awhole lot of smoke or make the gun messy .
i tried to find some real black powder at gun stores but no seems to sell it .

You are probably using more grease than you need. Even then it's a little messy. If it's handy to do so, I like to take the cylinder out to put the grease on. After some is in, I use my smallest finger to kind of shove the grease to a circle around the ball where it meets the cylinder and all the grease in there then is just a little line around the ball. Then I wipe everything else off before putting it back in the gun and capping the nipples.

After I cap them all, I work my way all the way around cocking and setting the hammer down on each nipple. This ensures the cap is all the way seated on the nipple.

I use FFF or FFFF Goex.

 

[Claddagh]

i just put 50 rounds down range with my new cap and ball . and i'll i got to say is sweet . i tried the whole crisco crap . all it did is make it more messy and i seen that if your not care-full your powder will get stuck on it and just make it a mess .
the cc .11 caps don't work very good for me . there to small and hard to get on the nipple and when i do get them on some times they don't fire the first time and i got to hit them again with the hammer to fire . but the remington .11 work every time . and fit just snug too .

something else i wanna know is what kinda of powder are you guys using ??

i was using the hodgon triple 777 and i used pyrodex once . at all worked fine but it really didn't make awhole lot of smoke or make the gun messy .
i tried to find some real black powder at gun stores but no seems to sell it .

Sounds as if we need to take a look at your loading procedure. The "Crisco crap" comes next-to-last, after you've dropped a charge and seated a ball in all of the chambers. If you're trying to do each chamber completely (including the grease) one-at-a-time, I can see where it'd be possible to "get your powder stuck on it and just make it a mess". The last thing you do is seat a cap on each of the nipples.

I use Pyrodex "P" almost exclusively in my C&B revolvers because, again like Delmar, it's easy to get and it works just dandy. Most dealers quit even trying to stock BP when BATFE reclassified it as an "explosive" and it fell into the same category as dynamite. The radically different storage and paperwork regs (not to mention new insurance costs and zoning/fire code restrictions) from those for "smokeless" propellents made carrying it cost more and generate more hassle than the potential sales volume could justify.

I suppose that it's quite possible that Pietta has switched to a different type of nipple since I bought my last one. On all of my Pietta and Uberti replicas (4 Colt 1860's, a Colt 1862, 4 Remington 1858's and a Starr DA) nobody's #11 cap fits correctly. They're virtually all too large and need to be pinched to stay put. #10's range from 'just right' to 'a tad too snug'.

 

[WLW]

Sounds as if we need to take a look at your loading procedure. The "Crisco crap" comes next-to-last, after you've dropped a charge and seated a ball in all of the chambers. If you're trying to do each chamber completely (including the grease) one-at-a-time, I can see where it'd be possible to "get your powder stuck on it and just make it a mess". The last thing you do is seat a cap on each of the nipples.

I use Pyrodex "P" almost exclusively in my C&B revolvers because, again like Delmar, it's easy to get and it works just dandy. Most dealers quit even trying to stock BP when BATFE reclassified it as an "explosive" and it fell the same category as dynamite. The radically different storage and paperwork regs (not to mention new insurance costs and zoning/fire code restrictions) from those for "smokeless" propellents made carrying it cost more and generate more hassle than the potential sales volume could justify.

I suppose that it's quite possible that Pietta has switched to a different type of nipple since I bought my last one. On all of my Pietta and Uberti replicas (4 Colt 1860's, a Colt 1862, 4 Remington 1858's and a Starr DA) nobody's #11 cap fits correctly. They're virtually all too large and need to be pinched to stay put. #10's range from 'just right' to 'a tad too snug'.

I would agree... the Crisco thing shouldn't be a big deal. You might see if there are clubs in your area that have BP shoots. My club does and when I went - man did I learn a lot!!

 

[calinb]

That seems pretty strange to me. You got the Pietta 1860 from Cabella's is that correct? The cci #11 caps are too big for my Pietta 1858 clone.
]I have been using more FFF Pyrodex than anything else so far, because it has been the easiest to find, but I am working on making my own. I have made some white powder out of KNO3 and sugar, which works fine in a front stuffer, because you can put in as much as you want before you seat the ball, but it is too weak to make an effective load in a percussion revolver. The next recipe I am going to try is a sulfurless BP. KNO3, sugar and charcoal. I made a batch of charcoal last week out of poplar and I am building a ball mill. to mix the stuff up with. I don't have a problem with using sulfur but I just haven't found a good source of it locally so that I don't have to pay an arm and a leg for shipping.

Yes--it's great fun to make, Delmar! I'm sure you know the safety rule. Make small batches at a time.

Here's the best BP (history and recipes) site I've found.
Link >> black powder menu

http://www.musketeer.ch/blackpowder/bp_menu.html

I've made only "classic" recipes so far (with sulfur) but sulfur is optional. It lowers the flash point about 100C and adds a small amount of energy. I plan to try sulfurless one day but so far I've made BP using real wood "cowboy charcoal" from Lowes and home made willow charcoal. The cowboy charcoal was pretty weak but good enough to load into my Pietta 1858 Remy and plink, with a good sized load. My homemade willow stuff is comparable to commercial products in power. (By weight--home made density is about 30% lower than commercial BP.) Sounds like you've found KNO3. I use Grants or Spectracide stump remover. (MSDS says it's nearly pure.) For sulfur, try a hydroponics store. I got 99% pure elemental sulfur "prills" in a 2.5 lbs jug for about $10, as I recall.

It definitely cruds up a barrel faster than Pyrodex. I'm thinking about trying to make some alder charcoal. I've heard it make less crud but willow and hazlenut are the best for oomph! I read that the pest tree, "Tree of Heaven" (Ailanthus altissima) is quite good for powerful BP too.

The BP crud is not a problem in my 12 ga shotgun but I can't shoot more than two rounds from my .45 BP rifle without running a couple of patches. After about 10 rounds, I must clean the firing pin, due to blowback from my #11 primer nipple on my inline. My .50 cal isn't as bad as the .45.

I think the muzzle report and recoil are mellower with my homebrew BP than Pyrodex. It's more like a Harley vs. a Ducati. (A centerfire rifle would be a Jap bike. ). The chrony says the velocities are similar, but I like the sound and feel of the BP over the the Pyrodex.