Anyone else feel a deminished interest in cartridge guns?

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Tallbald

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Since coming over to the charcoal side of shooting, I've felt less and less enthusiastic about my cartridge guns. My shooting friends act like I'm leaving them by the wayside. I have absolutely no interest (really never had though)in anything polymer. My .357's sit lonely in the cabinet talking with the .22's about days of sunshine and noisy embrace. I still love and admire them but my new smoky, firey hobby consumes my shooting interest. Am I a traitor to the sport? Or simply broadening my love? Don.
 
Somewhat, I have begun to reload shotshells with black powder. Smokeless powder is so boring after playing around with smoke and fire.
 
I have been where you are, but when your BP guns out number your cartridge guns you know you have crossed over to the "dark side":evil: just enjoy throwing those sweet smelling clouds of smoke and brimstone.:evil:
 
Cartridge guns have their place.

Cartridges can be loaded with black powder and shot on rainy days or when it's so hot & humid, you just want to make life simple.
--Dawg
 
Each time I pull the trigger on my ROA's I hope for another pretty doughnut ring of smoke shooting out from the muzzle wafting up to tickle the tree leaves above. It impresses the bystanders too. The anticipation of "it SHOULD fire but will it??" (because I'm still very leery of pushing the cap down too hard on the nipple with a dowel rod) is not unlike the feeling of drawing for the high card. So much to learn, so little time! Don
 
When you pull the trigger, you don't only shoot.... you release the rolling thunder and make the clouds appear... you even send the smell of hell to your enemies... :evil: (well, or to the paper targets... it depends...:rolleyes:)
 
I feel the same way, in fact, i have made a pact with myself that the ruger 7mm will NOT leave the gun cabinet for antelope or deer this year, it is going to be just me, the smoke, a round ball, and hopefully some dead critters.
 
WOW. I'm NOT alone!! Long live the smell of sulpher, the sound of snapping caps, and visions of soft round balls hurtling toward their intended target amid smoke and fire! Don :)
 
i used to go to the trap range with a borrowed shotgun all the time. haven't done that for a long time. i would rather be out at that wide open field with my flinter and my BP pistols. maybe someday i will get a shotgun, but not now. i would rather be casting round balls than reloading shells. i would rather be making a deep echoing noise and lots of smoke with little recoil than be making noise, little smoke (if any) and a bruised shoulder from 100 rounds of 12 gauge. besides, i find it interesting being able to be my own handloader right at the range! and having a reloading press attached to your gun, that's just plain awesome!
 
I find that I am beginning to lust after a (choke, gasp) smoothbore musket. How's that for retro thinking? I was thinking about my Grandfather who brought a herd of sheep from Illinois to California in the 1840's. I'll bet he had a smoothbore of about 70 to 80 cal. It makes sense because you can use it for small game with shot, or round ball for larger game or defense. Powder shot and balls don't make a large pack if you're walking across the country behind a bunch of sheep.

Any how I am looking for a musket (flinter) to play with.
 
Tallbald said:
Since coming over to the charcoal side of shooting, I've felt less and less enthusiastic about my cartridge guns.
Click to expand...

No offense, but you're not really converted yet. You see, many of those "Smokeless" cartridges you used to shoot were originally designed for use with Black Powder, i.e. 45 Colt, 44 WCF, 38 Special to name a few. Now...if you were really fully converted you would be thinking to yourself, "Self, do you think you could really stuff 26gr of 3f into a 44 Special brass and still seat the bullet?"

The answer of course is YES!! And though I've heard it's been done, about the only thing I would really hesitate to put real powder into is one of those plastic guns that law enforcement is so fond of these days.

By the way, you haven't really fired a 45 Colt until you've put 35+ grains of 3f behind a 235gr RNFP.
 
Yep. I've been thinking about loading .357 & .44 mag, .38 & .44 special, .45 Colt, and .303 Brit with BP.
I may even load .410 with fff to use in the Judge. Then, it would even more fun and impractical than it already is.
Shooting the BP guns is more fun than the cartridge guns, to me.
Letting a couple of 350 grain .61 caliber round balls fly, from the Howdah Pistol makes me giddy.

Busyhands94, you could always try to find a good, shooting condition, old BP shotgun.
Then, you can shoot shotgun AND BP at the same time. Two birds, one stone.
 
I LOVE shooting BP, but they are all BP Cartridge... but I will never, as a matter of practicality move away from smokeless...

I agree with the sight, the smell, the sound... I have a place way back in the sticks in Shelby County Texas, from my back porch, to my Uncles barn is is over a mile across a creek bottom and about 400 acres of bottom land... the sound of my old Rolling Block, and my Sharps has duplicated the sound of rolling thunder across that bottom for years.. We even, years ago, had a 6 pound field piece that we shot up there... Man was that something.... My Family and Neighbors couldn't believe it... It drew a pretty good crowd... People would come from several miles away to see what was making all that noise... Yep, BP has a bit of romance about it, no doubt about it..
 
Jaymo, that's a great idea! i have been thinking about getting a good side-by-side shotgun, a loading press and all the accessories that go along with it, that way i can load some shells with BP, or maybe get a mold for a slug and make some BP slugs. that would be kinda cool!

not too long ago i was looking at .22 rifles, i was going to get one, but then Cabelas had to have their big revolver sale, with that $20 discount. I'm in no rush to get a smokeless gun. i would rather be packing an 1858 Remington brass framed revolver instead. and in case i need a .22 i have a vintage 9-22, my .22 Magnum Super companion, and my LR companion. that will do just fine. but, i would rather play with black powder right now! it's messy and fun and i love it! yep, i can tell already that Lady BP and i were meant for eachother :p hehe!
 
Yep, BP is addictive.
You could get a BP cartridge shotgun, or even a BP muzzleloading shotgun.
I saw a few nice condition old muzzleloading doubles at the last gun show I attended.
 
that's what I'm thinking! i could, get used smokeless shotty, refurbish it and make it "blackpowder-ish" with the addition of a few things. then if i want to shoot smokeless i certainly can. but i can still shoot blackpowder shells! i wonder where i can find some paper shotshells, i could maybe put lube over the overshot wad to keep things nice and lubricated.
 
Ummm....

You aren't referring to paper cartridges I hope ??? Cause I LOVE those things !!!

But the metalic ones, ONLY in specific guns, that can accept nothing else, like a 45/70 Trapdoor, or a 44/40 Blond Boy...

Never did cotton to brass cartridge revolvers, or automatic anythings... Just don't trust them new fangled devil inventions !!!

LOL !!!

Sincerely,

ElvinWarrior... aka... David, "EW"
 
I'm primarily a hunter, with a commitment to self defense and training others in safe firearm use. I am not a formal competitor, but I enjoy target shooting and general plinking. I'm relatively new to BP and am enjoying it a lot. Yesterday I took possession of what is my 6th BP handgun, a Pietta 1858 Remington with a 5-1/2 inch barrel. And I'm in the process of tuning my first flintlock, a Lyman Trade Rifle, for PA's late hunting season. Yeah, the BP bug bites hard!

That said, I still carry a concealed modern centerfire pistol everywhere legal. I'm pleased to learn that a county in NY where I deer hunt every year will soon be open to rifles (not just shotguns). And I reload .357 and .44 mag and several centerfire rifle cartridges for accuracy and economy.

I'd say my interest in BP firearms is growing, but that doesn't mean my interest in smokeless is waning. I've just added a new, fun dimension to a hobby I already enjoy immensely.
 
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Ah, ah AAAAaah, there; busyhands.... "Pale Rider" had Eastwood shooting a Remmie with a "cartridge conversion" cylinder, a la Howell's/R&D.
Of course, the cartridges "of the period" still would have had BP behind the projectile; so I'll give 1/2 point on that one. Unfortunately, no 'cartridge conversion' cylinder vendor is gonna approve their cylinders for brass-framed revolvers.... bummer! :p

As for the original question; I haven't seriously shot my S&W 629-1 in over 2 years. My 15-y.o. son has sent more lead downrange to the tune of a roaring 4" .44Mag than I have. I've spent more time -when shooting smokeless- sending .356" full wadcutters to the paper with my wife's (used to be mine) S&W Mdl 13... but that's mostly because shooting a good K-frame Smith generally tends to give one the feeling that "God is in His Heaven and all is right with the world."

My Remmies come closest to giving that feeling without actually holding the Mdl 13; and guess which pistols I have been shooting the most.
So there you go! :D
 
I have been shooting cap and ball for over a year now and am going the opposite way...thinking of an 1873 in .45 Colt... re-loaded black powder of course, am I a traitor??:D
 
There's no question that the smoke poles--esp. my flintlocks--are more fun than any smokeless arm.

But for practicing and no-fuss runs to the range, particularly in the rain and snow, the cartridge arms still have the edge.
 
to me shooting a flintlock is something therapeutic. i remember last month, my sweetheart broke up with me, my friend died of cancer. so, i went shooting and felt a little better. i find that blackpowder is like therapy to me. something about the recoil of a blackpowder rifle. it's kinda like a push instead of that kick smokeless has. i really like it! because of that my mum who is smaller in frame size than me can shoot my .50 flintlock with a patched round ball or a Minnie ball behind 80 grains of FFG without much of a problem. basically anybody in the family can shoot it! for me blackpowder is just fine for my purposes. i already have a few smokeless guns, but i would rather shoot black.
 
I haven't shot any cartridge firearms in quite a few months now. Black is too much fun.
I agree that shooting a tuned K frame is fun, even though I'm more of a Colt fan.
The BP Remingtons seem to feel closer to a K frame in my hand than my Colt repros.
Now, if I could only get up the guts to convert my Pietta NMA 5.5" into a bird's head grip.
 
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