CCW Blackpowder pistol?

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It seems back in the day caps were a problem. The caps fragment often fall under the hammer locking the action. Anyone who shoots the modern reproductions has experienced this problem.
If I were going to carry a BP revolver I would have this addressed. Contact Mike Bracket at Goons Guns. Mike has a simple reliable improvement for your BP handguns.

http://www.goonsgunworks.com/
 
His cap post fix for a Colt is precisely what I'd want for any Colt despite it not being for any sort of self preservation need. Who wants to deal with cap jams at the range? And I'd prefer that to filling the hammer nose with JB Weld, which isn't necessarily going to fix it.
 
rodwha said:
Have you shot many of those boolits yet?
Click to expand...

Not nearly as many as Id LIKE to! I did get the chance to join a BP "Long rifle" club last year that puts up with pistols and even revolvers...But most everyone is focused on the old style longrifle.

Problem is, its still a 45min drive from me and with everything going this past year I just wasnt ABLE to go like I wanted. Maybe this year...

Still wanna get or make a loading stand for the 1860 and see how she does with em! I think that small snubbie is pretty much BEGGING for one of your 195grs backed by 30gr of 777!

And if I have to cap some bad guy?? Well, I can always tell him "Dude! Dont sweat that gaping hole in your chest... After all, its JUST BLACK POWDER!" LOL :)
 
Wow!! Thanks Dog Soldier!!
That Walker is something else!!

I'll give ya a call soon.

Mike
 
And so someone has chronographed a .44 cal 3" snubnosed revolver using both a weak BP I've not heard of, as well as T7 and the results are more than even I figured when using a more energetic powder:

http://1858remington.com/discuss/index.php?topic=10821.0

Those results seem to also confirm what I was told when I asked a fellow who chopped a revolver quite short and found through his testing that ~3.5" was needed to fully consume a stout powder charge.

Also note how the velocity between a ball and Lee conical with the same powder charge have about the same velocity. Interesting!
 
The Army had done ballistic gel with bone testing (60's?) with an 1860 Army and 30 grns of powder with a ball. Traveling at a hair over 600 fps, which is rather slow, it completely passes through the whole thing and isn't really much different from what the 1911 with ball ammo did. It begins around 5:43.



While a FMJ isn't exactly the best self defense projectile, in a .45 cal it's not bad for what it's capable of. The military sure seems to like it...
 
You can call me conservative but I would not bet my life on a 150 year old obsolete technology even if it is fun to shoot. If I carried a percussion or flintlock arm, there would be a cartridge weapon somewhere on my person. I have owned a few cap 'n ball revolvers and they almost always went boom. Still, I want a higher level of certainty. As for effectiveness, there is ample evidence to prove they be that!
 
rodwha said:
The Army had done ballistic gel with bone testing (60's?) with an 1860 Army and 30 grns of powder with a ball. Traveling at a hair over 600 fps, which is rather slow, it completely passes through the whole thing and isn't really much different from what the 1911 with ball ammo did. It begins around 5:43.



While a FMJ isn't exactly the best self defense projectile, in a .45 cal it's not bad for what it's capable of. The military sure seems to like it...
Click to expand...

great video I used 50gr fmj in my 25acp as it would penetrate deeper than hollowpoint bullets would!
 
some states have dropped the CCW license requirement to carry CCW so you would have to check that where you live.
Some states allow felons to possess BP guns some don't so you will have to check your state.
While modern guns may arguably be a better choice and more reliable these BP guns can still do the job as needed.
For carry depends on how concealed you want. In which case a derringer or maybe a 36 cal revolver.
But if you do have to draw and shoot you also need to take into account your abilities and limitations.
And any repercussions that may arise because of it.
 
How many of us are in war zones? I just want a gun with me and don't want to "excite" people with open carry, I keep 1 pistol loaded and often times it is a Navy or '62 Police. There are occasions it is a semiauto, but I am more comfortable with a single action and my '73 Colts are a little to big and expensive to drag around.
This old cowboy just ain't comfortable with plastic guns!
 
44 Dave said:
How many of us are in war zones? I just want a gun with me and don't want to "excite" people with open carry, I keep 1 pistol loaded and often times it is a Navy or '62 Police. There are occasions it is a semiauto, but I am more comfortable with a single action and my '73 Colts are a little to big and expensive to drag around.
This old cowboy just ain't comfortable with plastic guns!
Click to expand...
yep I carry a Naa companion cap and ball 22 its very small easy to carry and I hope I never need it!!
 
I've left a '51 loaded and capped for over a year. They all fired on the first try. That was with T7, I believe I've heard of revolvers left loaded for decades firing. It's all about how they gun was stored. Moisture degrades powder.
 
Several years ago I went through a divorce and moved back to Kentucky. My ex got pretty much everything including me having to sell my firearms to pay for the divorce. At the time, I moved way out in the country and needed a handgun for around the house. But I was broke and could only afford a brass framed .44 navy CVA revolver. I learned how to load it and shoot it. I took it out every day until I could hit pretty good with it. Then I started carrying it, and stayed by my bed at night. I took it out every week and shot it and put fresh powder in it. I never had a problem with it. After about a year, I could afford a .45 revolver and stopped carrying the Navy for SD.
I only say this because, sometimes life throws you lemons and you make lemonade with it. I had the money for a used RG .22 or the new CVA. Trusted the CVA more. Still own and shoot BP guns now because of that CVA revolver I wore out.
 
Saddlebag,

See that is just the sort of story a lot of folks need to hear. I personally, based on direct person experience, believe you were MUCH better off with the CVA brasser that the RG. Ya' got to use what you got, and use it well enough for the job.

Thanks for sharing that memory.

I noticed your tag line....I once raise a few eyebrows during some 19 year old horsing about in the service when someone playfully slapped my face. My response was to say out loud "489" it stopped everything while folks wanted to know what that was suppose to mean. The Lord instructed us that we should accept not just the other check or even seven slaps but "Nay, I say, but seven times seventy." I was just letting the offender know he had gone too far and that I counted that slap as 489 so the next was to set me free of my basic peaceful nature........

-kBob
 
Well, if you carry a Black Powder revolver with 1880 ish technology - shouldn't your health care plan mandate you get 1880's medical care when you get shot?

Sure, carry it if you want. It's a somewhat free country. Or get that replica that's being chambered in 380 ACP.
 
GEM, I still think this isn't a "would you" thread but is a "what b.p. revolver would you carry" thread.

I wonder about your thought process though . . . . If needed, I guess if you were holding a loaded c.&b. revolver, you'd throw it down and run get your " modern" revolver/pistol just in case you might get shot?!! BTW, that would be 1860ish medical care . . . . (give or take 10 yrs.)

Mike
 
44 Dave said:
How many of us are in war zones? I just want a gun with me and don't want to "excite" people with open carry, I keep 1 pistol loaded and often times it is a Navy or '62 Police. There are occasions it is a semiauto, but I am more comfortable with a single action and my '73 Colts are a little to big and expensive to drag around.
This old cowboy just ain't comfortable with plastic guns!
Click to expand...
I don't CCW anymore. I had a permit in Virginia, have not bothered in Delaware. I do live in a 'war zone'. So I guess I get to be 'that guy'. Within Slingshot range of where I sit, there are unsolved murders by firearm, a solved atrocity involving a child's corpse chopped up in a shed. Bullet holes in my shack from my neighbor's unsolved murder in 2006, nightly reports of gunfire in a 'residential' zone. Heroin and crack cocaine have taken a toll on this area.
Within 200 yards knuckleheads have been busted with stolen military grade hardware from the po po.
However I am mortgage and HOA FREE :D So there is that.
The 'War Zone' is a reason I don't even own any more cartridge handguns. While my Springfield XD compact in .45 ACP was the finest service pistol I ever fired personally, it was as much of an attractant as a deterrent. Nobody wanted to take me on, too many people inquired about acquiring the weapon. Same with my Colt New Pocket ( thugs love that one... ) and even my N frame Smith.
The avatar is from the first time I shot BP. 40 grs ffg pyrodex, 25 yds, offhand, timed fire, .454 round ball, specimen is Pietta. Since I have 'nailed myself down' and gotten some really nice groups, 35 grains of 2f pyrodex and the .454 ball seems to be some kind of magic combo in this one. Still, for that group with a loose center arbor while I'm still trying to figure out the sights? Yes, please.
The remington repro is even closer to service revolver and boringly accurate for this old security guard.
So if I do decide to draw a permit here, I'll likely get a modern handgun. As it is, I'm quite comfortable with my BP revolvers after a couple of years of handling them and thirty three years of shooting for fun and profit.
If pressed right now, I could conceal a belt revolver on my person. We develop those kinds of skills in 'the hood' ;) However right now it would be my Pietta Pocket Remington replica. Early field tests tell me it will do as much damage as a .22 lr at least and is as accurate as most cartridge arms of that size. At least.
I can personally attest that appearing with a brace of Colt repro's butt forward holstered with flaps down or back gets at least as much respect as a modern service weapon in a holster.
As far as misfires go? I've had them with revolvers using the cheap winchester ammo at quals, had a Glock 23 fail to discharge despite a decent dent in the primer of the Federal LEO ammo.... Used to keep a .44 remington Magnum round with a deeply dented primer otherwise intact... no powder from the factory.. The biggest problem so far we've had with BP is cap seating. Remington #10s seem to work best on most of my Pietta repros. I always carried a back up at work and usually as a civilian. When you 'don't need a gun' is when that lone snubbie is right.
So as far as misfires go that's not on my radar. Everything misfires sooner or later.
I certainly respect the logic and opinions of folks who opine that ccw of any BP is a bad idea. I take the "Book of Five Rings" approach. Do not get attached to any one weapon or type of weapons. Written by the most baddest ever swordsman in human history ( perhaps ) The seventeenth century works admonishes Samurai to learn to handle guns in battle. Do not get dogmatic about weapons...
Now, catch me in the backcountry low on cash and needing a CCW, say Vermont rules? I'll put that Andersonville special under my coat with enough black in the chambers of that brassy never existed .44 Navy to void the warranty and rely on my primary weapon ( my mind ) to keep me whole and able to reach my mossy.
I would have to go with guns like the Pietta '61 "Sheriff" ( escpecially with Kaido's 140 grn UVB ) the pocket calibers, the "Avenging Angel" and those all steel .44 Navy 4 3/4" Pietta's with Birds head grips and some love from Goon would be the type of thing I went for. The Remington repro with a shorter barrel would need a real quality shoulder rig, like the Galco/Jackass to conceal Certainly can be done.
Bottom line, carry what you like and have regular bowel movements. One of these is more important writ large ;)
 
perldog007 said:
The 'War Zone' is a reason I don't even own any more cartridge handguns. While my Springfield XD compact in .45 ACP was the finest service pistol I ever fired personally, it was as much of an attractant as a deterrent. Nobody wanted to take me on, too many people inquired about acquiring the weapon. Same with my Colt New Pocket ( thugs love that one... ) and even my N frame Smith.
Click to expand...

How did the thugs know what kind of guns you had? If you keep them concealed on your person, or put away in your house, no one should be the wiser.
 
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