Where to from ROA's?

[Tallbald]

I love my stainless ROAs and shoot them with a good friend of mine as often as I get the chance, which is unfortunately only a few times a year. My loving wife and I are on a waiting list for the local range, but it will be a while.
With the rising cost of ammunition for cartridge guns, and being on quite a fixed income, I'd like to expand my black powder experience and guns because of lower usage costs. I really prefer stainless guns for ease of care, but it seems that the only BP guns out there in stainless are a few revolvers and mostly in-line "sorta BP guns" meant for hunters after their annual deer limit. They don't interest me, and I don't hunt any more. I enjoy the slow pace of more traditional style BP shooting too.
I find myself wondering what direction to take from here. What have others cost effectively done in my situation?
Thanks. Don

 

[snakeman]

I like bp rifles look at traditions kentucky rifle.

 

[BullSlinger]

What?

Kinda confused by what you are asking? If you no longer hunt but like BP guns, own a ROA then why not other cap and ball revolvers?
There are lots of replicas out there priced at $ 225 to $350 that shoot well and are a lot of fun. If you want to spend more on stainless steel there are those also. I have many blued steel and do not find them harder to clean than stainless.
I prefer to shoot my cap and ball over cartridge for many reasons. At present they are usually less expensive to fire and I don't have problems with ammo not being in stock.

 

[BullRunBear]

I'm in a similar situation regarding fixed income, not hunting anymore and enjoying the pace of BP shooting. Modern inline stuff is of no interest at all. Fortunately, I've been shooting BP for a while and have accumulated some good stuff over the decades.

I assume you aren't looking for another cap and ball but want something different. Look into the single shot pistols such as the Traditions Trapper. I don't care for Traditions flintlocks but their percussion locks are fine and the Trapper comes with double set triggers and decent sights. Mine is quite accurate.

Another avenue is a rifle. There are many fine used percussion long guns out there, traditional style, not in-line, at LGS and pawn shops. If you can determine that the rifling/bore is good you can get fine bargains. Even some old CVA rifles can provide fine accuracy. Of course, if buying new the Great Plains Rifle is a great value.

Don't worry about stainless. Except for one ROA, all my BP guns are blued or browned. Normal cleaning and keeping them oiled keeps the rust away. And it's an excuse to fondle them (with an oily rag) once in a while.

Good luck with your searches.

Jeff

 

[Malachi Leviticus Blue]

Might not exactly be on topic, but one of these days, after I get the mile long list of things I need to do whittled down I hope to make my own long bow. Then some arrows. I've begun to acquire the faintest hint of what I think will someday become patience.

 

[Patocazador]

If a single shot pistol is what you have in mind, there was a T/C Patriot in .36 cal. for sale on a different BP forum for less than $300. By the time I saw it, it had been sold.

It didn't take long for that gun to move.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Along the way some where, I picked up two single shot muzzleloading pistols in stainless steel. They are in-lines but there is no reason, why a stainless barrel can't be made for a short side lock gun. As I recall, TC had a couple of stainless muzzleloaders out there.

 

[rodwha]

There's not much to choose from in stainless. Lyman's makes a Deerstalker rifle that is. It's more of a cross between modern and traditional though as it has a recoil pad and fiber optic sights, though that can be swapped out.

http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/muzzle-loaders/deerstalker-rifle.php

There are a few stainless pistols, as well as a nickel Remington 1863 .31 cal pocket by Pietta, which is actually a brass frame that would require light to moderate loads to maintain it's usefulness.

 

[BCRider]

The biggest single factor in ammo cost is the bullets themselves. If you can arrange to get set up somehow to cast your own then it opens up a huge number of hand gun or shoulder gun alternatives to be shot at low cost.

And if a relaxed pace is what you're after than one of the classic style single shot rifles sounds like it's your cup o' tea.

And while I know that this is the black powder forum I'd also suggest that some cost saving can be relized if reloading cartridges by going with smokeless powders. The .38-55 ammo I reload at present is using 18 grains of 4227 to get up to 1400'ish fps. If I were loading black powder I'd have to fill the casing instead of only filling 1/3 of the case. This translates to many more rounds reloaded per pound of powder. Mind you up this way the cost of a pound of black is about the same as a pound of smokeless. In the US I understand that black powder is quite a bit cheaper. So some figuring out as to the costs would be needed.

As said already you still need to clean the gun and oil it. Stainless isn't. At best it is stain/rust resistant to some extent. But the metal can still rust so a stainless gun needs all the same care and attention as a blued gun if it is to remain in good condition. So I would not recommend that you pass up on a blued gun which otherwise suits your needs and makes you smile.

 

[Pancho]

A metallurgist friend of mine that retired from GE said that it should have been named stainsless instead of stainless.