How do I get started in black powder?

[Lagduf]

I'd like to get a reproduction Brown Bess musket and possibly a reproduction American Civil War era rifle. What are some good websites or reading materials for shooters who have never had the chance to fire a bp weapon? Safety is paramount so if anyone can point me in the direction of proper BP storage (and the relevant CA laws on BP weapons) that would be awesome.

[TheExpertish]

I want to get into BP too, but haven't bothered yet. There are dedicated forums out there. Might also consider taking an NRA BP course. Go to the NRA's website to find classes near you.

[shovelon]

I want to get started too.

[TheExpertish]

Just checked the site, http://www.nrainstructors.org/searchcourse.aspx, and there are only two upcoming courses listed in CA, and they're both down south. Might be worth the road trip though for the fun of it.

[Eljay]

I'd like to get a reproduction Brown Bess musket and possibly a reproduction American Civil War era rifle. What are some good websites or reading materials for shooters who have never had the chance to fire a bp weapon? Safety is paramount so if anyone can point me in the direction of proper BP storage (and the relevant CA laws on BP weapons) that would be awesome.

Well, the first thing to know is the storage. Black powder = 1 pound only. You can have up to 20 pounds of substitutes. The problem is that a brown bess is a flintlock and that pretty much requires real black powder - the substitutes really only work in percussion weapons. And you'll only get maybe 70 shots out of a pound, so there are practicality issues.

The good news is that civil war weapons were percussion, so that's the place to start.

In terms of forums see http://www.thehighroad.org/forumdisplay.php?f=12 and http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/fusionbb.php

That first site has a great getting started guide stickied or you can get to it from http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=238769 - read that and if you have further questions go from there.

You might also check out http://www.trackofthewolf.com/ which has lots of goodies but also very nice rifles for sale. Also dixie gun works is a good company.

Personally I think you might consider getting a cap and ball revolver. They're cheap, they're cool, they work with the substitutes, you can find lots of youtube videos showing how to operate them, and you'll want one in the long run anyway. Cabelas has great prices - look at a Pietta reproduction of the 1858 Remington or slightly less practical 1860 Colt. Steel frame.

[Lagduf]

Is that one pound per household?

[Sousuke]

The code does not clarify if it's per Person or household

[Eljay]

You can find the relevant code here: http://wiki.calgunsfoundation.org/Am...d_Black_Powder

I should also mention... there's a trick. You can use 3F in the pan of your flintlock (couple of grains) and then use 5-10 grains of real black at the bottom of the barrel to start things going. Then use substitute on top of that. This will stretch the powder considerably. But I'd get comfortable with a percussion weapon first before messing around with something like that. (The substitutes have a fairly high ignition temperature, this is what we're working around).

[Alan Block]

I can speak to the Bess. There are 3 ways to go on a Brown Bess. 1. India made gun From Loyalist Arms - $600. 2. 2nd Model Short land Bess from Italy. Better quality and $1000. 3. A Bess made by a custom American smith from a kit from Track of the Wolf or Rifle Shoppe. $2000 +. There is a lot of disagreement on the safety of the Indian guns but a lot of people use them. Depends on what you want to do with it; Hunt, Plink, reenact.

[Darto]

There are 7000 grains in a pound of powder. A brown bess is shot with 70 grains per shot + 3 in the pan. 7000/73 = 95 shots.


The advice to use a small charge of BP down the barrel with reproduction BP on top is very good advice. In fact, if you go to the Hodgdon website you see they recommend that for Pyrodex.

http://www.hodgdon.com/loading.html

Pyrodex is the substitute to use. Other substitutes are better for modern inline muzzleloaders. For matchlocks, flintlocks, Pyrodex rules (I'm a longtime user).

Note that Hodgdon recommends FFFFg for the small (5grain) BP charge down the barrel over Pyrodex. Since you only are allowed 1 pound I would definitely make it FFFFg. That is the best for the pan. That is the best for the small charge down the barrel.

For caplocks that take a #11 cap, I always use CCI #11 *magnum* caps when using Pyrodex. For instance you can buy magnum caps here:

http://www.powderinc.com/

http://www.blackdawgecartridge.com/catalog/bd_caps.html

The $95 per 1000 caps includes the #25 hazmat shipping surcharge.

[Eljay]

A quick search showed people using more like 90 grains per shot but it's really up to that gun. One of the interesting things about blackpowder guns is you get to do your own load development. Anyway, it's a quibble - I think we're all agreed you won't get a whole lot of shots if you're using all black powder.

re: 4F versus 3F powder, either is fine. I use 3F in my flintlock (a pistol) because it works well both for the pan and the main charge. If you had access to multiple types you would possibly use 2F as the main charge and 4F to prime. But you'll often see hunters using 3F for both to simplify things and because 3F does better than 4F if conditions are a bit damp. All that being said as a range-only gun and trying to get the substitute to light yeah, maybe 4F's a little better. Ideally you would try both and see - this would be an advantage of going to some kind of blackpowder get-together you could borrow a little of this and a little of that.

And again, I'd get the percussion gun first and get comfortable with that before approaching any flintlock. One thing at a time...

[Alan Block]

For the Brown Bess I would recommend using ffg in the barrel. Duplex loads using ffffg could get tricky if you accidentaly use too much. You can also grind small ammounts of ffg for priming in a small morter/pestel.

[Eljay]

Isn't this great? You have three totally different answers to just one little sub aspect of what you need to know. Welcome to black powder!

[Peter.Steele]

Definitely agree on percussion first, then flintlock.

There's a LOT less frustration in using a percussion cap weapon than using a flintlock. It's a lot easier for a beginner.

[CSACANNONEER]

I will highly discourage ANYONE from experimenting with duplex loads and specially ones which mix propellants and explosives. DO NOT MIX BP AND SMOKELESS BP SUBSTITUTES!

I want to get started too.

Shot me a PM. Let me know what type of BP firearms you're interested in.