blackpowder and smokeless

[Anvil Dave]

Well pards, this may be a dumb question, but, do anybody shoot blackpowder and somkeless with the same guns? I just join a indoor gun club with the ideal I can keep shooting dueing the cold winter days. I have bullets for smokeless powder with the blue lube that I can reload with and back to blackpowder with my Big Lube for outside.

[Lucky Irish Tom]

I've shot both out of my guns with no ill effect, I just make sure to clean them well, especially when moving between heathen and Holy Black and vice versa.

[Silent Joe]

Yes, I use BP and nitro in my Colt SAA .45 (second gen.), in my Uberti Lever Action .38 and in my Sauer & Son Western Marshal .357. The cleaning of the guns and the brass after using BP is very important.

[Deadeye Don]

Thats one of the drawbacks of shooting at an indoor range.  They frown on BP.   

Fortunately, our NCOWS posse shoots through out the winter so those that shoot BP dont have to go inside. 

[Marshal Rusty Bore]

Thursday I shot blackpowder and today I shot smokeless at an indoor range in the same 1858 Remingtons!

Smokeless is a passing fad, that's why after over a huindred years you can still buy percussion caps !

[Dick Dastardly]

I've done this and it worked fine for me.  I shoot 44 Magnums mostly.  My Big Lube™ bullets lube/sized with the same Pearl Lube II work great with both heathen fad smokeyless powder and Holy Black.  I do clean my guns after shooting the heathen stuff but nothing special.  I also clean them after shooting Holy Black.  I've never tried mixing them without cleaning between changes. . .  Might work, might not.

DD-DLoS

[Anvil Dave]

Hey DD, I did use your Big Lube bullets, lube/sized with the Pearl Lube for the smokeless and the blackpowder without cleaning and it has NO ill effect. I just have these bullets with smokeless lube, but you know, I think I just take them bullets, melt them down till the smokeless lube floats to the top, skim it off and make new ones.

[Dick Dastardly]

Howdy Anvil Dave,

I'm thinkn' that PL-II may be more compatible with heathen fad smokeyless than crayon lube is with Holy Black.  Maybe not so at very high pressures and velocities, but at the velocities and pressures we run the crayon stuff makes a mess with bp.

I'd want to do some considerable testing, but perhaps Big Lube™ bullets with PL-II or other find bp lube could be sold as "universal" bullets for SASS shooting with either bp or smokeless. . .??

DD-DLoS

[Anvil Dave]

Hi DD..........I shot both smokeless and b/p with PL-II and it is comatible. What I was talking about is that I like to practice with these bullets w/blue crayon like I did at the range today with my hand guns and my '66. I just have to clean the crayon out of the barrles before I shoot the blackpowder. That should work, right?

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

I'm taking a new shooter to a match next month.  I will shoot BP, and my nephew will likely use fad powder.  I am not anticipating a problem handing the same guns back & forth.  I'll see about taking a second set of arms though.

[Cyrille]

I've used both the Holy Black and smokeless in my Rugers and my BPCR with no ill effect on the firearms, JUst be sure as said before you clean them before swiching powder loads!

[Black Powder]

Still haven't shot my new Cimarron yet.   

Am committed to shooting bp and am now satisfied that it's OK to shoot both from the same gun.  I shoot c&b outdoors at a fine place, but he politely declined my request to shoot bp cartridge.  So I tracked down the nearest indoor range and when I asked if they'd allow me to test with bp, the proprietor's response was "Absolutely not."  Despite the abruptness, he is the only game in town, at least until the matches start in mid-April.

So, the questions:

1) I want to check out my gun.  Sight it.  Am I going to be getting false reads if I shoot smokeless as a way of practicing and getting to know my gun?

2) Can I use the same cleaning products to purge it from the infestation of smokeless that I use for black powder, or is something stronger required?

3) Do you think my new gun will still speak to me in the morning when I've made it work with smokeless?

If these have been covered elsewhere, my apologies.  The more I look, the more I find; just haven't found it yet.

Thank you.

BP

[litl rooster]

3) Do you think my new gun will still speak to me in the morning when I've made it work with smokeless?

Thank you.

BP

Remember when you go Black you never look back



Cleaning there is so many options you have to fine one that suits your needs, I am sure there will be a hundred diffrent methods posted soon.

[Wills Point Pete]

 I live in the country. A wait of fifteen minutes is short for a 9-1-1 response. We have the periodic rabid skunk or dog and the odd critter and tractor thief.
I come home from a match and swamp the black powder goo out of my '92 clone in .45 Colt and after it's clean (about five minutes) I stuff the tube with Max loads of H110 behind a 250 grain Hornady JHP. Also a good load for our Texas white tails. I must click the tang sight three clicks to switch from the BP load to the big loads. This to shift from CAS main match range to a hundred yards.
If you sight your revolver with the same weight bullets with smokeless you will probably shoot a tad high with real black, there is just so much more total ejecta coming out you will recoil a bit more, this should cause the revolver to rotate more. Thing is, our ranges are close enough where it shouldn't make a big difference. But, since the Cimarrons all have fixed sights, you'll just have to use your eyeballs anyhow.
My guns still speak to me, no matter what the powder. The voice is much lower with the Holy Black, a BOOM! instead of a bang. Kind of the difference between a German Shepherd and a Maltese.