Guns of the Darksiders

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Bishop,


Although I have been around cartidge weapons all my life, black powder is altoghether new for me .... and a bit scarey too.

Having been a medic for so long, I still go by the 'first, do no wrong' idea, and is nice to know that I will have somebody what is right and wrong ....I also have some non-ball ammmo for the .44 Ruger Old Armies that I have been wanting to try out ....

[Bishop Creek]

Not to worry. Black powder is actually more forgiving than smokeless. The ROA is a good choice, They are very sturdy revolvers.

Here is the one I used to shoot. Sold it a few years ago as the brightness attracted hostiles to my location.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Bishop Creek,

I bought two without knowing much about then except that they were built like tanks ... better than our Shermans LOL.

It turns out that they fit a couple of Schofeld holsters that Will Ghromly made that I cannot use at my local club ...seems our club has a rule that supercedes SASS about no double forward rigs. So now they will be used when I play an old Pinkerton providin' security while riding the railroad gold shipments in and out of Sacramento (circa 1880) ...

[Dr. Bob]

Don't think that I would want to mess with that hombre!! 

[WaddWatsonEllis]

In the 1860s, if I was actually guarding a load of gold, I would probably be carrying a 10 ga Coach Gun and a Wimchester ... both shooting BP cartridges ....

But like Sac's saying in the 1960s, that 'Peace Was Our Profession" , an appropriate subtiltel could have been TR's 'Walk Softly and Carry a Big Stick'.

*S*

[santee]

WWE, can you find period spectacles to complete the look?

[Steel Horse Bailey]

There's a lot of good info here.  WWE, you look fine.  If you shoot NCOWS the Rugers, however great that they ARE, should be replaced with some other replica BP shooters.  Don't get me wrong, I'm just suggesting, NOT criticizing!  I can't see the picture that shows the glasses mentioned by our pard, Santeen, but reasonable oval-shaped glasses with magnification (the standard reading-glasses type) can be had usually for less that $50 or even less (I bought some that were 1.5 magnification for $25.)  River Junction is a good place to start. 

Bishop Creek is absolutely correct that BP is more forgiving ... than ANY other powder.  Basically, you can't put enough powder in a pistol case to over-load it.  That goes for the Cap'n Ball guns as well.  As for the Ruger, there is a great pard who posts regularly here on CAS City who was curious about how strong his Ruger Old Army was.  It is my understanding that he filled the chambers with as much 4F BP as would fit and let go.  If I have the story right, it actually turned it into a semi-auto firearm, by blowing the caps off of the nipples with such force that it actually re-cocked the hammer!!


Scary, but with NO damage to him, bystanders, or the gun ... which he's continued to use - and that happened many years ago!  (But don't ask him to do it again!)


By the way, guarding gold with a 10 ga. and a rifle is a MUCH better idea than just pistols!

Have fun and breathe deeply to appreciate the fragrance of BP being fired and seeing  the great clouds of billowing white smoke and flames that ONLY comes from real BP!

[WaddWatsonEllis]

The glasses are close enough that they will have to stay ...they are presciption and bought before I got involved in SASS. They look okay until they star to change to a darker color .... and I am told by the reenactment people that the only reason people wore dark glasses was that the drugs used to treat uh, 'Social Diseases' cause bright light to be very painful. So dark glasses was like announcing to the world that one had been treated or was being treated for the 'gift that goes on giving' ... who'd a thunk?

[WaddWatsonEllis]

The ROAs are only rarely used when I need a 1880s look .... I don't compete with them at all ... and have never shot NCOWS.

For 1850s reenactment, I portray a traveling Don just come into Sacramento... and I wear the duds in the profile pic ...the pistol is a 'gun that never was' ... a '51 Colt [read early Pietta] in .44 cal. .... the holster is a copy [by Will Ghomley] of a Maine and Winchester Slim Jim .... with a leaf pattern found in 'Packing Iron'

The belt was remade for me by Chuck Burrows from a belt that was never picked up .... and again the only time it will see any of the Holy Black is during reenactments ...

[Steel Horse Bailey]

WWE, there is one more reason ... perhaps even MORE often encountered, that they used darkened lenses  "back in the day" , but it also involves primarily a blue shade.  Professional "card sharps" (or at least the pros who CHEATED) wore blue shades because there were card decks sold and ink as well, so that the cards could be written on .... using the ink either printed from the factory or written by hand to tell what the card was.  It was another form of "marked" decks.

I don't know what happened to a gambler who shows up wearing his blue shade after the word got out, but it was a common trick used back then in many places.

Besides - even in NCOWS we actually allow people who have bad eyesight and need prescription lenses to shoot and have fun!  LoL!  Actually, unless you get into the 3rd level (or 4th, depending who you talk to) of authenticity, such modern items are allowed.  Safety glasses are required and that trumps authenticity. 

Have fun!!  By the way, great leather, too!  Chuck does GREAT work!!

[Leo Tanner]

Dead on Jeff about the glasses.  When we were kids we would write secret messages that could only be read when covered with a piece of colored cellophane.  I had forgotten all about that and didn't consider that it would be a good way to mark cards until I read about it a few years ago.

[WaddWatsonEllis]

Thanks; I will share that trivia about cheating at cards and marked glasses with the group when we meet on the second saturday ...

[Cemetery]

Cemetery......Whatcha got in the coffin??



A pair of Old Army's.   

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Gold Escort, you say? This was taken in 1863.  The notes say that gold shippers preferred the BX stage whose sign is in the background.

[Bishop Creek]

Here is my 2nd Generation Colt's 1860 Army .44:

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Pertiful, Bishop!

[Fingers McGee]

Sweet cased set Bishop. 

Here are a few pictures of my latest.  A 1 of 250 Grant/Lee matched pair cased set of 2nd Generation 1851 Navies.  Had a gentleman email me offering the set for sale cause he knew I was a collector.  He was the original owner and had never put the set together.  Everything was still in it's original wrapping and boxes.  He only took the pistols out from time to time to oil them up.  They've never been cocked, and the flask had never been unwrapped.  The pistols and accessories had never been put in the case (till yesterday).  I unwrapped everything, placed the items in the case, photographed the case, then rewrapped and boxed everything back up.  This set will stay as NIB as possible.






And a few more:

[Short Knife Johnson]

I had a set exactly like those about 15 years ago.  Obtained them in a trade with the intent to shoot them.  Both pistols had been cocked but no fired.  I looked into what it would have cost to fire them value-wise.  They were traded off on a Colt SAA instead - that got shot - lots.

Still wouldn't mind an 1851 though.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Fingers, that set is awesome!  I'll be happy to shoot them for you!   


And shoot them I would ... if they were mine.  I realize the value would plummet, 'tho.  They are simply too nice to ignore.  'Course, if I had THAT set and another, one set - the one YOU own would stay pristine and unfired.

[Leo Tanner]

Nobody lives ferever, chute them things!  Well, I would...
All funnin aside, it is a beaut of a set.