First Time Darksider

[Assayer]

I recently posted a question about cleaning between Black Powder and Smokeless during the same shooting session.  I received quite a few replies and you people were more than helpful.  It was great!
I don't reload, so my "normal" cartridge has been a simple Winchester .45 Colt with a 250gr. LFN.  Specs put it at 750 fps and it's a pretty "mild" load.
After getting comfortable with the cleaning question that I posted earlier, I went to the range and tried some Goex Black Dawge ammo with 235gr LFN bullets that have a spec of 845fps. 
Well .....all I have to say is WOW!- HOLY CRAP!- OH MY GOD!         I HAD A BLAST!!!!
The smoke - fire- and smell of that stuff really made my morning!  It was so much fun that I have had to do it again and again.  I'm hooked.............

After the first few shots, a few of the guys shooting over on the rifle range rushed over and basically said "What the hell was that!!??""  I was grinning ear to ear and laughing so hard that I couldn't answer.  God it was fun!

I did notice a significant increase in the recoil with the black powder.  It was rough enough that I was initially concerned that I'd be hurting my gun (a Colt SAA model P1840).  I didn't want to blow the thing up and it felt like it was being pushed hard.  However, at a rating of 845 fps I'd think that the Goex stuff is safe and within all recommended specification for the Colt.  Maybe the difference between the Cowboy loads that I was used to shooting and the black powder was enough to startle me at first.  Don't get me wrong............it was a "good" startle and I've grown accustomed to what to expect.

One thing though....the stuff is DIRTY.  The gun starts to feel a bit bound-up or "different" after 20 rounds or so.  I haven't pushed it beyond that amount yet.  After shooting the BP stuff.......... a quick field strip, spritz with Ballistol, and a couple of patches later and I'm good to go for shooting the remainder of my time with the smokeless cowboy rounds.

I'm curious if any of my comments about "pushing" my gun or about how after 20 rounds the gun felt "different" might ring any bell with you folks.

Regardless, trying the BP ammo has moved my "fun meter" off the charts.

All the best,
Assayer

[Dick Dastardly]

Welcome to the Darkside Assayer,

May your enjoyment bring you many years of fun and true shooting pleasure.  You are among a very welcoming crowd.

DD-DLoS

[Wolfgang]

WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE  . . . .  !  

I wus HOOKED after the first round I fired  

Black power residue mixed with petroleum based oils makes STICKY gooooo that wiill bind up a gun fast.  Is there stiill some petroleum based oil in you pistol ?  I found this out with my first pistol when I'd clean and oil it . . . it would be slick as snot . . . shoot 6 round thru it and could hardly turn the cylinder by the last round . . . . got the petroleum based oil out by through cleaning and then lubed with natural lube.  I was using "Farmer John Brand Lube" at first ( lard ) but that gets real messy in warm weather . . now I use a 50/50 mix of olive oil and toilet bowl wax.  Working good for me . . . and I clean with Weasil Piss.  

. I followed the good advise from those other "soot lords" here on the wire and gave "Wheesil Whiz" a try.   It works good.  But, . . . then Wheesils is slippery fast little devils and catching one was quite a chore.   I thought the worst was over when I had a firm grip on him, . . . . . but, . . holding him down while I pried his mouth open and got the funnel in wasn't any easier.   After the first two bottles of beer inserted into the upper end of his elementary canal he began to produce the desired product.  And by the third bottle things got much easier as he'd discovered that he like the stuff I was pouring into his gullet.  Now he can't get enough of it.  He turns up his nose at domestic beer and will only drink good imported stuff, . . . British and French are Ok with him but is preference is for German brews.  The end product is being pumped out at a great rate.  I have considered getting a bottling set up and marketing it . . . . but unfortunately the marketing of "cottage ( ie. garage ) produced products" on the SASS wire has been banned.  You'll just have to catch yur own Wheesil .  

If'n ya want to do it "easy way" with the artificial "Wheesil Whiz" ya just mix equal parts Murphy's Oil soap, Hydrogen Perozide, and rubbing alcohol, . . . works good, . . . just not quite as exotic as using genuine "Wheezil Whiz" . . .


\

Good shootin', . . the Holy Black . . . .  

[Springfield Slim]

The "real" easy way is to just dump some Murphy's Oil soap into some warm water and forget that other stuff. The water is getting the BP residue off and the Murphy's is to just eliminate some of the rust problems associated with water. Then lube with Break-free. Haven't had a gun tie up nor rust in 6 years.

[Dances With Coyotes]

I would suggest getting into reloading ASAP. Paying full price for factory loaded BP rounds is nuts. If you want volume get a progressive. I have a Dillon 550 that I love dearly but that might not be for you. I bought one of Dicks Big Lube boolit mold in 250gr for my .45 and  started casting. Dick is good people to deal with. You don't even have to cast, you can buy boolits from several places. Brass? Starline is great.

[pony express]

Th Goex loads aren't going to stress your gun any, they actually contain less powder than the origianal 1870's blackpowder loads. I think I read somewhere that the Army reduced the loads a bit from the origianal 40 grains, because of the recoil.

As for the binding up, it's easy enough to pull out the cylinder on an SAA and wipe it down. If you get into handloading, and use a bullet that holds plenty of BP friendly lube, you should be able to go a whole match with it. The hard wax lube on most commercial cast bullets is NOT BP friendly. I don't know what GOEX uses, I've only shot one box of it.(Bought a '66 at from a vendor at a match and wanted to use it, no chance to reload)

[Tequila Jim]

That gent named Springfield Slim, He sells them Big Lube bullets for BP shooting. Regards, TJ

[Blackpowder Burn]

Assayer,

You're not stressing your gun.  As other folks have said, they're slightly downloaded from original BP ammunition.  And your gun is made of steel that is much superior to that of the original Colts. 

I shoot a lot of Dick Dastardly's Big Lube bullet designs.  When lubed with a good BP lube I can shoot an entire 2-day match (12 stages) with no cleaning and the bores are very clean.  I can clean a revolver with 4 patches and a pull of the bore snake.  The only thing that might be necessary in the interim is a spritz of Moose Milk (a 10:1 dilution of Ballistol in water) to wash of the crud at the barrel/cylinder gap. 

I use Moose Milk for all my gun cleaning.  Works great, and when the water evaporates it leaves an oil film to prevent corrosion.

[Cemetery]

smokeless cowboy rounds.

Not to hijack this thread, but can someone tell me what he means by this?  Sounds like voodoo to me.....

[Drayton Calhoun]

WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE  . . . .  !  

I wus HOOKED after the first round I fired  

Black power residue mixed with petroleum based oils makes STICKY gooooo that wiill bind up a gun fast.  Is there stiill some petroleum based oil in you pistol ?  I found this out with my first pistol when I'd clean and oil it . . . it would be slick as snot . . . shoot 6 round thru it and could hardly turn the cylinder by the last round . . . . got the petroleum based oil out by through cleaning and then lubed with natural lube.  I was using "Farmer John Brand Lube" at first ( lard ) but that gets real messy in warm weather . . now I use a 50/50 mix of olive oil and toilet bowl wax.  Working good for me . . . and I clean with Weasil Piss.  

. I followed the good advise from those other "soot lords" here on the wire and gave "Wheesil Whiz" a try.   It works good.  But, . . . then Wheesils is slippery fast little devils and catching one was quite a chore.   I thought the worst was over when I had a firm grip on him, . . . . . but, . . holding him down while I pried his mouth open and got the funnel in wasn't any easier.   After the first two bottles of beer inserted into the upper end of his elementary canal he began to produce the desired product.  And by the third bottle things got much easier as he'd discovered that he like the stuff I was pouring into his gullet.  Now he can't get enough of it.  He turns up his nose at domestic beer and will only drink good imported stuff, . . . British and French are Ok with him but is preference is for German brews.  The end product is being pumped out at a great rate.  I have considered getting a bottling set up and marketing it . . . . but unfortunately the marketing of "cottage ( ie. garage ) produced products" on the SASS wire has been banned.  You'll just have to catch yur own Wheesil .  

If'n ya want to do it "easy way" with the artificial "Wheesil Whiz" ya just mix equal parts Murphy's Oil soap, Hydrogen Perozide, and rubbing alcohol, . . . works good, . . . just not quite as exotic as using genuine "Wheezil Whiz" . . .


\

Good shootin', . . the Holy Black . . . .  

Been using it for years both in caplock revolvers and front-stuffin rifles with nary a hitch.

[Wills Point Pete]

 As others have mentioned, you will not stress a Colt (or clone) made of modern steels with black powder or one of the subs. You feel more recoil because the Holy Black ejects about half it's weight as solids so you have that much more mass going downrange.

[litl rooster]

Not to hijack this thread, but can someone tell me what he means by this?  Sounds like voodoo to me.....

store bought