Greenhorn Questions

Kennesaw Cowboy · July 14, 2004, 11:58 PM

Greetings from The Kennesaw Cowboy.A quople of questions for the seasoned shooters out there on Black Powder shooting.1:Regarding revolvers,I've read that with B.P.R. there is a tendency for the loading levers to drop during recoil & i'm wondering what the real story is( is this REALLY a problem to worry about)? Regarding rifles: What the heck is a Black Powder Cartridge? Thanks for the input.I look forward to picking your brains further in the future!

fal308 · July 15, 2004, 08:07 AM

While I'm not a Dark Lord I can answer your questions until one comes along. As to loading levers falling, I've not seen too many fall in approximately 10 years or so of CAS shooting. The ones I've seen fall seem more to be related to the quality of the firearm in question or the cleanliness of the firearm in question. It seems the cheaper guns that don't hold up to the rigors of CAS shooting are the ones mainly that drop levers, break springs etc. Powder residue can cause the lever to be forced open also, though that is unlikely.
As far as black powder cartridge, it's exactly what it sounds like. Shooting a cartridge loaded with black powder. So if you shoot a .45 levergun you buy or load black powder instead of whatever smokeless powder use would use.
NEVER LOAD BLACK POWDER USING SMOKELESS POWDER FORMULAS!!! Black powder is loaded completely differently than smokeless!! It's normally loaded by volume instead of weight (the way smokeless is loaded).
Good luck with your CAS shooting, It's great fun.

faraway · July 15, 2004, 10:58 AM

FAL 308 covered it all...but going to reply anyway, it's a slow day.
The loading lever dropping, does have much to do with the qaulity of the spring and catch at the end of the
lever. Sometimes, on percussion revolvers, it also has to do with very heavy loads. If you literally pack the chambers of a Dragoon, or Remington, to the max...sometimes the charges recoil enough to drop the rammer even on a qaulity gun. Hard on the pistol to be doing that type of thing, especially routinely.
Because it only has one main pivot, the Remingtons will be somewhat more prone to do this than the Colt's. The Colt's will tend to loosen the screws at the second pivot. Either way, if shooting heavy charges, watch the screws, they will loosen.
Not really a problem to worry about, on a good gun, and without overcharging. And anyway, the original weapons were usually fired with a slightly lesser charge than many use today, because these were often loaded with conicals. The pistol that really has this problem is the Walker, long cylinder-very heavy charges, and no effective catch on the rammer. In addition to blowing up (the original Colt Walker had some serious QC problems), that's why the original model was replaced by the Dragoon.
Usually on the Dragoon type revolvers, a powder charge just slightly less than a full cylinder seems to be the most accurate. Navies, Remingtons-due to the shorter cylinder, that doesn't seem to matter as much.

July 14, 2004, 11:58 PM	#1
Kennesaw Cowboy Junior Member Join Date: July 14, 2004 Posts: 2	Greenhorn Questions Greetings from The Kennesaw Cowboy.A quople of questions for the seasoned shooters out there on Black Powder shooting.1:Regarding revolvers,I've read that with B.P.R. there is a tendency for the loading levers to drop during recoil & i'm wondering what the real story is( is this REALLY a problem to worry about)? Regarding rifles: What the heck is a Black Powder Cartridge? Thanks for the input.I look forward to picking your brains further in the future!

July 15, 2004, 08:07 AM	#2
fal308 Staff Alumnus Join Date: October 12, 1998 Location: Missouri Posts: 1,992	While I'm not a Dark Lord I can answer your questions until one comes along. As to loading levers falling, I've not seen too many fall in approximately 10 years or so of CAS shooting. The ones I've seen fall seem more to be related to the quality of the firearm in question or the cleanliness of the firearm in question. It seems the cheaper guns that don't hold up to the rigors of CAS shooting are the ones mainly that drop levers, break springs etc. Powder residue can cause the lever to be forced open also, though that is unlikely. As far as black powder cartridge, it's exactly what it sounds like. Shooting a cartridge loaded with black powder. So if you shoot a .45 levergun you buy or load black powder instead of whatever smokeless powder use would use. NEVER LOAD BLACK POWDER USING SMOKELESS POWDER FORMULAS!!! Black powder is loaded completely differently than smokeless!! It's normally loaded by volume instead of weight (the way smokeless is loaded). Good luck with your CAS shooting, It's great fun.

July 15, 2004, 10:58 AM	#3
faraway Senior Member Join Date: September 21, 2001 Location: ne montana Posts: 437	FAL 308 covered it all...but going to reply anyway, it's a slow day. The loading lever dropping, does have much to do with the qaulity of the spring and catch at the end of the lever. Sometimes, on percussion revolvers, it also has to do with very heavy loads. If you literally pack the chambers of a Dragoon, or Remington, to the max...sometimes the charges recoil enough to drop the rammer even on a qaulity gun. Hard on the pistol to be doing that type of thing, especially routinely. Because it only has one main pivot, the Remingtons will be somewhat more prone to do this than the Colt's. The Colt's will tend to loosen the screws at the second pivot. Either way, if shooting heavy charges, watch the screws, they will loosen. Not really a problem to worry about, on a good gun, and without overcharging. And anyway, the original weapons were usually fired with a slightly lesser charge than many use today, because these were often loaded with conicals. The pistol that really has this problem is the Walker, long cylinder-very heavy charges, and no effective catch on the rammer. In addition to blowing up (the original Colt Walker had some serious QC problems), that's why the original model was replaced by the Dragoon. Usually on the Dragoon type revolvers, a powder charge just slightly less than a full cylinder seems to be the most accurate. Navies, Remingtons-due to the shorter cylinder, that doesn't seem to matter as much.