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Tennessee Hoss
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If you poke around on local club websites, you may have already seen this. This is an article I wrote for the Tenessee Mountain Marauder newsletter years and years ago.
I thought it was ironic that now, I'm getting back into making soot, and I found this article again. In here I try to shame all those cowpokes that talk about authentic this and that into shooting authentic powder. All in good fun, but real cowboys guns smoked when they shot them. If you haven't seen it - here's my old story about being authentic. (With a liberal dose of licence relative to Old Armies, Subsitute powders etc. Actually I'm not very authentic at all, but my guns are going to start smoking never the less)
Why Not Shoot Black Powder?
By Tennessee Hoss SASS Life Member #20338
Normally, it is disturbing to SASS shooters. There we are watching a great western movie, even the new ones where authenticity is getting better and better when you spot a cowboy using a handgun that wasn’t invented yet for the time period, or my pet peeve, a Henry rifle with a King’s loading gate on the side of it. Don’t you just cringe when the actor whips out a Colt SAA and fires that revolver double action – or it goes bang without the hammer ever coming back. Hollywood good golly wood!
As SASS Shooters, most of us strive for some reasonable balance between being authentic and being a fearsome competitor. You see the top shooters at the SASS ranges using open top conversions or older style Remington’s, and you know they would probably be faster with more modern guns, but the big grin on their face tells you that at least for now the pendulum of authenticity vs. competition has swung to the authentic and possibly more fun side.
So why then when even the movies and the old “B” westerns getting the black powder type propellant correctly that so few of us shoot in Black Powder class. You see it with Hoppy, Roy, Gene as well as current Tom Selleck characters. That big cloud of white smoke that rolls down range like the sounding of a whale. The distinctive “whoosh” sound of the black powder rounds is in the movie sound tracks now – but at our local match last month we fielded 62 shooters only two poor souls are in the black powder class.
Why worry about the print on our bandana, the type of pistols you carry, the make and model of the rifle, or the hammers on our shotgun. We shop for that perfect hat or that Wah-Maker shirt that costs as much as a shotgun shell reloader and completely ignore the area of black powder propellant. Heads Up Pards, Real Cowboys shot black powder. Seriously, I would like to encourage you to try black powder shooting. Let’s tear down some of the myths about black powder shooting.
Myth Number One: If I shoot black powder I will have to do dangerous reloading.
False: With all the emphasis on SASS shooting these days there are companies that offer black powder ammunition in a variety of calibers and gauges. Certainly if you shoot .45 Colt or .44-40 and 12 gauge scattergun you can purchase black powder rounds ready to hit the range with. Admittedly, hand loaded commercial black powder ain’t all that cheap and that brings us back to reloading. If you are shooting at all seriously at SASS matches you will eventually be headed toward reloading anyway. Once you are reloading anyway why not shift to reloading black powder.
Myth Number Two: Reloading Black Powder cartridges is a dark and evil art understood by only a few and fraught with danger.
False: The dangerous part is only partly true. It is true that black powder is an explosive. Smokeless powders are accelerants. If you ignite black powder it will explode and black powder does ignite at lower temperatures than smokeless powers. Luckily for us SASS has defined “black powder’ as black powder or acceptable substitute. There are lots of safer black powder substitutes around. Pyrodex, ClearShot, Cleanshot, and the new Hogden 777. The substitutes for the most part can be handled and shipped the same as smokeless powder. They ignite at higher temperatures than black powder but not as high as smokeless powder.
Myth Number Three: It is really hard to determine the charge and weights of powders for black powder rounds.
False: With black powder loading there are two rules.
1: The case must be full leaving no air space.
2: The bullet should be seated so that it holds the black powder under slight compression.
[ 8-17-07: Hogden advises that 777 should not be under compresson, nor should it have air space in a cartridge. When pressed about this being technically impossible, the Hogden representative said "Let's say you want as little compression as possible". Ask if a small unavoidable air space would be dangerous he said No. ]
Authentic black powder loading is simply to fill the primed case up to the point so that when the bullet is seated it holds the powder in slight compression. This compression is perhaps 1/16 or 1/8 inch or so. Have you immediately noticed that it is impossible to double charge (and thereby explode your handgun or rifle) a black powder load. If you immediately realized that you can’t double charge a black powder load collect 10 points and move to the head of the class. Which brings up the subject of reduced power black powder loads.
If the case must be full – and it must; and a full house black powder .45 Colt kicks like a small mule – what’s a competitive shooter to do. Well, pard you fill the case up with something besides powder. Many shooters use cream of wheat or malt-o-meal or some other kind of light weight compressible material to top off the cases with smaller loads of black powder or black powder substitutes. Recently some of us have started using caulk backer rod over the powder and under the bullet – it works great.
[ 8-17-07: Although lots of SASS shooters used cream of wheat, and calk backer rod for "fillers" in black powder cartridges further investigation of these loads by folks that should know what they are talking about shows that over time the filler may harden, and act as a type of "plug" which could, and does, raise the pressure of the fired round to unacceptable levels. So all powder manufacturers, and this writer, no longer recommend using any type of filler in a black powder load. If you want to shoot lower power black powder loads, use smaller caliber ammunition, or get serious about it and switch to percussion revolvers which may be loaded down, as that was how they were designed.)
You should be able to use your regular reloading procedures and equipment when you load a black powder substitute. Because of legal and liability issues everyone, including me right now, will warn you to obtain reloading manuals and follow the instructions in those manuals. Several black powder reloading manuals are in publication. The Cowboy Chronicle recently ran an article about the details of using caulk backer rod.
The MEC brand of shotshell loader is very inexpensive and will load a lot more shotshells than you can shoot in a short period of time. Darr’s Shooting Supply recently had a nice used one sitting on the floor. I have started roll crimping shotgun rounds so I don’t need my MEC any more. Simply follow your reloading manual and charge those shells with black powder substitute.
[8-17-07: Actually now, I am entering into the all brass world of brass shotshells. MEC has special decapper punches and large pistol primer pocket adaptors that allow you to load all brass shotshell rounds with large pistol primers right on your MEC press. My large pistol primer conversion kit is on the way as we speak, from MEC]
Hey it’s not hard to reload for black powder class and we welcome you to join the few - the proud - - and the nasty of us at the range. There are several local guys including myself and T-Bone who can help you with black powder reloading information and tips. Come join us and be an authentic black powder blasting cowpoke at the next match.
Tennessee Hoss
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