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The most accurate load was the 35 gr. 3f Swiss, though there was little difference between loads. Those numbers I just forgot to delete when I copied and pasted. That gun has never been really accurate, about 3"-4" at 25 yards from a rest, and always right and low with round balls. The higher...

Volume. I very rarely weigh black powder, or any of it's substitutes. I usually just use a spout on the flask. Surprisingly, when using spouts on flask, and i have actually weighed the charge, they measured consistently within a tenth of a grain or rarely two. That is overkill with black...

Meant to put this in original post, but that 200 grain conical bullet @975 fps gets 422 ft./lbs of energy. That is only using a 25 grain (volume) charge. That has been a good deer load for years, I get pass thrus with it. Don't want anymore out of a cap and ball revolver, and I even use that...

1858 rem. 8" chrono if anyone cares. Factory stock pietta 8" .44 .454 rb, CCI #11 caps, crisco over ball Zero malfunctions or cap jams. accuracy about the same for all loads, 3" groups at 25 yards. All rb groups low (3-5", lower the higher the fps) and 2" right. Conical load zero elev. 2"...

I have a few of each, in both flint and percussion, and like them all. The Frontier Rifles have a browned barrel, as a previous response stated. The Blue Ridge rifles, made mostly for Cabela's, are "blued", but not in the traditional sense. It is more of a textured finish. Otherwise the...

I started my flint journey with a Pedersoli Frontier many years ago when they could be purchased new for about $280. I replaced the front sight (5$) and the factory dowel rod rammer it came with, to a real hickory ramrod ($15). I stripped of the plastic looking finish, and re-finished it with...

I am very pleased with my factory stock Pietta 1860 Army. Very reliable, and amazingly accurate. It will put 6 round balls under a 50 cent piece at 25 yards (benched, I'm not that good!) and very near the point of aim, about an inch high and to the right. Killed several deer with it, legal...

Hey there MountainSmoke, here are a couple of more pics of my Colt Musket out in the woods. Just kind of cool, too me, to use a rifle that 160 years ago could have been at Shiloh, Bull Run, Antietam, Chancellorsville, or any other number of battles. I realize, of course, it may have been in a...

I have a bunch of both in various designs and calibers. Uberti's are better finished, especially going back a few decades, but Pietta has narrowed the gap. Mechanically, surprisingly enough, the Pietta's have always been better in my experience. Just seems like my Uberti's always have some...

My original 1861 Colt Special Musket (mfg. 1862) has been my deer rifle for many years. I use the standard 60 grain load (volume) of 3fg, or the equivalent of Pyrodex P or Triple 7. Bullet is a traditional Minie of 510 grains, sized to .580, that I purchase from a fella named Pat Kaboskey, aka...

Only one handgun to depend upon? It would have to be a Remington New Model Army .44, and it isn't even a hard decision. Saying that, I like shooting Colts better. The aesthetics and the handling of the Colts is more appealing to me, and my favorite gun is a 51 Navy in .36. But if I lived in...

My 1851 .36 Navy is my favorite revolver, and I have a lot of cap and ball revolvers. If I'm just target shooting, it gets the nod 90% of the time. For deer or varmint shooting (legal where I live) I use a .44. I have a "fake" 1851 in .44, and it is a great shooter, I just prefer the lower...

My Pedersoli flintlocks work just fine. I have one (Frontier Rifle) that originally was percussion, and converted it to flint using a replacement lock from TOW. The replacement lock works fine, but no better than the original factory locks on my other guns.

I wouldn't buy anything from Midway, they are a horrible company to deal with, and practice out-right thievery. A while back, I purchased a Uberti 1862 police with a 5.5" barrel from them. The gun arrived all covered in rust, a locked in place cylinder, and a corroded barrel. Obviously had...

I did the opposite with my original 1861 Springfield musket. Powder, Minie Ball, then another load of powder and Minie Ball. I was talking to a guy who was interested in my gun, and I was showing him how to load. Fortunately I noticed that my ramrod was sticking out further than normal. I...

Really, any powder you use will be fine, and if you can seat the ball, your load is safe. Not necessarily accurate, but using any black powder or black powder substitute it is nearly impossible to overload unless you are just intentionally trying to blow your gun up. This includes Triple 7...

I killed a lot of small game with a .54 Investarms Hawken back in my ignorant days before the internet. Around 30 grains of whatever powder, usually Pyrodex P, and a PRB (using old t-shirts smeared with Crisco as a patch) did the trick. I imagine a .50 loaded similarly would do just fine for...

I've been shooting CVA/Traditions guns since 1979, that is 43 years and many thousands of rounds, never had a malfunction of any kind. I've even let a lot of kids use my guns for deer and small game hunting. Lots of game taken, including doves, turkey, squirrels, rabbits, quail, deer,, etc. but...

I have a Traditions Deer Hunter in .50 cal. Real handy in a tree or stalking through heavy brush. I have killed 9 bucks with 9 shots from 20 to 120 yards. It shoots both PRB's and conicals (Buffalo Ball-et or Hornady's version) into one ragged hole at 50 yards, and the same point of impact...

Many years ago, while working towards my degree in Political Science and Western History, I spent much time reading books (long before the internet was even thought of) in a large research library. I distinctly remember the first hand account of a Union officer saying that if a reload was...