maybe im spoiled

[bigted]

:hmm: the transformation is nearly complete im thinkin. had today off and decided to take the Pietta 61 for a stroll into the shooting pit close to the house but thought better of it and packed my ruger new model vaquero instead. the 45 was loaded with black powder and ball loads for plinking but with every shot I found myself kicking dirt with anger that I had brought the wrong revolver.

I can with my new '61' see the hit on the dirt bank ... couldn't with the ruger.

the awful task of dealing with the caps has turned into pleasure... not so with those awful cases.

the task of installing the Crisco is fun in the colt ... not so much in the ruger.

the fun and relaxation of re-charging the cylinder in the colt was replaced with the simple thumbing in the cartridges in the ruger.

the fine trigger and smoothed action of the colt [done by yours truly] was not there with the ruger.

cleaning it was a drudgery as opposed to the fun and care given my colt replica's.

all in all I still had some fun but the whole time I missed my cap-n-ball fun. the miss fires and trouble with an occasional misplaced fired cap was missed. I really am thinking im a total fruit case. there is no pomp and circumstance with these modern gunz. just plop in loaded cases and plop em back out when fired and repeat... how dull!!! :td:

there is just a handful of folks that have turned the corner on the modern stuff and turned their backs on those cartridge firearms. I am thinking im just bout there myself. where is the romance and fiddling that is spose to go with the shooting outing.

strange how things turn around on a fella. the little colt I been griping about is at least a real revolver and built to be like the originals and function the same. the '51's and '61's and '62's and the '60's are all in this to dissuade me from a lifetime of shooting and enjoying the modern revolvers. I thought I had turned the corner when my last black rifle went away but alas I see that the depravity is not done with me yet... :applause:

 

[dikman]

A rather nice piece of prose there, bigted :grin: .

Reminds me of something a salesman said to me some years back. I was getting back into motorcycling, having been bikeless for far to many years. I was looking at a nice Triumph Bonneville, but was a bit undecided, when the salesman (a guy with many years riding experience) said when it came to buying a bike, go with your heart, not your head.

I think the same can be applied to BP shooting. Modern weapons are beautifully engineered items, really require relatively little maintenance and in general shoot very well with a minimum of fuss. But they have no "soul".

BP guns, on the other hand, are smelly, messy and can take ages to get them shooting with any semblance of consistency. They really require constant care and attention, but also have an elegance about them that is lacking in modern firearms. They also have character, and, dare I say it, "soul". There is something about them that tugs at the heart, as you have obviously found, bigted, when you lamented leaving the C & B behind.

Anyone can shoot a modern gun, but I reckon it takes a special sort of person to get into "the holy black", as I've seen it referred to.

It's magical stuff.

 

[M. De Land]

I don't really understand that line of thinking personally I have both and like em all equally.
When heading out on our annual float trip for instance, cutting wood at the cabin in Willow or fishing some river I share with the moose and bears (black and brown) I much prefer a stainless short barreled muscle revolver to any of the beloved cap-n-baller's I own.
The latter is almost useless in these cases. It would be sort of like taking a knife to a gun fight and expect to walk away. MD

 

[Billnpatti]

I read, with great interest, your thoughts on the merits of a cap and ball revolver. :v As I read, I kept thinking "But this guy lives in Alaska where there are big furry things that can bite, scratch and do other undesirable things to the unprepared adventurer." I thought how much I agreed with you about the fun of shooting a cap and ball revolver. Yet how much good would one be against a bear? Then I read down and saw what M.D. had to say and I thought "Bingo!" His comments hit the nail on the head. :thumbsup: Cap and ball for fun but keep a .454 Casull or a .500 S&W magnum on your hip.......just in case. After all, you do live in Alaska. :hatsoff:

 

[theoldredneck]

Over the years I played with black powder guns a few times. Usually after shooting and cleaning whatever the nasty black stuff had been burned in I was through with it for a few more years. Then I found a Damascus barrel double and shot it with the wonderful make believe black powder. . Something about that old gun captured my attention. It now has company with a rifle in .32 caliber one of the new inlines in 50 caliber and a couple of smooth bore single shot handguns I built. The old double still keeps my attention. Something a world of other shotguns, rifles, and handguns even in wildcats have never been able to do for this long. This gun doesn't mind if I shoot something else it just patiently waits to catch my eye. I have to pick it up, shoulder it towards an imaginary quail.. Nuf said it is working on adding a cap and ball revolver to the black powder guns.

 

[bigted]

:surrender: ... ill be like Tom Sellic and just say ... didn't say I didn't know how to use em ... just don't care for em!

I have a Smith model 629 4" that acompany's me everywhere I go in the outdoors. it is never far from handy but it is far from pleasurable to shoot. I load 300 flat points in it and it is no fun BUT ... it give me confidence when I need that.

just sayin that my fun factor is tripped well above when im shooting something that I load in the field with the beloved 'black powder'. I much prefer the "heart" and "soul" as has been mentioned with the cap n ball guns I play with but im not igerent of the wild fury things that go bump in the night ... up here they hurt ya bad ... :shocked2: ... ... :thumbsup:

thanks for the concern and I prefer friends that will throw an idea out at me if they see an error in my thinking. other acquaintances will just walk away and not give a crude about the personal touch a friend would have ... thankyou very kindly! ... :hatsoff:

 

[M. De Land]

That's precisely the short muscle gun I use in the brush with Keith loads.
I shoot my cap-n-ballers quite a bit in the winter at the Palmer indoor range or at least I did before gas got to 4 bucks a gallon.
I got to get out and try these new wads I just made in all four of the cap guns. Sure would like to get away from the Crisco facials I keep getting when shooting up wind. Mike D.

 

[dikman]

You chaps make very good points about the practicality of using modern guns in preference when faced with nasty bitey things that want to eat you. No argument from me there, as I wasn't considering that scenario (probably because down here it's illegal to hunt with a handgun - or even to use it outside of a club).

My perspective is quite different, as unlike most of you up until a few months ago I'd never shot a handgun. When I toddled along to a club, to see what it was all about, the members were very good and over the next few months let me try several different handguns, including autos. They were nice enough to shoot, but I found I like revolvers, for some reason, particularly BP. I guess it's a bit like when I look at an anvil, I don't see just a lump of metal I see history (and pulling a piece of glowing metal out of the fire and hammering it is a feeling I can't really explain).

Pulling that single-action hammer back, lifting it to the target (and trying to stop it wobbling around!) and then the Boom!, sparks and smoke is strangely satisfying, compared to the crack of the autos nearby.

I've no doubt that at some point in the future I will buy an auto of some sort, if only so that I've got one, but they just don't stir that same feeling in me as a BP gun.

I must be getting maudlin' in my old age.....

 

[M. De Land]

Naaah, I know what you mean, I set here every night after work at the puter and right next to me is the 62 Colt Uberti I just like to handle and look at. Got a bunch of moderns but don't spend much time just handling them like I do these cap-n-ballers but when I head out to the brush it's either my 629 four inch Smith in .44 Mag or a Ruger 5.5 inch Bisley in .45 Colt.
Either will kill any moose or bear in Alaska if I do my part but even my rather powerful.54 horse pistol would be anemic in a mix up with either,let alone having only one shot. Mike D.

 

[CaptainKirk]

What was said about modern magnums makes sense....I carry by .44 mag on my hip in the bear woods. But at the range, I prefer to shoot my BP revolvers, and have not brought a CF firearm in decent outdoor weather in a few years now. I save them for snowy winter days. Ted, you have "become one", as we like to say in the BP world.

 

[Heelerau]

Bigted, as soon as I could I have been shooting blackpowder guns since about the age of 11. Quite frankly these brass manglers are just a passing fad and will never catch on. Black powder seems to add a lot of colour to peoples otherwise dull and uninteresting lives. Nothing more pleasurable than giving your family a feed from something you have shot with a ball you have cast , from a rifle you may have even made yourself. from powder you may have even made.


Cheers

Heelerau

Ps gas is about $4 bucks a quart down under !!

 

[rodwha]

"gas is about $4 bucks a quart down under !!"

Good grief! Time for a mule!