What can I say? It was fun! And we're still at it, too.
jn
The late Paul Parsons (noted cartridge collector from So. CA) had, many years ago, a LARGE supply of Frankford Arsenal Benet inside-primed .45-70s, enough to shoot with impunity. Hey, in those days, no one cared, there was ample to go around. Back to the point - even at 75 years old, he reported that about 90% of it fired perfectly normally.
Last edited by Dick Hosmer; 07-28-2016 at 10:48.
Once in awhile, someone around here will dig up a civil war cannon ball and the EOD from Camp Shelby will take it down there and detonate it. There was one relic collector in Biloxi a few years ago that blew himself up trying to demil civil war ordnance.
Phillip McGregor (OFC)
"I am neither a fire arms nor a ballistics expert, but I was a combat infantry officer in the Great War, and I absolutely know that the bullet from an infantry rifle has to be able to shoot through things." General Douglas MacArthur
For the record, I 'tested' the old black powder. It's fine!
Sorry for the video editing. It was for fun!
(Smokeless line of powder leading up to a little tissue ball of the old black powder)
Link to 14 second video--> https://vimeo.com/176676475
Last edited by Sportsdad60; 07-29-2016 at 07:06.
In the late 60's there was an old gent who was at the range every weekend. He always had several flintlock rifles. They looked like new, so I assumed he built them and was firing them prior to delivery to buyers. Ends up they were a collection passed down from his great grandfather. Most of the rifles had filled powder horns of their own, and he once mentioned that he didn't know anything about granulation of powder, just that he filled the horns from gunpowder casks that were handed down from generation to generation along with the gun collection.
He said he wasn't worried about the powder getting old, and speculated that it was easily pre civil war.
I had some black powder go bad years ago that I had stored in a powder horn. I believe it was Goex 2F powder and the last of my real-deal BP at that time(when the gooberment first made the real stuff hard to get)
Anyhow..despite everybody saying BP stays good forever...my powder must've absorbed some moisture in the powder horn. It was really weak after some time in the horn(maybe a year or so). The powder still looked ok..and would fire...but it was beyond feeble!
I've had various flavors of Pyrodex noticeably lose efficiency when stored in a brass flask. I about always empty my field powder flasks back into the factory container now. I suppose the moral of the story would be to keep your powder dry??
2016 Chicago Cubs. MLB Champions!
**Never quite as old as the other old farts**