Why we love Black Powder??????

[LuckyDog]

The slower pace at a line shoot.
The fun and comradrie at a woods walk.

and the harkening back to the earlier days.

[newrib]

I shot repro civil war muskets mostly last year and what I love about shooting black powder is: The smoke, flame, the challenge, the load work up, not having to pick up and find the time to reload the brass (thats also why I like .22s so much), inexpensive to shoot, and muzzle loader rifles clean up real easy.

[mooman76]

I forgot to mention the comradery. Can't tell tall tails and storys at a regular rang with people shooting fast as they can but while loaing and shooting a ML you can and usually someone looses tract and dry balls which is always fun.

[Col4570]

Click on the Picture.

[FSR]

Nothing like setting off the old .58 caliber rifled musket at the range when the only other shooters are the "tacticool brigade."

[HangFireW8]

Click on the Picture.

I see a tiny thumbnail of what might be a bucket and a walker.

???????

[LuckyDog]

Oh good, that's what I saw too

[flyingmonkey35]

This is why I love black powder so much.
My father inlaw introduced it to me when I was dating my wife. / girlfriend back when I was a kid. 18ish.

He bought me my first rifle for a wedding present I still shoot it 20 years later

[Old Scribe]

I enjoy the slower pace of shooting a M/L. All my muzzleloaders are traditional and I enjoy shooting my custom Poor Boy flinter and double barrel 20 gauge. Nothin' can beat bringing home the meat with the knowledge that it took one well placed shot with a round ball.

[Fly]

Some great answers. A lot is around the history of it. I think that is my main love of the sport.
I love the smell of bp, & the sound. But casting my bullets & making my own black powder enhances
even more.

But keep the thread alive with your thoughts also.
Fly

[Rifle 57]

This is why I love black powder so much.
My father inlaw introduced it to me when I was dating my wife. / girlfriend back when I was a kid. 18ish.

He bought me my first rifle for a wedding present I still shoot it 20 years later

This is what it should all be about family and you have a nice one flyingmonkey

[flyingmonkey35]

Thanks

[Col4570]

HangFire W8,you should be getting a very short video of me trying out an own built flintlock Shotgun.

[Whiterabbit]

Slower shooting, fewer iterations and options of tuning to make things right. A design conducive and almost demanding of firing offhand rather than strapped to a bench. Strong preferences by shooters to use home cast projectiles, and expected excellent performance from such. The reality of making every shot count rather than knowing at a moment you can just jack another cartridge in there. knowing your gun must be capable of withstanding a beating and shoot great. Three parts (lock...stock....). about 5 moving parts. The aforementioned throwback to simpler times.

Why like it? My perspective is the reverse. I like it because there is a total lack of factors to NOT like.








I also like hearing the people on range next to me making jokes ("reload! reload!") after I shoot, and compare targets or watch them miss shot after shot as I make the steel ring.

[Whiterabbit]

It's also a great response to people with muzzle brakes.

[Sharpsman]

I've killed hundreds of whitetail bucks over these past 65 years along with quite a few mulie, sometimes hunting five different states in one year and frankly I've grown tired of using a center-fire rifle! And I don't shoot In-Line ML if that's what you're thinking! IMO....everybody using those things may as well just shoot their regular center-fire rifle because I've tested a few In-Lines and one in particular will do the job out to 400 yards! So....I'll be shooting a traditional ML from now on and using BLACKPOWDER!! It's the challenge and it's going to make me change my hunting tactics a bit but I know how to do that!

[Mumblypeg]

Because I always wanted to be a Mountain Man when I grow up !

[sharps4590]

Goodness...seems all the answers I have are posted. I'm pretty much a hide bound traditionalist so when using a muzzleloader it has to be correct to the period I am wanting to emulate or take an experience from. I want to KNOW how it was "back when". Obviously we can't duplicate the times of the Longhunters or Mountain Men or Pioneers but we can experience what using the firearms they used was like. As with others I've taken several heads of larger game and a pile of squirrels and rabbits with BP and muzzleloaders and there is what might be considered a smug satisfaction that came from those successes. It's history, it's sometimes a challenge, it's accurate, one is compelled to slow down, it can be simple and easy or make you pull out your hair, I love the rifles, fowlers and double guns of the time when BP was king. Most of what I use these days is flintlocks but do have a nice, very authentic looking Hawken I cannot nor will not part with. I would dearly love to find a 16 bore German double gun, ML in shooting condition I could afford. I believe that would complete my ML accumulation. I also have a very weak spot for BP cartridge rifles, drillings and combination guns.

[horseman308]

First, it's a sense of connection to my Dad. He actually isn't much of a ML shooter (though I did build him a Chambers York rifle), but as a boy he told me all kinds of stories about David Crockett, and we played all sorts of similar themes. As an adult he gave me my Tennessee Mountain counter that I took my first deer with while he and I hunted together. He is still living, but due to distance we don't get to shoot much together anymore, but shooting my rifle still makes it seem like he's there.

Also, everyone tells me I was born in the wrong century. I don't reenact, but I've always been intrigued by the tangible sense of history you get from old weapons. With ML, of course I love getting to handle all the pieces, like horns, patches, RB, patch knives, etc. Normally I even like cleaning them! Really, though, its that they seem to have "soul." Nice wood (especially with some tasteful carving), oil finished, mated well to fine steel. Any gun like that is way more appealing than any plastic AR or Glock. For me, it's something almost indescribable.

[Hickok]

I shoot Civil War era rifles and handguns. Goes back to family history.

I did re-enacting for some years and it was a pure joy.

Along with two .577/.58 caliber Enfields, I have a Pedersoli Sharps Berdan that has the breech block redone by Charlie Hahn. This rifle is amazingly accurate. The paper cartridges are fast and easy to load.

The C&B revolvers are my favorites. I have always said, when you master these revolvers, you can call yourself a shootist.

I was trying to get started in N-SSA shooting for the last 3 years. The people down in Winchester VA. treated me great. But my job/ lack of job of late has pretty well put this endeavor out of reach.

The N-SSA shooters are a fine group of people.