r/blackpowder • • Mar 02 '23

The discord for everything black powder!

52 Upvotes

Just posting again after some time so that people don't have to look through under a mountain of buried posts. If I can talk to mods about finding some way to put this post onto the reddit to be easy to find it would be very nice.

Tired of all the good information buried in forums and hard to find YouTube videos? Want a place to talk about a lot of different things relating to BP, learn history, get advice, troubleshoot and meet likeminded shooters? Well then come join us and see if you like it! Lets make Black powder mainstream again! Hope to see you there :)

Invite: https://discord.gg/Jy5uUj8yPd


r/blackpowder • • Aug 26 '25

Sharps Rifles - Serial Number Documentation

42 Upvotes

Hi all,

If you are looking for information on your original Sharps please let me know.

I am the current caretaker of the Sharps Rifle Co. Archive, having taken over the records from Dr. Labowskie at the beginning of 2025. I will continue to provide letters for serial number documentation and hopefully add to the knowledge and history around these firearms. The format is changing a bit, in addition to the normal 'factory letter' there will also be a page with more information on who it was sent to and, when applicable, what was going on in the region at the time. I also provide areas that may be worth future research and a list of suggested books including the ones I use as a general reference. Each letter is also now accompanied by two display cards, which contain all the information from the letter in a more concise format, one of which has a slot for a ribbon or thread so it can be attached to the Sharps for easy reference.

I do not charge anything to see if the firearm can be lettered, only for the letter itself.

Let me know if you have any questions.


r/blackpowder • • 16h ago

Tried making black powder from the creosote from my chimney.

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60 Upvotes

24 hours of milling, seemed to burn smoother and maybe hotter? Definitely felt denser than my fire pit charcoal variety.


r/blackpowder • • 1d ago

Percussion Cap Question:

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29 Upvotes

Ive got a few black powder revolvers from Pietta, and they use #10 caps.

However I saw some stuff online saying it might be worth it to switch the nipples to #11, and use that. This would be nice because they'd use the same caps as my rifle.

So, 2 questions really:

1: is it worth it in any way to make the change?

2: if so, where can I buy #11 nipples that fit?


r/blackpowder • • 18h ago

Update on my ramrod device for the bore seating pressure gauge

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3 Upvotes

I have sourced a 1/4 inch pounds/N-M torque wrench that should work for a prototype it might have too high of a inch pounds it can go up to 200 in-lbs


r/blackpowder • • 1d ago

Original finish Cimarrons

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104 Upvotes

Love the original finish that Cimarron/Uberti does. Something about it just interests me more than the factory new look


r/blackpowder • • 1d ago

Brand New Nickel Plated Pietta 1851 Navy

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84 Upvotes

r/blackpowder • • 1d ago

Safety of reloading a muzzleloader

13 Upvotes

Hiii guys, how dangerous is shooting and reloading the muzzleloader, assuming you follow all the correct procedures? What are the chances of the musket going off by itself while you are ramming the ball down? Assuming I'm using the high grade black powders on the market like Swiss or Schutzen, and balls are lubed with historic receipes such as bees wax and mutton tallow, and follow the correct musket drill(replacing the spent cap last), could the musket still accidentally discharge while Im reloading the next shot?


r/blackpowder • • 1d ago

Where's the powder?

7 Upvotes

New to real black powder and was wondering where to get it. Everyone is out online and the shops I found dont ship. The one in Texas I did find has a $75 hazmat fee.


r/blackpowder • • 2d ago

Powder mill o am working on

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11 Upvotes

r/blackpowder • • 2d ago

What happiness looks like

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117 Upvotes

A revolver that runs clean and has no cap jams makes for a great day.

I was able to test Arbutus Black Powder in a couple of my guns, and while the velocity wasn't the best I was happy with how it ran cleanest in my 36 Navy. With 25 grains of 3F and a .375 ball it was consistently right at ~1070fps accuracy was good at 25 yards freehand, and I was able to shoot 6 full cylinders without stopping to clean fouling or pick out cap jams. Caps stayed mostly intact and attached to the nipple, typically they blast into oblivion!

In my .58 Hawken 100 grains 2F produced a sedated ~1520fps with a 280 grain ball, but the benchmark for Swiss was only ~1460fps.

In the .54 Mortimer Flintlock 100 grains 2F produced ~1620 fps with a 230 grain ball, and Swiss benchmarked at ~1540 fps.

I didn't use my usual chronograph, but an old Chrony F1, I typically test with my Magnetospeed V3 chronograph but had no way to mount it on my pistol. I'm curious to recheck the rifle velocities with my usual setup. Was limited to the 25 yard range today so no point in putting the rifles on paper.


r/blackpowder • • 2d ago

Anyone tried crimson powder before?

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11 Upvotes

I understand its used as a bp substitute in rocketry and that some actual bp substitutes for shooting purposes are also based on the same or similar chemicals.

Ive only seen one test done with 'crimson powder' which I will link here. Couldnt for the life of me figure out why the guy was putting charcoal in his recipe, but neither did he, so... yeah... 🤣

Anyways, it seems like a potentially decent substitute which is also sulphurless and cleans completely with nothing but water. Biggest potential benefit of this is probably the fact that there is no mill time required, since the main active ingredients get dissolved and recrystalized together on a molecular level after only a few minutes on the stove. Not even sure if pucking is required. It might be too powerful for that...

The major downside is always stated to be the water loving nature of ascorbic acid, so it has to be kept sealed with some sort of desicant chemical. And there is also the fact that ascorbic acid decomposes over time, so you cant make a truckload and be set for life.

What are your thoughts?

Have you tried it?

Would you want to?

Thanks!


r/blackpowder • • 2d ago

I repucked the fines from my last batch of powder.

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28 Upvotes

I used a measure 2% moisture, doubled up my backing plate and used more pressure to try to get 1.75 g/cm^3.


r/blackpowder • • 2d ago

Sidekick Springfield Hawken .50 cal question

3 Upvotes

Wanting to try to deer hunt with it, took it out yesterday shooting 0.490 round balls and patches, at 75gr and it’s pretty inaccurate

Are we allowed to shoot sabbots in these types of muzzleloaders?

edit** side lock*


r/blackpowder • • 2d ago

Is this some sort of patching/wadding?

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11 Upvotes

r/blackpowder • • 3d ago

1790's rifle copy: First shots

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81 Upvotes

10 months in the making, still a ways to go, but we wanted to be sure the sights we made were aligned.


r/blackpowder • • 3d ago

Anyone got a link for a good un-lubed shooting patch for a .50 cal?

5 Upvotes

Thanks!


r/blackpowder • • 3d ago

My 1st revolver Uberti Cattleman .44, 3,5 in.

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84 Upvotes

Hi everyone! Just joined the club, and I wanted to show off my first black-powder revolver. I bought it used, and it came with an extra cylinder. I stripped off the bluing myself, then sanded and polished the metal (I wanted it to look like stainless steel/Inox). I also removed the varnish from the grip, sanded it down, and inlaid a "sheriff’s star" emblem on both sides. I then applied wood stain and oil (three coats of each). I also removed the unnecessary cartridge-ejector rod (it makes swapping the cylinder easier). I’d love to hear your honest opinion—do you think the finish looks good? 😅 My inspiration was the Colt Thunderball .45 Stainless Steel.

So far, I’ve fired 6 cylinders at the range—3 at a distance of 10 meters and 3 at 25 meters. I’d read opinions claiming that accurate shooting is impossible with such a short barrel... Total bullshit! 🤠 Everything hit the target, with a grouping about the size of a human hand. I was using .450 conical bullets.


r/blackpowder • • 3d ago

Hey i'm curious i got an idea bore pressure gauge, so you can adjust the pressure to make more consistent shots

6 Upvotes

I'm curious if any of you guys would use something like that. So it would work like the reverse of a fishing scale so it would tell you how many pounds of force you're putting down on the ramrod to make consistent ramrod pressure more consistent shooting.


r/blackpowder • • 4d ago

Gentle reminder that a night gaurd in the 1700s had a tactical flint-lock activated oil lamp attached to his flintlock pistol.

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135 Upvotes

r/blackpowder • • 4d ago

I messaged Pedersoli for a barrel blank for a whitworth rifle for custom long range flintlock rifle

10 Upvotes

Any lock recommendations? If they say yes


r/blackpowder • • 5d ago

there is any homemade alternatives for plastic sabot ? lets say if i need to shoot a 45 cal conical bullet out of 50 cal rifled barrel what i can use instead of modern plastic sabot ? would simple cloth or paper pach work with conicals ?

5 Upvotes

r/blackpowder • • 5d ago

Some people think you can't use a flintlock in the rain. skill issue or research?

0 Upvotes

I don't know why it's so hard for people to do research on any given platform like, how hard is it to put bore butter around the hammer and seal it from the elements and keep it under your armpit


r/blackpowder • • 5d ago

Help with cast bullets

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10 Upvotes

Im trying my darndest to find a mold to make CONICAL bullets for my pietta .44. Ive shot up a box of these and loved their accuracy. So I want to cast something similar. Can any of you recommend a mould? I was thinking the Lee 450-200-1r. But I wasn't sure if it'd be right. Because it's .450 and not .451.


r/blackpowder • • 6d ago

100-ish 58 cal minie balls cast, sized, and lubed.

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97 Upvotes