Black Powder Charging - Ruger Old Army;

I had the 'Number One' Old Army on range again last week .. fun, fun.

Everyone seems to appreciate it's soft "BOOM" and smelly smoke screen - including a Harley rider first-time lady visitor.

I had some failures to fire - maybe caused by percussion caps not seated solidly? - and indeed also had one go 'crack-fizzle-nothing'. - Life must have been precarious back in those Frontier Indian fighting days eh.

 All went 'boom' nicely the second time around - Maybe I have been getting a wee bit over-confident and need to settle down and seat those caps more deliberately.

I've now used three different systems for charging the chambers with powder - and think that I'll settle for just scooping loose doses from a container on the firing line - making sure to seal the lid in place and remove the container from the firing position before capping and firing.

- Both using pre-weighed doses in small containers and building consumable paper cartridges work fine - but hardly seem to be worth the effort.

Black-Powder Clutter.

The messiest part of black powder revolver shooting is using grease to seal and lube the chambers after seating the balls. I seem to smear the grease around a bit and then - when fired it generously spreads itself further around the shooting bay (splat!) and down-range onto close-by targets.

I actually (almost) enjoy the cleaning and oiling chore after charcoal burning - I must be getting more tolerant with age - but you definitely need to make the soapy boil-up & scrub out the very first job to do BEFORE sitting down to relax!

I was also thinking that JBTFL might improve his first-strike capabilities on his .36" Uberti Navy by unscrewing his nipples a turn - or even by inserting some wee washers or shims under them?

Life is good,

Marty K.