The u-tube video, using a breech koading shotgun for a muzzle loader made no sense. if you have primers and powder and shot,just simply reload the empty hulls. Wads are not hard to make and if you use an over shot wad you would not even need to crimp the hull.

I have a cold steel spear. If you do the math people have used spear for longer than firearms of anykind............

slippery slope .....Just saying

I want some of what hes smoking, Then i would think about useing one for HD.

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be kind and an honest and it will can back to you in many ways.

Isn't everybody? It is almost 100% legal 63% of the time!

I am a cap and ball shooter i shoot between 50 and a 100 balls a week. I have stored them loaded for up to six mouths and they have fired without hitch. From what i have seen at the range i feel very safe with a cap and baller or two or three. Men that depended on these guns carried as many as they could extra loaded cylinders too. Very few handguns you will ever point like a well tuned open top Colt. With a little practice and the right load ( most steel frame revolvers powder filled to a 1/8 inch of the top of the cylinder with FF or FFF black powder) and a ball you can learn point shoot these guns with no sights. You can tie, hold or remove the trigger on a SA revolver and shoot one as fast as you can thumb the hammer. People say all the time that is faster to remove a cylinder from a Remington than a Colt it is not true. After you break in a Colt you stone the wedge so that it can be pushed out with your thumb. Try it. Lead balls have more stopping power than lets say a 9mm. If you get hit in the arm with a 9mm it is going to go straight threw. You get hit with a lead ball it is going shatter bones you will most likely lose your arm. I have a SA 1911-A1 and Ruger GP100 4in that would be better but i would feel safe enough with a cap gun.
51

have another rip on that yellow submarine...

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a bp revolver or rifle wouldn't be my first choice for any kind of serious situation, but I do like the idea of it being yet another tool in the tool box that I actually know how to use, if neccessary.

I have been shooting BP cap and ball pistols sense 1960, Colt 44 Army, they are not the gun that you would take to a gun fight, but believe this, getting hit with a 44 caliber soft lead ball would produce one hell of a big hole and a lot of damage to a human. It would not be my first choice but it also would not be my last choice.

Lets agree to disagree. Check out this video The big splash.mov - YouTube he is just shooting round balls conical bullets penetrate even better.
51

I'm cool with that...
all I'm saying is this:
a .44 round ball is around 140 grain - and goes under 1000 fps
not counting the extra .11 diameter... that's around .38 special projectile values.

and my research indicates that a .44 cap and ball projectile is roughly the equivalent of a modern .38 special loading.

the .38 special can and will "get er' done" but it's nothing to write home about.
a .44 cap and ball revolver certainly can and will kill a man...
but so will a 115 grain +P 9mm JHP... and there are 15 more like it in the magazine

if a cap and ball pistol is all you have - by all means defend yourself with what you got...
but I'd hesitate to recommend such an outdated and cumbersome weapon system as a primary defensive arm - there are far better choices out there to fill that role.

I'd also say anyone who would consider a pistol of any type as a primary go to in a defensive situation is questionable. a center fire carbine or 12 gauge shotgun is a far better choice if you know that you are going into harm's way... of course this just one guy's opinion.

this being said my go to weapon at home is first and foremost my mini 14. I keep a few mags loaded with light grain, thin skinned, high velocity varmint rounds - which are less likely to leave the confines of my house than even my 115 grain 9mm loads. ( 45 grain .223 JHP turn into confetti when they hit 2 sheets of dry wall)

folks who live in an area where modern handguns and semi auto rifles are heavily regulated would be better served spending a few hundred clams on a good 12 gauge pump shotgun if they be shopping for home defense... again, one man's opinion, but I think it's a good one. (AFAIK - even the most restrictive states and communities in the US are Cool with a 12 gauge pump... even the most anti gun liberals can't shut down ducks unlimited and LL bean ) how convenient that one of the best HD weapons around is also a popular bird hunting gun and not likely to attract serious attention from the gun grabbers.

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Hi, I have a number of modern pistols. However, if all I had was one of my cap and ball pistols, I would not feel the least bit under-gunned. I have three Pietta 1858 Remington (~$200 ea purchase price) that have never failed to fire in shooting hundreds of rounds. The 1858 is as accurate as the best of my modern pistols. Ballistics equivalent to .45 ACP. None of my 1911s have been 100%, but the 1858 Remington's have been.

One of the nice things about the cap and ball revolver is that you can order it over the internet and have it in your hands in just a couple of days. No FFL or pistol permit required. A state like my Socialist Republic of NY requires that I only need to have a black powder pistol on my pistol permit if I have the caps and powder to make it fire. Most states don't have any restrictions. To own a few firearms that aren't in a government's registry may not be such a bad thing if SHTF occurs?

Regards,
Richard

yeah, it's under 1000 fps alright, like 150 fps under. :-) If you don't carefully seal the chamber mouths and around the primers, with superglue or something similar, the rate of misfires is high. YOu'd be stupid not to use modern, non corrosive primers and Hodgdon's Triple seven black powder substituted, too. So you don't have to clean it every time you fire it. even with that, you'd better have the balls greased, and grease the cylinder pin, or it's going to lock up in a very few shots. Those guns are big, heavy, and slow, and you'd have to have 2 of them to have any real potential. Also, they use a LOT of powder with each shot, and make no sense, really. An 11 oz Diammondback 9mm in a front pants pocket holster is the way to go. $300, in good used condition. Less than 6" long, 6 +1 rds, 100 gr CorBon Powerball ammo in it is 1300 fps and almost 400 ft lbs and it DOES expand well in flesh. Hit an armbone with it and it will do at LEAST as much damage as a .44 round lead ball.

Big brother won't CARE about the guns, cause they are going to lock up or kill all the gun OWNERES. Idiots "think" that they can just say' "i lost all my guns" and the Gestapo is just going away? SURE they are, morons. If you've ever joined the Nra or a gun club, or subcribed to a gun mag, or bought ANYTHING gun related with a check or a credit card, or let ANYONE know you are a gun man, all it will take is a $500 reward for turning you in, and your "friends" will line UP to rat you out.

Bought my first BP gun about 10 years ago, an inline, then 2 years ago a Ruger Old Army, since last spring 2 Walkers and a Navy 1851 36 caliber. Them suckers are like cracker jacks, you can't have just one. Along with my Ruger single six I just bought here is what I have ready to shoot in the morning if it doesn't snow again.



The Walkers are a little off yet. (one shoots right, the other shoots low), but a little filing and load changes is getting them pretty close to aiming point. The 36 caliber will be shot for the first time tomorrow. The Ruger old Army is as accurate at 25 yards as my Dan Wesson .357 magnum. The target shown below was my first time shooting the Ruger Old Army, to say I was surprised is an understatement.



Certainly not my first choice for an inhouse gun for defensive purposes, the smoke would make a 3rd shot pretty problematic especially with the Walkers but Wild Bill Hickok did his killing with a Navy 36 including one at 75 yards so a 44 should certainly ruin a boogermans day.