A Modern Black Powder Rifle Guide

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by Adobestock/gwimages

Learn about the modern black powder rifle, including a round ball selection guide, how to load a muzzleloader, shooting a black powder gun, and a shooting safety guide.

To many folks, the idea of shooting a black powder gun is–at first–a bit frightening. After all, the primitive explosive used (producing, upon detonation, clouds of smoke the likes of which you’ll never see when firing a contemporary cartridge) must actually be handled by the shooter, since it’s measured, and then poured directly down the barrel of the gun . . . a barrel which, if the weapon is one of the popular larger-bore muzzleloaders, looks almost big enough to accommodate a bantam’s egg! It’s understandable, then, that this collection of factors sometimes brings to mind images of accidental overcharges . . . of barrels peeled back banana-skin fashion . . . and of shoulder-breaking kicks.

However, when people first fire the old-timey rifles (or pistols), they’re generally surprised by the civility of the weapons. Black powder guns don’t kick back excessively. In fact, as a result of the slow-burning nature of the explosive (when compared to modern gunpowder), the firearm tends to shove, rather than slam against, your shoulder when it goes off. (By way of comparison, a relatively large .54-caliber muzzleloader–a rifle with a bore comparable to that of a 28-gauge shotgun–will be a lot easier on the shooter than would, say, the average modern 30.06 rifle.)

Of course, there’s a lot more to recommend today’s crop of the modern muzzleloader gun than their relative gentleness. For one thing, such guns provide an opportunity to experiment with the various components of the charge–amount of powder, kind of projectile, thickness of patch (if a ball is used), type of lubricant, and so on–and to learn, through such trial and error research, the full range of the gun’s capabilities. To duplicate that educational experience with a later style of gun, you’d have to have access to a good bit of reloading equipment and a whole passel of additional know-how.

  • Updated on Dec 7, 2022
  • Originally Published on Nov 1, 1982
Tagged with: ethical hunting, muzzleloader
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