Which rifle for BP?

[Coffinmaker]

  HoKay Deacon 

Based on some of yer own comments, electing 45 Colt would be a mistake.  The larger straight walled pistol cartridges WILL NOT obturate (expand) to seal the chamber under normal circumstances.  You WILL get Blow-By and it can get nasty.  With 45 Colt, especially Uberti with their "generous" chambers, you only have two choices for true happiness.  First up, Anneal your cases.  You said you don't want or intend to do that so go ahead and shoot yerself inna foot.  Next up is to fire form 44-40 cases to 45 Colt.  The thinner case mouth of the 44-40 case will seal the chamber nicely.  The cases will look some wonky at first firing but don't worry about that.  You do have to run a 45 expander die CAREFULLY thru the 44-40 case.

As an aside:  there are those who recommend a real BIG bullet and a real HEAVY load to fix the Blow-By of the 45 Colt.  Hog Wash.  That practice may mitigate it a bit but won't do anything but waste lead and powder and still leave ya with Blow-By.  Annealing and 44-40 cases are the only two effective solutions.

Next up is .38.  I'm not gonna say anything.  Just scroll back up and re-read MAKO's stuff.  Says it all and more eloquently than I.  Just pay attention to cartridge OAL in ANY '92.  And . . Get Steve Young's DVD and spring kit for the '92.

[Griff]

Who are the newbies and what are the new ideas?

~Mako

All y'all,,, and chemicals... although plastic bags can be right handy when it's rainin'!

[Mako]

All y'all,,, and chemicals... although plastic bags can be right handy when it's rainin'!

• I don't know...I'll bet several of us are older and have been shooting BP longer than you have.  There are some pretty old codgers on this forum...
  
• The first handgun I ever fired was an original 1860 manufactured in 1861 (family gun).  I have fond memories of that.  I had just finished the 2nd grade, we cast balls for it in the back yard over a "camp fire", used a can of who knows how old Dupont FFFg powder (i still have the can and some of the powder) only the caps were new. The old caps we had wouldn't fire, we had to go to the hardware store to get some new caps.
• I was hunting with a '73 in 44 WCF manufactured in 1886 (family gun) when I was 17 (I remember because I killed a deer with it that year).   The second handgun I ever fired is a SAA in .45 Colt manufactured in 1896 (I was 10).
• I still have all of those guns along with four family model 94s (Pre-war 20" saddle Ring carbines made in the '20s except for mine which was made in the '50s)  stamped 30 WCF (mine is the only one that is marked .30-30)
• I only shot vintage and antique guns until I was in college.  I only shot a pump shotgun or automatic a few times on the ranch (ranch guns, not mine), I have the original 30" double barreled cheap Belgian shotgun every hardware store sold that belonged to my great grandfather, and I shot that until I was 18 and bought myself a Rem 870.  I'm not boasting but, when were your revolvers and rifle manufactured and when did you start shooting them?  Who are you call'n a Newbie?

And what chemicals are you talking about?  Are you talking about Ballistol, or water?

Just phun'n you...

~Mako

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[Abilene]

Deacon, I am going to weigh in on your rifle choice, as I had a similar choice once.  My 1st CAS rifle was a Winchester '94 Trapper in .45.  What a horrible gun for this game.  Maybe better than a Big Boy?  But at the time, it was the worst.  Due to the design and the 9 round limit.  So my next gun was a Navy Arms stainless '92 in .45.  Stainless because I wanted to start shooting BP and thought you needed stainless (right now, I own zero stainless guns).  It was a huge step up from the '94, even though the action wasn't real smooth even after some work.  I did shoot BP in that one for a year or so, but then I got my 1st toggle rifle, a 44 Spcl 1866.  That was a straight wall case also, really no better for BP than the .45, but the action made it so much nicer to shoot that I never shot the '92 anymore and sold it whenever I got a '73 in .45.  Yes, the '66 needed more cleaning after shooting BP than a dash caliber, but it always made it through the matches, just needing a spritz of moose-milk or plain water when the carrier would get sticky.  This would usually be right after I finished a stage, never in the middle of a stage.  That '66 never had a short stroke, but I did the "poor man's" action job on it and it is quite smooth.  My concerns back then were not the functioning of the rifle, but that the bullets would have enough lube since I was relubing smokeless bullets with their tiny lube groove. Sometimes I would need to give the bore a swab mid-match.  BP subs would eliminate that, though.

So, I'm going to say go with the '66 in your choice, simply because it is more pleasant to shoot than a '92 IMO.  The fact that it will get dirty and need cleaning is just part of the game.  Most of my BP main match shooting now is .38's in a '73, even though I do have a '92 in 32-20 which needs less cleaning.

[Sedalia Dave]

All y'all,,, and chemicals... although plastic bags can be right handy when it's rainin'!