Beginnings

[Captainkirk]

"A journey of 100 miles begins with the first step"- ancient Chinese proverb

How did you begin your black powder journey? We want to hear the whole gory story, from first inkling of thought to where you are now. Spare no details, leave no stone un-turned. Was there a particular TV show or movie that first intrigued you? A friend introducing you to his BP gun or a hunting trip, etc where you got exposed to the BP virus?
I know there have been various threads over the years that have tossed this around, but I'd like this to become the 'official' Beginnings thread; it will become a 'sticky' so all can find it in the future. Include any and all pertinent photographs, people, and experiences that brought you here to CC. We all come from a wide variety of places and situations, none the same, so please share your story with other CC members!

[Clydesdale4x4]

I was 6-7? Dad had a friend in Davenport Iowa. With the waxed and rolled mustache, drove an early Bronco (in 1977, it was just a Bronco).
Dude had Wilford Brimley glasses, an iconic waxed circular ending mustache, was a DJ on a local radio store, was into black powder and hot air balloons.
Kinda got bit by the bug, with his single shot pistols. (Howdah?).
Fast forward to the 80’s, and I had hours alone with a Sears Roebuck and other catalogues.
ALWAYS wanted a cap and ball revolver, from those hours of day dreaming of one.

Move forward to 2012. Wife and I go to our first gun show in Kellogg, ID. Grand or so in our hands.
“What are you looking for?” We ask each other.
“Dunno, it’ll call our name when it does”. We both respond.
And that’s when I found my first ‘58.
I went off aesthetics. Not knowing one from another. Dropped my $150 on the worst gun I’ve ever purchased.
And was hooked.
Now have a ‘71 Lyman ‘58, a ‘14 Target Pietta ‘58, and a .50 and .54 long gun.

[Captainkirk]

Great story, Clyde! Why was your first '58 "the worst gun you've ever purchased"?
Inquiring minds want to know!

[Clydesdale4x4]

I never sent it off to be “goonerized”.
But it never fired. Like was unreliable.
Springs. Hammer. Nipples. File. Smooth. Etc etc etc.
it had a 1:4 fire to hammer drop ratio.
Eventually became a “field find” hanging on my friends civil war wall.
Traded it to him after I bought the ‘14, and he chucked it off in a corner of his yard for months. To age it.
And make it look like a field find.
Angry. And honored. And the best use for it. It was a ‘68 unspecified manufacturer probably kit gun when new.

[Zulch]

I was 6-7? Dad had a friend in Davenport Iowa. With the waxed and rolled mustache, drove an early Bronco (in 1977, it was just a Bronco).
Dude had Wilford Brimley glasses, an iconic waxed circular ending mustache, was a DJ on a local radio store, was into black powder and hot air balloons.
Kinda got bit by the bug, with his single shot pistols. (Howdah?).
Fast forward to the 80’s, and I had hours alone with a Sears Roebuck and other catalogues.
ALWAYS wanted a cap and ball revolver, from those hours of day dreaming of one.

Move forward to 2012. Wife and I go to our first gun show in Kellogg, ID. Grand or so in our hands.
“What are you looking for?” We ask each other.
“Dunno, it’ll call our name when it does”. We both respond.
And that’s when I found my first ‘58.
I went off aesthetics. Not knowing one from another. Dropped my $150 on the worst gun I’ve ever purchased.
And was hooked.
Now have a ‘71 Lyman ‘58, a ‘14 Target Pietta ‘58, and a .50 and .54 long gun.

Clyde, that is an awesome story!! The Wilford Brimley looking guy sounds like the coolest cat in the world. By the way, did Sears and Roebuck still have Cap and Ball revolvers in their catalogs in the 80s!!? Wow. It's so good to hear this personal story. Thank you.

[Hawg]

I got a .22 SA Buffalo Scout made in Germany for my 10th birthday. By the time I was 12 it was worn out. Out of time and spitting lead and the barrel wiggled in the frame. I saved up my gas cutting money and pored through the mail order catalogs looking for one. Western Auto had a Hawes Western Marshall listed but you could no longer order one through the mail and the store didn't stock them. So I got my mom to take me to the next town and I went to a gun shop. They didn't have a Hawes and it had to be a single action. I was looking at everything when I spotted a Rigarmi 1858 Remington. I had to have it. I knew it was Civil War because I'd been a Civil War buff from an early age. I got the gun, a pound of powder, a tin of caps and a round ball mold for around 60 bucks. Chain fires abounded but I was hooked.

[Zulch]

Hawg!! Great story. chain fires abound!!  . I like the way you wrote that. Cool. You've been at it a loooooooooooong time.

[Hawg]

Hawg!! Great story. chain fires abound!!  . I like the way you wrote that. Cool. You've been at it a loooooooooooong time.

Yeah I have. I got my first bp rifle a year later but it was a flintlock and I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't get another bp rifle until 1980.

[Zulch]

So in The beginning it was mostly trial and error? Hawg?

[Hawg]

So in The beginning it was mostly trial and error? Hawg?

Almost entirely. The guy that sold it to me didn't know much and there was no internet.

[Zulch]

So in The beginning it was mostly trial and error? Hawg?

Almost entirely. The guy that sold it to me didn't know much and there was no internet.

Did you ever read and learn from any book/s about black powder weapon fundamentals back during that time? Just curious if there were any out at the time you began? 

[Bishop Creek]

 Grew up in the 1950s with Disney's Davy Crockett and all the Westerns on TV so my first gun when I was 12 an Ithica single shot .22 that looked like a 1894 Winchester. Was also a Civil War buff, and in 1969 went to the "Gun Shop" at Knott's Berry Farm where they had a small selection of cap and ball revolvers and bought a brass 1851 Colt Navy replica. Also picked up a nice holster there too. It was my first black powder arm and I really didn't know what I was doing so I kind of taught myself how to load and fire it.

 Like Hawg I had a few chain fires until I obtained a copy of Sam Fadella's Black Powder book and learned about greasing the chambers. It dripped with Crisco back in those days. I went out almost every weekend to shoot it and got pretty good with it. The gun was stolen from me sometime around 1974 or so I next purchased an 1858 Remington .44 with target sights. The sights didn't help that much and I learned later that the plain sights on the regular models were just as good.

I doubt that Knott's still sells guns, as I haven't been there since the '70s but I accumulated quite a collection of black powder guns over the years, bought and sold many. Still love shooting the revolvers, my 1873 Uberti Winchester and my flintlock. Below is a pic of me in '69 with the Navy in a holster and my first gun pic ever taken with a Brownie camera of the Navy and holster in 1969. I still have that powder flask and still use it. I still have the first two cans (now empty) of black powder I bought in 1969.

[Hawg]

My first cans of powder were Dupont. I kept the first can for several years until I lost in in a flood in 77. I think Dupont and Hodgdon were together for awhile because the cans were practically identical except for the name.

[Captainkirk]

Ahem...
Well, my story started a looooong time ago. So far back, I don't recall. This was me at 4 years old. I'm told I refused to take this outfit off and wore it until I wore it out. Mom said I was heartbroken when I learned I couldn't wear it to kindergarten...



All I watched as a kid was westerns, apparently. Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and such. I wore out several different cap gun sets. I was still going strong at 6 years of age here;



Even after I grew out of the 'cowboy' stage, (I really never did) it was still guns, guns, guns. At age 9, I talked my dad into letting me join an NRA youth league where we were taught proper shooting techniques, sling use, and shot real honest-to-gosh .22 rifles. I used to save the brass and smell the burned powder from the cases. 
It was about this time a friend loaned me a big, thick book on the history of guns. In the middle was a multi-page section with pictures and descriptions of guns from the arquebus through the M1 Garand. Right smack in the middle of the pages was a dandy photo of a 2nd Dragoon, and I was instantly smitten. This would manifest itself later on in life!

In high school I was one of the few kids in Rifle Club. We would meet after school in the basement of the village police department and again, shoot .22s. The instructor had a .38 Spl that he let us try out. THAT, my friends, was coolness.

My dad had borrowed a rifle exactly like the one Bishop Creek mentioned; and Ithaca single shot .22 that looked like a Winchester '94. When we would go up north to the family cabin, I would roam the woods with that thing. We bonded in a big way. Nowadays that would probably be considered child endangerment, but back then it was heaven!

After college, tech school and marriage, I decided to act on that Dragoon, and found an 1858 Navy Arms Remington. I bought it, but never even got to shoot it! The trigger spring broke from me playing with it too much, I guess... and not knowing a dang thing about black powder guns, brought it back to the gun store I bought it from. Welp, they apparently didn't know a dang thing about them either, and rather than fix it, offered to exchange it for the only other BP revolver in the store; an Armsport 1858 Remington in stainless, and not wanting to appear ungrateful I was quite willing to oblige (twist my arm, why don'cha?!!)...still have that revolver today!



Back in those days, there was no internet, no You Tube, and nobody I knew shot black powder or knew anything about it. The guys at the LGS had no idea what sized ball to use, powder, or anything. All I can say is I'm thankful I stumbled across one of Sam Fadala's books! I wore out the pages on that thing, soaking up every scrap of info I could find.

I managed to secure a PT job at that LGS, working evenings after my regular job. My boss had an Armi San Paolo 1860 Army kit gun someone had gifted him; he gifted it on to me, him not giving a rat's ass about black powder. I finished that kit and had it hot blued; still have it today. And learned a whole lot in the process!



And somehow I wound up here, with a whole bunch of BP guns that I love to shoot, play with, and sometimes even clean! And loving every minute of it!



Oh, and by the way...that 2nd Dragoon? I have two of them. 

[Bishop Creek]

I remember those cans like yours Hawg. I believe you're right, I think Hodgdon bought out Dupont and then started calling their powder Goex. My Goex can on the right in my pic above is actually from around early 1970 and the first can, the Dupont, I think must have been sitting on a shelf in a gun store for a couple of years before I bought it.