I was in conversation with another black-powder rifle enthusiast a short time ago and the topic of 22BPCR came up. More specifically, the discussion centered around 22BPCR’s amazing growth. ...Read More >

I would like to put forth another theory regarding the 32 Special in the 1894 Winchester (What’s Special About the 32 Special, Issue 130, BPC News.) Let’s think for a moment in financial terms if you were in charge of penny-pinching back in the days when Winchester had a bunch of unused barrels in 32-40 caliber sitting on the shelves. The modern smokeless “fancy” was over taking the industry, so how would you make use of the left over 32-40 barrels? ...Read More >

It all started with a Daisy Model 25 pump action air rifle, but the “neighborhood mafia” referred to them as “BB guns”. The Model 25 was accurate and propelled a round BB at about 350 feet per second, which was about 100 feet per second faster than other BB guns that were on the market at the time. It was pretty lethal for a BB gun and also shot to the sights. The Model 25 had a tedious-to-load tubular magazine that held approximately 50 BBs. ...Read More >

The “Express Rifles” name was created by James Purdy in the late 1840s, that was synonymous with the new “Express Trains” being built to cross Africa. It was Alexander Henry of Edinburgh, Scotland, who seem to take things to a new level after he patented his Henry-style rifling in 1860. These weren’t Express rifles with only two-groove rifling, shooting “sugarloaf” or pointed winged bullets; these were long, sleek, paper-patched conicals and Henry’s rifling was designed to shoot those paper patched bullets. ...Read More >