Black Powder Cartridge Summer 2020

By now, most of us have been quite a way down the road of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic and are dealing with the huge changes that have happened in our lives. I think that on the plus side, we have all had a significant wake-up call as to how unprepared we were, both on the personal level and as a nation. Hopefully, many things will be learned from this experience and we won’t have to relearn a painful lesson. ...Read More >

The cover photograph for this issue is from good friend and regular contributor Miles Gilbert. Miles has always been a well-versed student of the Old West and has sent us this interesting account of the death of the Apache Kid. Many noted characters on the Arizona frontier were connected to the Apache Kid, but probably the most famous was Al Sieber. I think this cover photograph is a classic image of one of the greatest frontiersmen of the Old West. ...Read More >

Quite often, in the course of collecting vintage rifles, I have come across single shots that have replacement barrels on them. Now, I suppose that one could refer to any single shot with a Pope barrel as having an “aftermarket” barrel, but I’m talking of firearms fit up with the product of large firearms manufacturing firms such as Winchester, Stevens or Remington. ...Read More >

Much has been written about the Ideal line of cartridge reloading tools, but rarely does something surface on the shotshell tool line. The purpose of this article is to present the chronology and development of these reloading tools during the initial 20 or so years of the Ideal Manufacturing Company, from around 1891 to 1910, when John Barlow was the owner and proprietor. This period is covered in the Ideal Hand Books through issue #19. It also marks the beginning of the transition from primarily black powder shotshell loading to smokeless. While there were numerous shotshell reloading tools prior to this time, the reloading process was slow, tedious and required multiple handling steps. Barlow’s patents introduced new and innovative ideas to improve loading speed and efficiency. His shotshell tool line evolved considerably from the few hand tools listed in the first Ideal Hand Book to the complete and state of the art lineup shortly after the turn of the century. ...Read More >

In February 1903, the National Board of the Promotion of Rifle Practice directed that the first National Trophy Match would be fired at Sea Girt, New Jersey, in September of that year. A paltry 15 teams were mustered to compete. ...Read More >

Hunting is often spiced with distant and exotic locales. At least that is the case for many sojourns. Unfamiliar territory adds richness to the flavor of an upcoming adventure, coaxing to the surface much imagining and anticipating. The thrill of it all intensifies as each day passes and that flight or long drive nears. Such doings are fuel for the fires that burn within us. These fires should be stoked, the enchantment of them enjoyed. ...Read More >

Throughout my career, I have worried over all of the guns that I have built and restored, but this particular rifle caused exceptional stress. The work was for my maternal grandfather, a stoic man who grew up riding his horse off into the wilderness to hunt for days at a time. Some people hunt as a pastime, he is a hunter. He is the man who first taught me to stalk game out in the crisp fall woods with a single shot .22, learning how to still-hunt in the Pennsylvania forests. It wasn’t until years later I realized he was also training me to hunt deer. He gave me a compass, taught me to orient and read a map, gave me my first rifle and took me fishing in Canada. When I was eight, he gave me a copy of Robert Ruark’s The Old Man and the Boy for Christmas with the inscription: “To the Boy (Zachary) from the Old Man (Bompie).” His mentorship is what led me down the path to being a professional gunsmith. This is the story of the rifle I built for him. ...Read More >

While I was researching material on buffalo hunters, the attached unpublished manuscript by “Frank” Collinson was found in the Lester B. Wood Collection of the Haley Memorial Library and Historical Center of Midland, Texas. Walter James “Frank” Collinson was born November 13, 1856, in Yorkshire, England. He came to America in 1872, and began working cattle in Texas and Nebraska. In the fall of 1874, he began skinning buffalo for Jim White and “Windy Bill” Russell. His hunting career is related in The Encyclopedia of Buffalo Hunters & Skinners, Volume I. He spent his last years living in El Paso where he died in 1943. He was a prolific writer and produced his autobiography and many magazine articles concerning his buffalo hunting and ranching days for Ranch Romances and True West magazines. He was associated with the WS Ranch in southwestern New Mexico, as was James H. Cook. The following is his account of the death of the renegade “Apache Kid.” ...Read More >

The next series of articles will consist of various extracts from the Frank E. Conrad Ledgers.1 This particular article will detail purchases by hide-hunting outfits for the months of June, July and August 1877. Those interested in the hide-hunting era have always been curious to know what the typical hide-hunting outfit would purchase in regard to quantity and type of foodstuffs, ammunition and clothing when they reoutfitted prior to returning to the buffalo range. Unfortunately, we don’t know the duration of time each of these outfits was resupplying for. ...Read More >

Before, during and after the Civil War, the I*XL Bowie knives were well-known for carving their way across the American West. Those I*XL knives were made by the George Wostenholm family in Sheffield, England, and they adopted the I*XL trademark (which is short for “I Excel”) in the 1820s. However, this review isn’t just about knife history; the I*XL Bowie knives are still being made in Sheffield, England. Even so, a brief history of the I*XL brand might be appreciated. ...Read More >