The Black Powder Cartridge News Fall 2024

Writing an editorial is not easy, although I’ll wager that some folks would say, “Well, why not? All you have to do is give your opinion and that seems simple enough.” True, opinions are easy to have and even easier to give out. However, there’s also the old maxim that states, “Free advice is worth what you pay for it.” ...Read More >

Many of you will recognize the guy on the cover of this issue as Michael L. Venturino, also known to his many friends as “Duke.” Putting him on the cover of the News is bittersweet, as he passed away on June 9th of this year, due to a long battle with heart disease. ...Read More >

Dear Editor, The book Rigby: A Grand Tradition, by Calabi, Helsley and Sanger contains a surprising addendum to the western trip of the Irish riflemen recounted by Jim Foral in the Spring issue #125, of the Black Powder Cartridge News.  ...Read More >

In our last issue I made mention of a new set of Unertl-style mounts that Montana Vintage Arms was going add to their product line. Now, MVA has the new mounts in stock and ready for delivery. ...Read More >

Gather together any group of reasonably successful black-powder cartridge shooters and bring up the topic of reloading; then stand back, as you are about to hear many and varied opinions on the proper way to load accurate black-powder cartridge ammunition. Most are strongly held views and are religiously adhered to by their supporters. However, the amount of success the shooters in question have experienced in the sport of BPC rifle competitions is definitely a measure of credibility when it comes to loading techniques. ...Read More >

Equipment List: Larry Long: 40-65 Shiloh Sharps 1874, 16-twist Shiloh barrel, 375-grain SAECO GG bullet (C), 430-grain Paul Jones GG (P/T/R), 30-1 alloy, SPG Lube, .060 poly wad, 54 grains Swiss 1½Fg (C/P), 54 grains Swiss 3Fg (T/R), Remington 2 ½ primer, Remington brass, MVA 8X scope, DZ Arm mounts, rifle blow-tubed. ...Read More >

Rifle Clubs locations and information. ...Read More >

Many of you will recognize the guy on the cover of this issue as Michael L. Venturino, also known to his many friends as “Duke.” Putting him on the cover of the News is bittersweet, as he passed away on June 9th of this year, due to a long battle with heart disease. ...Read More >

In some of my previous articles, I have mentioned hunting javelina in Arizona, and it was brought to my attention that most Americans are not familiar with them. According to the Internet, they are medium-sized mammals that look similar to wild boars; however, they are more accurately classified as a “collared peccary.” The collar is a white band of hair that goes around the neck/shoulder, and their range is from Arizona to Texas, while other variations live in Central and South America. Peccaries bear a family resemblance to true pigs, due to their prehistoric ancestry, and they are in the same suborder as swine (Suina). ...Read More >

The 50-70 might not be considered a real long-range round, but the Matthew Quigley Buffalo Rifle Match isn’t actually a long-range doin’s. To be more exact, the Quigley is more correctly a midrange match with one long-range target; that single target, of course, is the buffalo, Target Number One, which is standing at 805 yards. All other targets are at 600 yards or less, falling into the midrange category. For matches such as these, the good old 50-70 should do a decent job, depending on the loads, the winds and the shooters. ...Read More >

I continually seek more accuracy from my black powder cartridge ammunition because I enjoy the process, and in doing so, it might increase my shooting scores. If the top scores in silhouette matches are studied, it will readily be seen that the shooters on the upper end of the scoreboard have very respectable 200-meter chicken scores. You cannot shoot a Master score without hitting a few chickens. My current chicken load is a proven match performer, but as an old South African friend has told me, “You don’t have to be sick to get better.” ...Read More >

In the Spring issue, No. 125 of the Black Powder Cartridge News, I read with great interest Mike Nesbitt’s article Adding to Perfection. It was a description of his work with the 44 Special Uberti replica of the Smith and Wesson New Model No. 3 “Frontier” revolver. ...Read More >

In the parlance of the West, a “cold trail” is one that had a significant period of time elapse before any tracker attempts to follow it. This describes perfectly what Sheryll (my wife) and I ended up doing on an enjoyable summer day in the badlands north of Cody, Wyoming. ...Read More >

The morning of January 10th, 1871, 15 men from Brownsville, Nebraska, loaded their gear into seven wagons and started out on a buffalo hunt that took them across Nebraska and into Kansas on a winter hunt for their meat supply. They hunted along the route as they traveled to their primary destination. The majority of the hunt was between the South Fork of the Solomon and the Prairie Dog fork of the Republican River. ...Read More >

While on our way home from the Matthew Quigley Buffalo Rifle Match, Allen Cunniff, Mike Moran and I stopped by to visit Montana Vintage Arms. Jim Gier, MVA’s president, was on hand to give us the guided tour through some very interesting rooms full of machinery and tooling. MVA’s primary product is the extensive line of rifle iron sights, which they offer in addition to the several versions of scopes that are used by many black-powder cartridge rifle shooters. ...Read More >

This carbine is the Cavalry version of the “Spanish Model Rifle,” a No. 4 Remington Rolling Block in 43 Spanish, Model 1874. Based on its tang inscription, saddle ring and rear sight, it was one of the earliest rolling blocks acquired in a joint purchase by Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay, for their war against Paraguay. It has the E.E. Remington tang markings, and the last patent date is 1874. Argentina’s Remington rifles after that time had the octagonal reinforced breech. ...Read More >