The Black Powder Cartridge News Fall 2022

Shortly before this issue went to press, Sheryll and I treated ourselves to a canoe trip down the Missouri River from Fort Benton to Judith Landing in Montana. We have both worked in hunting and fishing camps, so this trip was “special,” as we were the guests and not the workers. It seemed a little strange to have someone else pitching tents and cooking food, but we enjoyed the whole experience immensely. The focus was on the campsites used by Lewis and Clark and it didn’t take much imagination to picture ourselves back in time when the Corps of Discovery traveled the river. ...Read More >

The cover for this issue is a tribute to one of America’s great gunsmiths, Norman S. Brockway. We are sure that many of today’s gun enthusiasts will not recognize his name, nor the super-accurate firearms he virtually handcrafted, but much of what Brockway did, paved the way for what we now define as benchrest shooting. The very definition of a “rugged individualist,” Brockway showed typical Yankee ingenuity in all of his work and indeed, his life. ...Read More >

Paul Shuttleworth, 93, of Dingmans Ferry, Pennsylvania, and Gulf Breeze, Florida, passed away on May 13, 2022, after a short illness. The son of William E. and Esther (Gustafson) Shuttleworth, Paul was raised in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, and spent summers on Valcour Island, near Plattsburgh, New York. At Harvard, he studied history and was the high-scorer on the rifle team. During the Korean War, Paul served in the Air Force as a weapons mechanic, where he serviced everything from pistols to nuclear bombs. ...Read More >

I have read and listened to many people today that explain how to cock the hammers on the “jump” of a covey of birds. This practice is extremely dangerous and unnecessary! A far easier, safer, and traditional method is to carry the gun loaded, hammers cocked, and the BREECH OPEN! ...Read More >

Anyone who reads the Black Powder Cartridge News has heard or read about Montana Vintage Arms (MVA) scopes. MVA is a major producer of sights and scopes and their products are certainly worthy of our attention. At the same time, the Series 7000 scopes are not generally highlighted or mentioned and that’s the version of their scopes that I selected for my own rifle. ...Read More >

Just as there was no national rifle team to represent the U.S. when Ireland’s challenge to a rifle match came in 1874, such was also the case when an American revolver team was called to answer a 1900 summons for a match from a team representing France. ...Read More >

The May 1, 2022, match had 16 competitors who braved cold winds, rain and targets that disappeared against wet berms. Good scores were shot, especially considering the extremely difficult conditions. ...Read More >

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For us, the list of memorable adventures to be enjoyed this year at the 30th Matthew Quigley Buffalo Rifle Match included high winds and rain. Our little caravan arrived at “Quigleyville” on Tuesday afternoon, in the rain. The first endeavors were to get our tents up, while being slightly envious of our neighbors in camp who were enjoying their trailers or motor homes. Once our camps were up and comfortable, we could relax (just slightly) and think more about our shooting. ...Read More >

Ninety-four-year-old Norman S. Brockway, one-time famous maker of precision muzzle loading rifles, leaned forward, arms resting on the sides of an old-fashioned rocker at his home in West Brookfield. His bushy grey beard trailed white against the black frock coat, as he softly talked his eyes were focused far beyond the walls of the room as if he were back there in 1862, during the Civil War, filing gun sights at the Springfield Armory. ...Read More >

Our favorite gun collector/dealer, Ron Peterson of Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been in business for 57 years now and he has been blessed to purchase some dandy historical firearms. The subject of this article is a Sharps rifle (SN 161917) made in Bridgeport, Connecticut, chambered for the .45-27⁄8 cartridge and weighing 14 pounds, 10 ounces. The rifle has a 30-inch full octagonal barrel, double-set triggers and was shipped to Benjamin Kittredge on October 15, 1877. The original cost was $45. The wrist wrapping shows the mark “4 MAN,” indicating ownership by the Forman family, but it reportedly has a connection with John William Poe. ...Read More >

Something that has always amused me when the conversation gets around to the buffalo hide hunting in the 1870s and 1880s, is the use of Frank H. Mayer’s term “buffalo runner” to describe a professional hide hunter.1 Over the years I have read a lot of articles, memorandum books, diaries and manuscripts and I do not recall any professional buffalo hunter, except Mayer, referring to themselves as “buffalo runners.” ...Read More >

We can speculate that using a card wad over the lube and under a cup base bullet does no harm. But in my “guesstimating,” it doesn’t do any good either because the card wad would still be forced into the cup of the bullet, which would pull the edges of the wad away from the bore, so the card wad would not do its intended duty. Guessing could continue, of course, but my only assumption here is that this was an old factory load and it did not contain a wad over the lube. ...Read More >

I ran across this old DuPont brochure and thought that the contents would be of interest to modern-day riflemen. We found the little article by Dr. Hudson – Fine Target Rifle Ammunition – to be especially interesting. ...Read More >