Three weeks ago, my good friend, Harry, and I took the 1861 Springfield Rifle (made in 1864) to an outdoor range for its first action in many, many decades...maybe even as long as 150 years. It had hung in his father's tavern for as long as Harry has been alive and was not considered to be usable. When his father passed away, Harry took ownership.
I've already described here that I had an antique gunsmith break it down and clean it up, after which he said it was perfectly safe to shoot it.
Soon afterward, I bought 25 sized and lubed minieballs from Brett Gibbons online (
https://www.papercartridges.com/58cal-m ... idges.html ), a tin of RWS Dynamil Nobel Percussion Caps from a dealer on GunBroker, and Pyrodex RS BP substitute from Cabelas.
The range is managed by the State of CT and has ten shooting stations and six range officers. We asked if any of them was familiar with black powder firearms and were introduced to a man who turned out to be a Civil War historian, who was totally blown away by the gun (and that he would have an opportunity to shoot it).
Well, even though compressed air blew freely through the nipple and down the barrel, and even though caps fired and blew pressure out the muzzle that moved leaves on the ground, he could not get it to ignite the powder. He spent 90 minutes trying until our range time expired, then he invited us to come back the next day so he could bring his Triple 7 powder to try. We agreed and met him the next day.
For another half hour, he tried and tried... pouring powder directly into the nipple several times to see if that would help. We were all very disappointed that the powder would not ignite! Until it did. Perseverance and patience. Once the first load of powder ignited, we tried three more without a minnieball and each time the powder burned and smoked (trying both the Pyrodex and the Triple 7). It seemed like it was good to go, and it was.
We were very happy to give this great range officer the first actual shot! He was delighted -- and so were we. He asked us to use his phone to take pics of him shooting and holding it!!! He was in heaven.
For the rest of the range time, we shot that thing sixteen more rounds, Harry and I alternating, until the range time expired again. It was accurate out to 100 yards with the adjustable sight in its lowest position!!!
I've attached a zipped mp4 video of me firing the gun. What a thrill!
I have to say, though, that cleaning it took about 90 minutes and was just plain icky, but it cleaned up fine. I used boiling water and a drop of dawn detergent, rinsed and dried it completely and gave it a thorough rubdown, in and out, with ballistol.
It's all set for the next time Harry comes back from this next year of RV'ing with his wife in their first year of retirement.
I'm looking forward to it.