Just for kicks I wanted to shoot some 38 special black powder cowboy stuff out of my 357 revolver. I never done it before but thought it would be a fun thing to do because I like that old timey smokey stuff but I dont like shooting old timey revolvers. I like old timey antique revolvers but I dont have any old timey revolvers. All my revolvers are new age or I guess you can call it that. Has anyone done this before? Is the worst case scenario that I will have a lot of cleaning to do? Its a newerish, if you even consider it new, S&W model 13 with a 3 " barrel.

I don't think theres's any problem. The boom and smoke might be fun but the mess might not be fun to deal with. Definitely want to clean asap after. Make sure you have plenty of cleaning supplies on hand.

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Back to back World War Champs.

Black powder dissolves in water, not the powder solvent used for smokeless powder. If you use real black powder, you are going to have a big ol' time cleaning it, especially the first time. I have blackpowder revolvers, and use dishwater for the wash, HOT water for the rinse.

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Science plus Art

If you are going to do this, be sure that the bullets are lubed with a non-petroleum lube (SPG, beeswax, etc.)

As OKFCO5 mentioned cleanup for actual black powder with hot water and dish soap is very effective.

Cleanup after using petroleum lubed bullets is a major effort as the fouling is REALLY caked onto the barrel. Had to find out about this the very hard way.

I shoot .38 spl/357 mag. revolvers and 44-40 rifles with real black powder in SASS all the time and had to learn some hard lessons for awhile.

Randy

Thanks for the help. The 38 bullets I have is Buffalo Bore Cowboy stuff that I bought many years ago. I wanted to shoot hem before they sit in my ammo box for another 10 years. When you say lube the bullets what do you mean exactly by this?

If you are shooting your own Black powder reloads you must lube the bullets with the above suggested materials, If you are shooting factory Black Powder ammo than it should nave been done already.

One must be very careful when shooting black powder in anything.....it is very addicting!! Welcome to the dark side............

Randy

The revolver has a blued finish too. If I have to scrub the thing possibly damaging the bluing than it would not be worth it to me. How much and how bad of a cleaning procedure are we talking about? I would hate to mess up a very nice blued revolver on some cheap black powder cowboy junk.

Major clean up.

Don't worry about it....again, Brush it out, patch it as per normal, using hot soapy water then rinse it with boiling water. I often use my air hose as well.....

I have fired thousands of rounds of black powder with NO effect on bluing.

Go have a BLAST!!

Randy

Done it. Fun.
Follow cleanup instructions!

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

All you need is soap and hot water.

No problem.

Awesome! Is this your black powder hunting revolver?

Nope, pin gun.
Loaded it up just for jollies.
Amazed how accurate it was.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

The design of that revolver goes directly back to the Hand Ejector of the late 1890's, when black powder cartridges were still common, so it's really not that "new age".

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~ S&W aficionado in training ~

Here is the good news---you will get a lot of smoke--big boooom. True black powder is corrosive, but cleans up with hot water and soap..Oil after cleane up, and you will be good to go.

Thank you,

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Henry

I love shooting black powder.But I hate the cleaning job that comes with it.Guess I hate more than I love....sold all my BP guns!
Qc

I keep a box of Black Powder loads for my Ruger Bisley 45 Colt. When someone at the range asks to shoot it, i sneak one or two in it just for fun. Their faces post firing one of those smokey flame throwers is worth it.

I'm also in SASS and I can tell you, those folks that shoot black powder dress funny and have silly grins. My advice: Avoid making direct eye to eye contact with them.

Where I live here in Arizona, they have Cowboy shoot out reenactments on July 4th. They use black powder SAAs and it a hoot to watch. I bet more than one cowboy was killed on those streets back in the day, and the white smoke must have been thick.