Single Shot Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Club of Great Britain

In 2001 four men had a brilliant idea:  Why don’t we form a black powder cartridge rifle club to allow shooters to test their skills with the famous rifles of America’s buffalo hunters.

From that early spark of an idea a club of some 60 members has developed over the last 9 years.  We have men and women from all age groups.

The Competitions

The original competitions included Silhouette and Buffalo shoots and a 1000 yard Creedmoor challenge.  The silhouettes are of a chicken, a javelina (small pig), a turkey and a ram.  The chicken is tiny when viewed through the sights and many a shooter has been heard to enquire ‘are we shooting at sparrows?’  The slightest wind drift miscalculation will result in a miss; the same applies to the turkey at 500 yards.  The buffalo targets have anatomically correct scoring zones and it is all too easy to drop out of the five ring.

Today the calendar includes a Military Action shoot, a Steel Challenge held at Diggle against the Quigley Shooting Association and the Buffalo Hunters and a Long Range League which runs throughout the year.  There is also the Man Down Under competition based on the famous ‘Quiggley’ Western movie character who travels to Australia with a Sharps rifle in 45/110 and proves his shooting prowess by hitting a bucket several hundred yards away.  We limit ourselves to 300 yards but the bucket is only 12 inches tall.

The 45-70 rifle and Variations

Rifles used by most members are Sharps or Remington Rolling Block in .45 calibre and are normally 70 (45-70) or 90 (45-90) grains capacity.  A few are brave enough to shoot 110 or 120s but these can often punish a smaller shooter unless they have a heavyweight barrel fitted.  The popular manufacturers are Pedersoli of Italy and Shiloh Rifles of the USA. 

Whenever we hold a shoot at Bisley we will inevitably generate interest from other shooters especially when the fog of our powder covers their range point.  Most comment on the beautiful woodwork featured on these guns and we always get at least one ‘wow’ when they see the monstrous rounds we use.

Very few original guns appear on the scene and most are kept as collectors items and not used in competition.  Some rifles are hand built on a specific action.  The Remington Rolling block is the most popular.  After market barrels and hand carved stocks can be seen on some rifles.

If you have a black powder cartridge rifle in your collection but have only ever used nitro then I recommend you give the old fashioned stuff a try.  It really is an experience not to be missed.

We allow cross sticks or wrist rests to be used in our competitions.  Some folks may say this makes it easy but I can assure you that we have to develop supreme wind reading skills to ensure a good score at the end of the day.  Bench Rest and ‘F’ Class shooters have bi-pods and tables for their disciplines and they know all too well that any shooting aid is only part of the solution.  You may have the most accurate rifle and bipod combination in the world with the best load you have spent months developing but if you can’t read the changes in the wind you will never achieve your best score.

Experiments in Reloading

What has impressed me most over the life of the Club is the way individuals have spent time, effort and quite a bit of cash developing loads for their rifles. As mentioned above, the preferred choice of calibre is the 45-70, which in the original rifles had a cartridge which could hold 70 grains of black powder with a .45 calibre lead bullet weighing up to 530 grains.  Today’s modern propellants such as Swiss 4 and the heavier brass cases struggle to contain 70 grains of propellant without a certain amount of compression.  This is where load development starts to take over.

It is quite amazing to see the parallels with Bench Rest and ‘F’ Class shooting.  I can now hear a few chortles from nitro users.  I will endeavour to prove my case.

We have shooters who have experimented with smaller calibres, some as tiny as .38, with faster powders like Swiss 2.  Or on the other extreme a .50 calibre (Big Bertha) with 100 grains of Swiss 5.  Do you send a small bullet down range at high speed on a flattish trajectory or lob a slow heavy bullet on a high arc?  Which bullets are more adversely affected by wind drift?  What twist rate will best stabilise a round? Powder is increased in weight, fractions of a grain at a time to find the most consistently accurate load.  Primers are tested.  Do you use magnum or standard?  Which brand produces the best/hottest flame?

To crimp or not to crimp, that is the question.  Those shooters who have chosen the paper patch bullets simply place the bullet in the very neck of the case and the word ‘crimp’ is an anathema to them.  They can get much more powder in the case as a result too.  The only downside is the need to keep a pristinely clean barrel between shots.  This requires a constant washing through with fresh water. 

Flash holes are reamed to an identical diameter and internally bevelled.  Cases are trimmed. Bullets are batched.  Lead to tin mixtures are varied to find the best ratio that picks up the rifling but doesn’t leave any lead in the barrel.  Minute variations in bullet diameter are tested.  The most satisfying thing here is of course that you have cast your own projectiles and you have no-one to blame but yourself if they don’t shoot well.

Then there is the endless discussion about lubes.  Olive oil or lanolin, beeswax or jojoba oil.  It sometimes sounds like a make-up convention on the firing point.  Everybody has a secret ingredient of course which they never reveal unless plied with several beers after the day’s competition.

The result of all this work produced a group at last year’s Trafalgar meeting in the 10 @ 200 competition of 1? inches.  If you think about it for a moment that is less than 1 minute of angle.  Not bad for a rifle designed in 1874.

In 2006 members of the SSBPCRCGB went to South Africa for the world black powder championships.  We produced a World Champion in the shape of Colin Buck who won Gold at 900m, Gold for Long Range at 700, 800, and 900m and Bronze for overall aggregate.  Colin was shooting a Pedersoli 45-70.

Have a Go

If you are considering expanding your shooting and are wondering what rifle to purchase then we have a Club full of knowledgeable members only too willing to help and give advice.

If you care to join our merry band of shooters you will of course have to be prepared to suffer the odd bit of ribbing but then that is what competitive shooting is all about.

The Club has a modern web site which lists all the courses of fire.  There is also a rogue’s gallery of many of our competitors.  Simply go to www.ssbpcrc.co.uk and click on one of the silhouettes.