Shooting the Beasts of Blackpowder

Come shoot two of the hardest hitters from the blackpowder era, the 

Pedersoli .58ca1 KODIAK,
and the
Winchester 1886 in 45-90cal

   I started shooting black powder several years ago after my wife presented me with a replica 1863 Army .44 revolver for Christmas. Being one of those people who just have to play with their toys on Christmas day, I found myself out at the nearby range that very afternoon shooting the piece. After one cylinder, I was hooked on black powder. It may have been slow, but there was an elegance to the way the Colt replica handled.

Four of the bullets available in this caliber, from L-R: Hornady Great Plains Bullet 525g.  Buffalo Bullet 525g.  Thompson Center Maxi-ball 555g. Thompson Center Maxi-hunter 560g

A year or two later during a gunversation with my father, I mentioned my desire to find a real he-man/women-haters type of gun, the kind that would shoot those ridiculously big 500 grain bullets---and it had to be black powder. My search continued until my next birthday when he handed me my present.

"Adam, when I saw this I immediately thought of you." he smiled.

    Once I opened the package and wiped off the excess testosterone that was being exuded by the gun, I was shocked to find myself looking at a beast of a gun that fired not one, but two .58 caliber slugs from its twin barrels. I knew immediately what it was. As a child I had read a whole library of books about the great white hunters of Africa who bad trudged into the dark continent with their 500 Express cannons and Jeffrey Cape Rifles in search of man eaters and rogue elephants. What I had in my hands was the Grandfather of such greats as the 475 Nitro Express. This muzzleloader can fire rounds as big as 560 grains seated on 120 grains of black powder or Pyrodex®. Imagine this, even the lightweight bullets I cast tip the scales at over 425 grains! (Tim Taylor grunt). Dubbed the KODIAK by its makers, this rifle is currently imported by both Navy Arms and Cabelas and retails for slightly under $700. In addition to the double barrel and triggers similar to a double barrel shotgun, the gun also includes a double leaf folding sight, hand checkered stock, and bright steel side plates adorned with a nature scene.
    Don't bother trying to find this percussion replica in any history books. Weapons of this type and caliber were never mass-produced and usually custom made to a buyer's specs. If you scoured gun shows you would likely find a few double rifles chambered for centerfire cartridges, but the muzzle-loaded percussion versions are rare, even as replicas. These large caliber rifles became popular with big game hunters who wanted a substantial caliber and the added safety of a quick second shot. These were weapons keenly suited for taking big, dangerous game.The first thing I noticed when I shot it (besides the cloud of smoke) was that at ranges under a hundred yards, I needed no spotting scope. The holes were just that big. Once I began to cast bullets and recovering the lead was a concern, I quickly learned that I could stand back and look through the holes in my box target to see where the rounds had impacted on the wooden backstop. In penetration tests the rifle was fired side by side against a Mossberg 500 using one-ounce solid copper slugs. The only things I could find that would stop either of these rounds were old washing machines with their heavy steel washtubs. Surprisingly enough, the vintage black powder load pretty evenly matched the modem smokeless powder slug on sheer brute penetration.
    About the only negative point I found about the weapon actually had nothing to do with the gun itself but with my state's hunting regulations. In order to qualify for muzzleloader season in Arizona, the gun (and your sidearm) must have only one barrel. I quickly remedied this situation by removing one hammer and nipple, then plugging the barrel with cloth to keep out the elements. As for big game hunting with this rifle, it should easily take anything on this continent.

    One problem associated with .58 caliber rounds is the cost of the bullets, usually considered a specialty item and run $15 for a box of fifteen bullets. While .50 and .54 caliber slugs abound, .58 have become scarce, and in some smaller towns they may be obtainable only by mail order through Cabelas, Graf & Sons or Midway. Several companies offer molds that quickly pay for themselves. The least expensive on the market are manufactured by LEE and can be ordered for REAL, Minnie, and modern style bullets. Another alternative is to shoot patched ball for all of your general purpose shooting and save the bullets for hunting. Although the round ball is lighter, most weigh in around 292 grains and achieve 1075fps with 80 grains of FFg and are suitable for a wide variety of short range hunting as the ball's flight performance drops off dramatically after about 150 yards.

Winchester 1886

    Another great cannon at the end of the black powder era was the Winchester model 1886 in 45-90. Originally this cartridge was introduced as a black powder metallic cartridge, but by 1895 smokeless powder cartridges were available.
This gun was to the American West what tyrannosaurus-rex was to the Jurassic. Like its prehistoric relation, the 45-90 repeaters arrived just a little too late for buffalo hunting and at the end of the frontier era. Ultimately there were few things left to shoot that required the cartridge, and it was extinct by 1936. After the pounding that bison took from slower guns such as the single shot Sharps, it is likely that a gun like the 1886 would have caused their complete and utter extinction had it been introduced any earlier.

    I was a little boy the first time I shot this gun. Not that it has unmanageable recoil, but the gun lets you know when it goes off. As for knockdown power, I wouldn't hunt elephant with it, but it has a proven track record against buffalo and should work well on anything that walks, crawls or slithers in North America (except lawyers who require wooden stakes.)

This closeup shows both the hand checkering and the lockwork of the Pedersoli KODIAK.  The weapon is a blast to shoot once you regulate your loads to suit the barrels. Cabelas sells this rifle in 50, 54, 58, and 76 calibers.       Click on photo for close up

    The particular rifle fired in this article is the short carbine version with the heavy octagon barrel of which only 7,500 were built. Best suited as a rancher's gun, its length makes it optimum for carrying in a saddle scabbard. The owner had a weapon that could terminate a predator or take small game for dinner with carefully placed ground hits that would stun a rabbit. As for more dangerous game, grizzlies, wildcats, substantial bullets ranging from 300 to 405 grains are available in black powder loads.
    Anyone who owns a 45-90 knows that you either get used to shooting 45-70 shells or reload. Even if you already reload in other calibers, you are going to find that the hardest struggle about reloading 45-90 has nothing to do with the reloading process. The problem lies in obtaining the equipment and empty shells. Surprisingly I was able to find the dies through Midway, although neither of the dies were listed in the catalog. RCBS and Redding both carry 3 die sets affordably priced. However, Midway did not carry any of the loaded shells or empty brass but were kind enough to direct me to another firm who did.

The old way to find the powder load for your weapon: place the bullet in the palm of your hand and pour powder over it until it only just covers the projectile completely.  Surprisingly the method is relatively accurate.

Old Western Scrounger in California has long been a little known source for obsolete ammo and brass. Not only does the Scrounger carry the brass, but they also carry the loaded ammunition. In fact, these guys are a great source for several of the more obscure cartridges like 45-120, 577 Snider, and 51-40 Sharps. Now the bad news, the rounds run just a little shy of $3 apiece. Actually, a twenty round box will run you $66.50. Empty shells run $34 for a box of twenty.
 

    According to the guys at Old Western, although the round was originally designed to hold 90 grains of black powder, you simply cannot get that much powder into the thicker modem cases. Hence their loading process consists of filling the case to the base of the bullet with FFG then lightly compressing it by seating the bullet. If you reload and this sounds a little un-scientific, that's just how black powder is. In the olden days it was commonplace for a black powder shooter to figure powder by putting a bullet or ball into a lightly cupped hand and covering it with powder. The amount of powder that it took to cover the round was deemed the necessary amount for that caliber. In smokeless powder the margin for error is measured in tenths of a grain, but the forgiving nature of black powder allows the shooter to have upper and lower limits that may differ by as much as sixty grains.
    Bullets and powder are the easiest items to obtain for this caliber. Graf & Sons and Midway listed no fewer than five major bullet manufacturers who offer .45 projectiles and molds in weights ranging from 305 to 500 grains. As for powders, I personally buy all my primers and powder over the counter to avoid hazardous material shipping fees. It always looks like such a good deal in the magazine until you total it all up.

The 1886 does not beat you up when you shoot it, but you will know when it goes off.  A fair amount of muzzle climb can be seen here from one of the shorter 45-70 shells that can also be shot in a 45-90 chamber.

    Ballistics of this old cartridge are pretty fair. Hitting with 1500-1900 foot-pounds of muzzle energy, it is on par with modern cartridges such as the 303 Savage and the ever-popular 30-30. I have never been a fan of mathematical calculations for muzzle energy because they have no bearing on actual knock down power. In fact, these figures can often be misleading because on paper many varmint loads show a higher ME factor than the 45-90. Speed is fine for trajectory, but bullet weight and frontal area are two critical factors in knockdown power.
     The saddest thing about a gun like the Winchester 1886 in 45-90 is that there are few replicas being made. If you really have to have one, you will need big bucks to shoot big guns as the originals run from $1,400 on up depending on their condition. However, if it's just a 45-90 that you want, there are single shot Sharps replicas available from EMF and Shilo.

    In the modem world of hunting, it is common for many hunters to go afield with weapons that our ancestors would have considered gross overkill for the game we seek. By the same standard we look down on these weapons with a certain air of superiority because we have better powder, guns and projectiles. But let us never forget that these archaic firearms were the guns that Americans used to tame the West. A hundred years before Gaston (Mock quit his factory job, these were guns that represented a cowboy's wages for six months, or a lone point of defense for a settler family along the Colorado River. Somewhere lost in time is an era where the only thing between your family and certain death was the family rifle, and in that place a Winchester was as much a part of the family the ever-faithful ranch dog. From a financial perspective, these weapons were to the settlers what your car(s) are to you. The average family could only afford one or two and life was hard without them.

Editor's note: A modified version of this article was published in the May, 97 edition of Black Powder Times