BLACK powder – I love it! Some of my shooting colleagues, though, shake their heads in disbelief when I mention that I sometimes shoot with an 1870 black powder hammergun. I also mention that I use a BP drilling for stalking.

"Why on earth use that smoky, smelly stuff when modern nitro powders give the ultimate in consistency, pattern and penetration?" is the usual question.

Okay, I do not dispute that but there is an additional challenge with a propellant which proved itself in the days of muzzle-loaders. One of the finest Shots of all time, the legendary Colonel Peter Hawker, achieved feats which few sportsman have equalled since except perhaps for Lord Ripon, Lord Walsingham and, in more recent times, the late Sir Joseph Nickerson.

In my younger days I acquired a 14-bore muzzle-loader in remarkably good condition for a few pounds. I remember when I brought it home my father rolled his eyes heavenwards and muttered whatever next? On one of our outings together, however, I dropped a fast flying, jinking woodcock with it after he had missed the bird with both barrels!

After that he never again cast aspersions on my lovely old gun. My one regret is that I sold it a few years later. Who knows, I might buy another one day.

For me black powder adds another dimension to my sport. I must be honest and say that I would not care to use it to the exclusion of all other powders but it certainly provides variety.

BLACK POWDER

Black powder has been around for about five centuries, believed to have been invented by the Chinese. Basically, it has changed little and comprises 75 per cent saltpetre (sodium nitrate), 15 per cent charcoal and ten per cent sulphur. It is mixed, pressurised and made into different sized grains after which it is glazed to protect it as far as possible from atmospheric influences. The size of the grains determines the rate of burning and controls combustion.

In my BP days I always used Curtis's & Harvey's No. 6 powder both for my percussion gun and for loading shotgun cartridges. It is safe and easy to load. When smokeless powder was invented this was known as a bulk propellant. For example, like BP it was loaded by volume with 33 grains, the same as black, which was ideal for standard game loads.

I wrote in an earlier article about how I used to load black powder blanks for a gundog training society when I had my small cartridge loading business in the 1960s, along with a few game loads for myself. I used the same slide on my Erskine loader for both black and Greenbat or Smokeless Diamond.

I was once present when an accident occurred with BP but I stress that I was only a spectator and that mishap could just as easily have occurred with the smokeless variety. During my schooldays one of my fellow pupils made a small brass cannon in the metalwork shop. He then brought it into the chemistry laboratory and, during the teacher's absence, decided to show us how easy it was to make and fire gunpowder. This he did but accidentally had a finger over the muzzle during the priming of the gun which detonated before he was ready. He lost the top joint of his middle finger!

Most of the old Rook & Rabbit rifles were originally designed for BP. The latter has a couple of downsides, one of which is that it if it comes into contact with moisture it is ruined permanently as the saltpetre dissolves and then solidifies on drying, hence destroying the original mix of ingredients.

I refer to my recent article on Curtis's & Harvey's "Cartridge Warmer," a steel box which had compartments for filling with hot water so that the contents were kept both warm and dry on wet shooting days.

The other downside is the cloud of white smoke produced when the gun is fired, once referred to by Hawker as: "evil smelling sulphurous smoke." It is not as bad as it is made out to be in my own experience except perhaps on totally windless days.

In his classic work The Modern Shotgun, Volume II: The Cartridge, Major Sir Gerald Burrard states that black powder produces greater recoil than its smokeless counterpart. Personally I have never been aware of this but then I have not used heavy loads. I have no doubt that the big-game guns of old kicked like the proverbial mule.

COMMERCIAL CARTRIDGES

If you are not a home-loader but want to shoot black powder with your old shotgun then, as far as I know, Gamebore are the only firm who manufacture these cartridges. Their ‘Classic’ variety is available with a 28gm load in shot-sizes 6 & 7. I have used them in recent years and found them extremely good.

BLACK POWDER STORAGE

In the days when I loaded black powder I had a Black Powder Permit which was available from the police on application. There was no charge and occasionally the village bobby would call to check my supplies, satisfied when I showed him a few 1lb tins. Now all that has changed.

With the need to load rifle cartridges for my drilling I telephoned my local firearms authority to enquire how to apply for an explosives licence. The lady on the other end of the phone told me all I needed to do was to submit a request in writing.

I sent the required letter and a few days later received an application form which was akin to that for a shotgun certificate. It required four pages to be completed, much of the information requested already held on file in relation to my SG & FAC certificates.

I filled it in and sent it off, expecting to receive my certificate within a few days but instead I received a phone call from my local firearms enquiry officer. Could he make an appointment to come and inspect my powder storage facilities and then, if satisfied, he would authorize my Explosives Certificate?

Now am I fully aware of the changes made to powder storage. No longer are metal containers permissible, instead the container must be wooden with an intumescent strip on the lid and powder bottles (now plastic) must be separated by 6mm wooden partitions.

In addition, if not stored in a secured room then the container must have steel hinges, a secure hasp and padlock, and be attached "to a strong point" by a ring and chain so that it cannot be removed by intruders.

My intention was to use a strong ex-Home Guard wooden ammunition box but it was clear that this would not be acceptable except with numerous modifications which would probably cost more than the purchase of a custom-made box to implement.

So I have now ordered one of the latter from Henry Krank (Tel: 01132-569163) who supply virtually everything you will ever need for black powder shooting. It doesn't come cheap but I did not expect it to.

My original intention was to order a supply of black powder and the box together in order to save carriage but I cannot purchase the former until the storage container has been installed and approved. Hence, the cost escalates.

I shall be writing further on this when my container has been installed. A thought crossed my mind that, as I shall only be using a small quantity of rifle cartridges for my drilling, then a cheaper option might have been to remove the black powder charges from commercial shotgun cartridges and load them into rifle cases.

Doubtless some restriction will prevent me from doing this but I shall enquire about it and report further in due course. This world of ours becomes crazier by the day.