Black Powder

The term “Black Powder” refers to muzzle-loading pistols and revolvers, which employ a black-powder propellant, round or conical lead projectiles and percussion caps.

These are the type of pistols that existed in the 19th Century and many people find great fascination and satisfaction in this type of historically-based shooting. Modern black powder pistols are well made replicas of the original pistol type or can be of modern design made for black powder.

A relatively large number of accessories are necessary for this type of shooting eg powder measures, starter rods, ram rods, cappers, nipple wrenches, cleaning equipment and ball/bullet removal equipment. Fortunately all of these items are now readily available at gun dealers who handle this type of shooting.

If you are a person who loves lots of gadgets and accoutrements in your sport, don’t mind getting a bit dirty and would like to get the feel of shooting 100 years ago, then black powder may well be the shooting sport for you.

There are three different Black Powder matches shot under the auspices of Pistol Australia.

Black Powder 50 Metres

As per the title, this match is shot over a distance of 50 metres. It consists of four series of ten shots in 30 minutes (including loading time). Calibre used must not exceed 0.46″.

Black Powder 25 Metres


Once again, the distance shot is as in the title. This match is shot in two parts:

Precision – four series of five shots in 12 minutes (including loading time)
Rapid Fire Stage – four series of five shots on turning targets, with one shot fired on each exposure of the targets.

Black Powder International Match

There are four classes for this match, covering four different types of Black Powder pistols:

Replica Single Shot
Fixed Sight Revolver
Adjustable Sight Revolver
Modern Single Shot.

The match is shot over 25 metres, consisting of 13 shots to be loaded and fired in 30 minutes, with the top ten valued shots only to be scored.

Download: Black Powder Rulebook PDF

LINKS

Rules & Guides for Shooting Black Powder – nrc-pa.com
Reddit Forum – r/BlackPowder