Frock coat wearing, riverboat dwelling, southern gent
From what I'm learning about black powder pistol shooting - and all I know is second hand, I have no direct experience - it seems that probably the easiest type to shoot, and the wisest choice for a beginner, would be a rifled, single-shot, percussion.
Why?
Flintlocks / wheelocks/ matchlocks
- Require the use of real black powder, which is messy, corrosive, dangerous to handle and store, and often requires special permits.
- Have slower lock time.
- Have less reliable ignition.
- The pistols are frequently smoothbores, hence less accurate.
Percussion revolvers
- Have more complicated mechanisms, hence are more prone to malfunction, hence require more work, skill, expense, parts, to keep operational.
- I hear bad things about their sights.
- They seem to be awkward, bulky, compared to single shots.
- More work to clean properly, more potential for damage if you fail to.
- More dangerous, because they're spitting powder and may spit lead shavings out the cylinder: may ignite more than one chamber at once.
- Dirtier to the shooter, for the same reason.
Rifled percussion single shots
- Simple, enclosed firing mechanism: lighter, safer, clean lines: more reliable ignition than flint, more accurate than smooth, very little to go wrong.
Comments?
Jim
UBC's Police Pistol Manager
"Nasty, noisy things, revolvers, Count. Better stick to air-guns." Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone
Registered User
Revolvers are not that bad and are a lot of fun to shoot.
They are not that much work to clean and certainly not dangerous as long as your not a complete idiot.
The best thing to do would be get along to a club and try a few different types of gun before you decide what to buy.
I have recently bought a single shot pistol and already have a revolver, they are very different things and each has it pro's and con's.
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