jake hawks Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 when did they actually switch from black to smokeless and after did they still produce black powder rounds jake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 Posted February 1, 2011 Share Posted February 1, 2011 when did they actually switch from black to smokeless and after did they still produce black powder rounds jake So, which THEY are we talking about? Smokeless ammo and guns were commonly available by about 1892 in much of the US. The Winchester 94 was designed to use the new fangled smokeless round named the .30-30 (which looks like a BP cartridge name, but it's not). Mausers were being built for smokeless by 1891. Then again, many pocket pistols were not redesigned for smokeless until about 1900. Black powder cartridges continued to be produced for a long time (well, some even made today). Black powder shotshells were common even longer, as there was not that much to be gained by switching to smokeless in shotshells - ducks didn't mind some smoke, and the velocities were close to the same in shotshell loads for a long time. I understand it was pretty easy to find BP cartridges for the old BP chamberings until WW II and BP shotshells up till about 1955 or later. The depression made lots of folks hold on to old BP guns that in a normal economy would have been replaced by newer guns. It was a lot more common back in the late 1800's and early 1900's to think you just used up a gun and tossed it out or handed it to Junior after five or so hunting seasons, instead of trying to keep it running. Good luck, GJ PS: Here's a REALLY interesting article from Annie Oakley detailing her experiences with shooting black and smokeless powder at the time of the big transition. http://www.traphof.org/People-Stories/annie-oakley-powders-i-have-used.html GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willie Earp, SASS#19022 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Hey I'll agree with everything that Garrison said. It really depended on the cartrige too. I have info that the 38 Special (for example) was first introduced in 1898, as a Black Powder cartridge. The use of smokeless in that cartridge, occured about 1901 (one source seys 1903). The last year for commercial manufacture of 38 Special Black Powder cartridges was 1908, so there was a "cross-over" period of about 5 or so years. As a general rule, if a cartridge was introduced as a smokeless, (like a 30-30), then no one ever marketed a commercial version in Black Powder. If anyone can find a BP referance to 30-30, then I will stand corrected. Regards, Willie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I've seen 45 Colt BP cartridges that were dated in the 1920s. I'm sure some cartridge collectors will chime in here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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