by Dan Carlson

Ahoy all! I know that most of us all know how the black powder weapons in Blood and Plunder work in the game, but have you ever gotten to get behind some of these iconic weapons? I am lucky enough to have a friend who is a major black powder enthusiast, and we arranged a day for him, myself, and his nephew to take out some of his arsenal on his ranch! We fired off an array of black powder weapons and really got a feel for them and how they handled.

Before we dive right in, I need to issue a disclaimer. This is not going to be us measuring the accuracy of the weapons and pitting them against each other. This will mainly be focused on the loading and handling of the weapons in the 110 degree, 82% humidity of a Texas Summer. If that is something you’d be interested in, let me know and I will try to make it happen!

The Arsenal

While I am the proud owner of a functioning replica of a flintlock pistol, having simply 1 pistol would not make this article possible. So I reached out to my friend Michael, who is just as enthusiastic about black powder as I am, to arrange a day for us to go “blow stuff up”. He invited his nephew James along as well, as he doesn’t have a ton of experience behind some of these weapons so his insight could represent some New World Militia who were drawn up and maybe fire their weapons once a year. We hit a few locals stores for some ammo, and then headed out to the range. Once we got there, we laid out everything we had (if you were on the Firelock Games discord, you probably saw a preview!), and it is a lot!

All of the weapons shown here are replicas from various different manufacturers. I will include links as to where you may acquire your own as I cover each weapon. Before acquiring one of these magnificent weapons, I highly recommend you familiarize yourself with your local and federal laws regarding black powder and black powder firearms. We operated these weapons with eye protection and hearing protection, and followed the basic rules of firearm safety while on the range.

Black Powder Terms

Last but not least, there are a few terms to go over before we get into the meat and potatoes of this article!

Grains: Grains is a unit of measurement used for both black powder, smokeless powder, and projectiles (both modern projectiles and projectiles from before 1898). For this article, we will mainly be using this as a reference to the powder charge for each weapon.

Touchhole: This is a small hole drilled on the side (or top, in the case of the handgonne) of the barrel than allows fine priming powder to transfer a flame into the barrel, thus firing the weapon.

Slow Match: Typically hemp cord soaked in saltpeter and left to dry, this was is a slow burning rope used to ignite cannons, matchlock muskets, and other primitive firearms. This predates the flintlock mechanism most commonly assonated with the colonial era.

Compression: All muzzle loading firearms require the powder, ball, and wadding (material used to keep the ball from rolling out of the muzzle). In order to get the desired effect, all of these materials must be compressed in the barrel. A lack of compression will result in the ball not traveling as fast as it should, and can be pretty anti-climatic.

The Handgonne

This replica of a medieval handgonne is from Veteran Arms and comes with the touch-hole drilled and the S-lever for firing. We did not have any lead balls big enough for the bore, so we ended up using some of my own .60 caliber balls and we settled on a 60 grain powder charge.

As far as firearms go, this little replica is a bit odd. The stock is basically just a pole (I affectionately called it “The Stick”) that has been sanded into an octagon. The smooth sides and sharp edges makes getting a grip on the handgonne easy, but trying to use the included S-lever with a slow match is tedious and the lack of sights makes aiming difficult. This represents some of the first firearms every adopted and used in battle (if you play Blood and Crowns, I hear that writer Eric Hansen is messing around with some of these for the first expansion!).

While the replica itself is fantastic (good job Veteran Arms!), we had an issue getting enough compression inside the barrel because we simply didn’t have any appropriate ammunition. In the videos above, it sounds more like a “bloop” and less like a “bang!” due to the lack of compression. We were using .60 lead round balls for my pistol with as much wadding as we could get in the short barrel, and still could not get the desired “bang!” one would expect from one of these weapons. However, it was still very fun to shoot and I would recommend purchasing one!

Matchlock Arquebus

The next weapon on the docket was the one I was admittedly most excited for, Michael’s matchlock arquebus! Like the handgonne, this comes from Veteran Arms and the quality of this replica is astounding! The barrel is very thick, making this about 9 pounds (about 4 kilograms) in weight. While this has a relatively short barrel at 28′, it is a pretty handy firearm. The bore is just over .50 caliber, and we were bale to get enough compression out of it using a 60 grain powder charge.

For those who are familiar with firing flintlocks, there can be a small delay between the trigger being pulled and the weapon firing. For this matchlock though, I did not pick up on this at all, and firing the weapon felt instantaneous!

Another fun little quirk about the arquebus is that it does not currently have a traditional trigger. Instead, this weapon is equipped with a lever similar to those found on crossbows for the era. Also, the lock mechanism doesn’t “cock” in the same way a flintlock or percussion lock does. The lever just lowers the serpentine that is holding the slow match into the pan when the lever is depressed. Upon releasing the lever, the serpentine moves back into position. It takes a little getting used to, but it is still a very fun experience.

Despite the arquebus being more primitive than the flintlocks, we actually had the least amount of trouble with it! It went off reliably every time we depressed the lever and seemed to like the Hornady .50 caliber round balls we were using. The recoil was practically non-exsistant due to the weight of the weapon, and I would highly recommend snagging one if you’re able to!

The Blunderbuss

Not to be shown up by the arquebus, the blunderbuss is always a pleasure to shoot! Michael says he found this example in a pawn shop, but it looks very similar to the model that Access Heritage (if you choose to purchase form Access Heritage, you will need to have the touchhole drilled or do it yourself if youa re mechanically inclined!) offers for sale on their website. The barrel is .69 caliber, and we ran both steel bbs and .50 caliber glass slingshot ammo through it. The last time I was able to fire this weapon, we had forgotten to bring ammo, so we fished lots of various bullets from the hill and used those instead. We settled on a 50 grain powder charge for this weapon, and the results varied depending on the ammo used.

With the steel bbs, the recoil was stout! It wasn’t unpleasant, like shooting a WWI/II bolt-action rifle for hours on end, but it let you know you were slinging some serious lead…er…steel downrange! With the glass ammo, the recoil was significantly lighter and would be easier for a new shooter to enjoy. It was hard to tell what the spread looked like due to the range of our “targets” (a washing machine refrigerator, and an old car), but seeing as these were meant mainly for close range, we weren’t really worried about it.

The Hand Mortar

Michael’s hand mortar is made, once again, by Veteran Arms, and is a beautiful replica. The barrel is made entirely of brass, and is very thick. The chamber behind the 2.5 inch bore is .75 caliber, meaning there is plenty of room for powder and a wad for ease of firing. This is an exclusive weapon that only Veteran Arms makes at its price point! The only other way is to source a very hard-to-find kit, and then hope you put everything together correctly.

Michael uses billiard balls and tennis balls as ammo for the hand mortar, but we only had billiard balls on our trip to the range. There is a distinctive “bloop” sound that comes from the projectile leaving the barrel, and the recoil was not terrible at all. I was ready to get rocked, but it was more of a gentle push.

The Hand Mortar was something I had been itching to try since Michael had gotten his hands on one. It’s a weapon I have been writing into an expansion for Blood and Plunder, and was showcased in the Port Royal Kickstarter on the Weapons Sprue. This weapon was developed around the later half of the 17th century, and is designed to hurl grenades further than someone can throw. These are very useful for shooting grenades over fortifications, or lobbing them at defenders during a siege. While this hasn’t quite made it into Plunder yet, I’m hoping with some luck we’ll have it “Soon”.

Historically, these weapons were pretty dangerous. The flintlock mechanism is prone to misfiring, and the grenade’s fuse was lit before firing. This means if the weapon misfired, there was a lit grenade still in the muzzle. Attempts were made to have the powder charge light the fuse, but this usually resulted in the fuse being blown into the grenade, resulting in an explosion that was very close to the shooter.

The Doglock Pistol

Now we have finally moved onto the pistols! Pistols are iconic when it comes to the Golden Age of Piracy, and the classic image of a pirate or professional sailor with 2-4 flintlock pistols tucked in his sash, belt, or tied around his neck with a cloth has been around since Charles Johnson first wrote A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates. This represents an early form of flintlock, called a doglock. If functions just like a flintlock, and stands out due to the small lever behind the cock. Once again, Veteran Arms knocked it out of the park with this replica. Its feels much better than a non-firing replica, and fires a .50 caliber lead ball with authority.

The French 1733 Sea Service Pistol

This my my personal pistol, and is my very first black powder weapon. Its .62 caliber, weights about 7 pounds, is based off of a pistol in the Musee de l’Armee in Paris (The Army Museum) and is made by Access Heritage. The barrel is 12 inches long, and can be seen in use by Billy Bones in the Black Sails TV show. This pistol is a great place to start if you’re just getting into black powder. After purchasing the pistol, Michael was kind enough to drill the touch hole for me and gave me some powder to start out with.

The Queen Anne Pistol

The Queen Anne pistol was ahead of its time when it was introduced in the early 1700s. Originals have a screw off barrel, allowing the use to load the pistol from the chamber and them replace the barrel, which is considerably faster than loading from the muzzle. They are called “Queen Anne Pistols” because they came into fashion during the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714). While expensive, these would have been invaluable in boarding actions despite the relatively short barrel due to the fact that the barrels were typically rifled.

This pistol belongs to James and is a Pedersoli made pistol and is .50 caliber. This example is smoothbore, and was easy to load and easy to shoot. It is significantly lighter than the other two pistols, meaning carrying a few of these on a brace would have been easier to do, despite the lack of a belt clip. Of all the firearms we shot at this excursion, this was probably the best due to the fit and finish as Pedersoli makes some top-notch firearms.

The Cannon

Michael’s cannon is a scaled down replica of a Napoleonic cannon. It features a brass barrel with a steel sleeve on the inside for strength and safety purposes. I don’t have a link as to where you can acquire your own, but for those who *really* want a cannon, I’m sure some quick google-fu can point you in the right direction. Like the hand mortar, we used billiard balls for ammo, and they hit with AUTHORITY!

Loading a full-size cannon is a laborious process requiring many precise steps, even on this scaled down version, it helps to have 2 people even though 1 well-versed person is capable of loading. The trick is getting the powder charge into the recessed chamber without putting your face right in front of the muzzle (the scientific term for this is “bad idea”). It takes a bit of work if you’ve never loaded a cannon before, but Michael was able to seat it every single time. From there, the ball with some wadding to prevent it from rolling out is rammed in front of the chamber, and then a prick is used to poke a hole from the touchhole done into the powder charge. He then inserts a firework fuse and lights it before stepping back.

Our target was a very threatening Spanish refrigerator that had showed up on the property to claim the ranch in the name of its king. Seeing as we could not allow Michael’s ranch to fall into the hands of the filthy Spanish, we made sure to send it home packing. After a few shots, I managed to score a direct hit on the enemy refrigerator and was even able to retrieve the ball as a trophy! While it as not as loud as full-size cannons you’ll see at reenactments, the advantage here is that it is small enough to fit into the bed of a trunk for easy access (and to deter tailgaters!).

Conclusion

Black powder is sadly, a dying art. With so many modern options available on the market, the number of people actively using black powder both recreationally and for hunting seems to be dwindling and the most common groups are made up of older men keeping a tradition alive. While it may seem daunting, black powder is much easier to get into in the US due to the relatively relaxed laws surrounding them, with the hardest part is getting the powder if you don’t have a Cabela’s or gun store that stocks it. In Texas, there is a specific season for hunting with muzzleloaders, and most people are using more modern, “in-line” rifles instead of a more traditional weapon. I hope this article encourages some of you to start your own black powder journey and helps keep this art form alive!

If this article does well, I will do another one over at Dead Man’s Chest covering some of the weapons used during World War One! Michael has an extensive collection and is already doing inventory to see what he has so we can show everybody some cool firearms (possibly a really cool Lewis Gun!)!

Useful Links for Blackpowder Weapons

Access Heritage– Please note that all of the muskets and pistols do not come with the touchhole drilled for import purposes, and as such will need to be drilled yourself with a drill press. While its possible to do yourself, if you aren’t very experienced using a drill press I’d recommend having a professional gunsmith do it!

Veteran Arms– Veteran Arms’ muzzleloaders come with a pre-drilled touchhole, and their frizzens and hardened on-site to make them last longer. While they are more expensive, they are worth it if you have the extra coin to spend!

Pedersoli– Based in Italy, Pedersoli represents the most expensive items on our list. They specialize in historic replicas spanning multiple eras! From flintlocks from the 18th Century, to revolvers and rifles from the 19th Century, Pedersoli makes fine products and if taken care of will outlive their owners!

Additional Recommended Reading

• Searle’s Raid Reenactment Report
• Leopards of the Seas – History of the Bermuda Sloop
• Tour of Castillo san Marcos in St. Augustine
• Tour of Mission San Luis