by James Downey | Apr 16, 2024 | .38 Special, .450 Adams, .450 CF, .455 Webley, ammo, ammunition, BBTI, black powder, Bull Dog, Bulldog, cartridges, Colt, Discussion., Firearms, Guns, Hunting, jim downey, Revolver, self defense, Shooting, Webley No. 2, Wikipedia, YouTube
Some firearm designs are iconic, almost mythic. One of those was introduced in the early 1870s, and was widely carried both by military forces and civilians, and is credited by many firearms historians as being a critical factor in the ‘taming of the...
by James Downey | Mar 1, 2024 | .357 Magnum, .357Magnum, 9mm Luger, 9mm Luger (9x19), ammo, ammunition, Anecdotes, ballistics, BBTI, black powder, Data, Discussion., Firearms, General Procedures, Guns, Hand Gonne, jim downey, Liberal Gun Club, maker
Last Spring I made a 14th century style Hand Gonne from bronze stock using minimal tools and equipment, just to see what was possible. That project turned out to be a big success, and the resultant hand gonne has been popular among friends and when I taught last...
by James Downey | Apr 7, 2023 | .40 S&W, ammo, ammunition, Anecdotes, ballistics, BBTI, black powder, Discussion., Firearms, General Procedures, Guns, Hand Gonne, jim downey, Liberal Gun Club, maker
Last Fall I taught a day-long workshop on “Primitive Black Powder Firearms” for the Liberal Gun Club‘s Annual Meeting in Las Vegas. In addition to my own black powder guns, I borrowed a couple of items from friends to help fill out the historical...
by James Downey | Aug 4, 2022 | .45, Anecdotes, BBTI, black powder, Derringer Liegi, Glowforge, Guns, jim downey, lasers, Liberal Gun Club, Pedersoli
A couple of weeks ago I posted about finishing a Liegi Derringer kit, then doing the laser work to customize the grips. It turned out well enough, so I decided to finish and laser a second kit, to use as a door prize for a black powder workshop I’m doing at the...
by James Downey | Jul 26, 2022 | .22, .22short, ammo, ammunition, Anecdotes, ballistics, BBTI, black powder, cartridges, Derringer, Discussion., Firearms, Guns, jim downey, reproduction, Sharps Pepperbox, Uberti
As anyone who has read much of this blog probably knows, I (and the other BBTI guys) like weird guns. Anything that is innovative, or unusual, or uses a transitional technology, is likely to catch my eye. One of those I got to try this past weekend is a reproduction...
by James Downey | Jul 25, 2022 | .45, Anecdotes, ballistics, BBTI, black powder, Data, Derringer Liegi, Guns, jim downey, Pedersoli
Last week I posted about a little Liegi derringer that I finished and did a laser design on. Well, over the weekend I got together with the BBTI gang and, among other things, had a chance to shoot and chrono the little gun. Here’s a short slo-mo vid of shooting...
