How accurate are black powder rifles ? Older versus newer ? How about black powder pistols as well ?

The shooter is normally the weak factor.





Blackpowder guns CAN be quite accurate, in fact black powder burns very consistently so it really works well for accuracy, providing other details like rifling and such are up to snuff.





A higher end well made blackpowder rifle, like a Sharpes Rifle, is very accurate, pretty much equal in accuracy as an off the shelf hunting rifle of today. And a blackpowder revolver such as you would find during the civil war, also pretty comparable to accuracy you would get out of a smith and Wesson purchased today.





There are more ways a blackpowder shooter can negatively affect his accuracy though. Cartridges are usually very consistent in powder charges, the person loading the black powder rifle might not be extremely exact.





Now, you keep on going further back in time and the accruacy gets less and less. The original hande-gunnes weren't accurate at all, part of that was they were jaming any old rock down the muzzle, and part of that was to shoot it you point it vaguely in the direction of the enemy, then you look at the charge hole and apply the match. A modern equivalent would be shooting a target rifle while watching the second-hand on your watch go around. Doesn't matter how accurate the target rifle can be if you aren't even looking down the sights at the target.How accurate are black powder rifles ? Older versus newer ? How about black powder pistols as well ?
My older front loading rifles aren't accurate at all. I will not shoot any games beyond 65 yards because the bullet might not hit the vitals. When I pull the trigger, I'm not even certain if the gun will fire. On average, I get 1 or 2 misfires every 20 shots. I also have an older inline front loader made by H%26amp;R. The gun felt ';modern'; but accuracy and reliability aren't very good as well.





My modern inline front loading rifles are very different. They will fire every time I pull the trigger. The accuracy is comparable to any modern rifles. I've never used them under extreme conditions (rain, snow...), so I don't know how reliable are they under those conditions.





As for black powder revolvers, their accuracy isn't too great but still acceptable. I think they are capable of better accuracy if their sights are better. Black powder revolvers are fairly reliable. Spent caps and/or powder fouling build up could jam the cylinder sometimes though. I don't have any black powder handguns of more modern design so I couldn't give you a comparison.How accurate are black powder rifles ? Older versus newer ? How about black powder pistols as well ?
Akluis gave you a very good answer.


I have many black powder guns and some of them are rifles that can shoot a group just as tight as my Remington 700 30-06. I have some cap and ball black powder revolvers that can produce groups tighter than a Glock at 30 yards.





So it all depends on the gun and mostly the shooter.


By the way I have a friend that can nail gulf balls thrown in the air with a Colt Walker and I have seen people hit a paper plate with a black powder Sharps at 1000 yards.
very accurate. in line with the 30 caliber rifles as far as accuracy is concerned.


Newer models more accurate then the older models


no experience with the pistols-sorry
The gun is only as accurate as the one firing it.