any shame in wuss loads?

thought checkering the grip of my lyman 50 cal plains pistol would help. yup, i can hold on just fine, but 30 grains of FFFg seems to be too hot for the intended target (8 in steel round at 50 yds). Throttled down some, and found 20-22 gr of FFg had me on target with a pussycat recoil.
The question is.... do i lose guy points if you can count to 3 between ignition and clang?

Of course! You need to be shoving three 50 gr Pyrodex pellets down the barrel and be a man about it! None of that two handed hold stuff either. :haha:

For target shooting, use what ever achieves best results. :thumbsup:

bothenook said:

The question is.... do i lose guy points if you can count to 3 between ignition and clang?

Click to expand...

Real men shoot whatever they damn well please. :haha:

Spence

Nothing nearly as satisfying as using wuss loads to out shoot the "He Men" Knew a fellow that shot great 100 yd targets with 20 grain loads in a 40 cal rifle. Barely heard the thing poof when it went off.

Once at a range I challenged a guy to a pumpkin rolling contest. I had the thing roll almost 10 yards with one shot. His shot blew his pumpkin to bits. (Cost him $10.00.)

really fun when you can make a can dance down range. Impresses the heck out of the kids.

Amen !!!

For target loads, whatever works. That's the great thing about frontstuffers, you can change the load in the field depending on your needs.

Lets do the numbers........max on my GP Pistol is 30 grains 50% is 15 + 7.5 or 22.5 = 75%..a wuss? Naw, those are reasonable loads......shoot hot all the time you get to a point of diminishing returns...and the barrel or your hand will eventually lose..besides....does it clang or move...if so...great, if not adjust your POI and go some more......I had a guy with a 54 cal rifle shooting max at 120, I dialed him back to 80 and started from there....got him on paper and it was fun to shoot.....and not as big a bruise on the shoulder :nono: Good luck

GH

I think the max load for my TC Patriot is 35 grains 3F. I shoot 20 grains out of it. Still thumps. I plan to drop down to 15 grains next time I shoot it. I'm told it might group better with lighter loads.

Try 20-25 gr FFFG. No sense in beating yourself or the pistol up.
I met a gentleman a few years ago who was shooting "he man" loads in his really huge bore pistol. The barrel shattered the stock. He nearly lost his right thumb. He had to have some radical surgery to re-attach mangled parts of his right hand and forearm.
He kept the pieces of the pistol to show folks
I held the thing for a few minutes and decided I liked my parts right where they are supposed to be naturally.
Don't shoot anything more than what the pistol can handle with accuracy. Look at what the manufacturer recommends for loads.

50 yards is a pretty far target for a pistol too. FYI the .45 Colt began as a 40 grain powder load, was reduced to 35 grains, and reduced again by the US Army to 28 grain load, and stayed that way for many years. So you are not shooting a wuss load.

LD

a guy from TOTW told me the the same thing but your the first shooter to confirm it . he said several 100 yrd matches had been won with 25 gr out of 50 calibre rifles . im going to try that as soon as i can out of my 50 GPR

There was a guy that competed around here with a stubby little 38 caliber flintlock rifle. Barrel was perhaps 24 inches long and maybe 1 inch across the flats. "Woody" regularly won offhand matches with very small groups. he once told me that the barrel was actually a fast twist BPCR barrel. But a one in 20 twist would be ok for a small slow ball.

I am an unabashed user of wuss loads. I don't have that much experience in pistols, but I guarantee you I'd try to find the lowest charge that gives me the accuracy I want.

One caveat. I shot my last deer with what could be considered a wuss load out of my .58 rifle. I distinctly heard the deer utter "Wuss!" under his breath as he trotted off to die.

Load whatever works best for you and your gun.
Remember, It ain't the seconds that count, it's the clang that counts. Only a fool loads more powder than he needs to achieve his goals. :thumbsup:

I use 37 grains fffg in my 50 cal. pistol because it gives the best accuracy. I'm not sure but really heavy loads may be burning powder after the ball has already left the bore- just a waste of powder.

Bothenook
You did a great job on your grip. Better than i could do. May do it to my gun. Fixed the spring in my Patriot and gave it to my son in law. We will get out this next weekend and work up a load for his gun. I like soft loads and agree with the guys out there. Shoot what ya like and what you can hit with.

The paper cartridges issued during the Civil War for the 44 Colts and Remingtons ran somewhere between 20 and 28 grains of powder. You can handload them with 30+ grains of powder. Obviously they considered 20+ grains of powder behind a 44 ball to be adequate for serious self-protection work.

There just is no need to punish yourself if you are out there having fun. If you go hunting Grizzlies, then you want to max your loads.

Many Klatch

ive got a .40 calibre long rifle with a 1 in 48 and i use a heaped up 30 gr in it and recoil is nothing nearly and at squirell distance its deadly .

i shoot 15grs out of a 50cal dueling pistol. shoots great but high if i don't stay on the top of that front blade. put 25 grains in it at one shoot as we walked back across the empty rifle range. held 18" high on an 80 yd target and pulled the trigger. a short wait and all 3 of us started to walk away. 2 steps and we all heard the ding. go figure. only so much powder will burn in under 10 inches.

i geuss thats what they are talking about when they say diminished returns . if you get too much powder its bound to burn part of it past the muzzle i would think. i saw a picture of a inline shot at near dark and you could clearly see two of the big pellets burning in the air . am i allowed to say inline?