How much is too much?

[RedFeather]

Been thinking about a single shot percussion pistol. In .45 or .50, how heavy a charge do you reckon would become uncomfortable? I passed on a .58 horse pistol because most owners said it became unmanageable at about 60 grains with round ball. Impractical for minies. Saw two of the new in-fernals and one was touted as rated for 120 grains ("the other brand only goes up to 70"). That's got to be brutal. Not looking to hunt but might be fun to play a bit with heavier charges, within reason.

 

[Adui]

I dunno, as I recall my rifle becomes uncomfortable to shoot above 90 Grains with a conical (375Gr maxi and it might have been 95 gr).. I have fired as much as 100gr with a round ball and it wasnt bad, but thats in a rifle..
Im thinking a pistol in .50 cal would be fun up to about 50 grains with a round ball, after that it might not be so much fun to shoot. With a minnie, or my Maxi hunters.. Not sure Id shoot that out of a pistol. Of course, a heavier pistol might be ok with a round ball and higher loads; I would personally experiment I dont know without trying it..

 

[Wes/Tex]

Most commercial pistols will easily handle twice their bore size in powder charge; 90 grains in .45, 100 grains in a .50. Usually loads in the 30 to 40 grains are about right for general shooting. I've played the game you asked about, starting with the M.1855 horse pistol with balls and Minies and a whole lot of powder. Not very pleasant in many cases, but entirely manageable. Most fun was loading blanks in that rascal using something like a tea cup for a powder measure and being part of a cowboy shoot-out in the Astrodome...the manure they give you about clearing smoke out of the place in 20 minutes is just that. We did our little thing between games at a double header and it was about the 6th inning before the outfielders could see fly balls! "Crack"...where is it, where is it, where is it?? "Plop", nobody near it!! What a hoot!! :rotf:

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I would be concerned with cracking the stock from the heavy charges. I saw one that had let go and heavily injured, damaged... the shooter.

For a .45 cal, I would probably shoot 20-25 gr FFFG. For a .50, maybe 25-30 grs plus or minus.I would not go any higher than what the manufacturer recommends.

 

[MikeyC]

I shoot my .54 with 35 grains of 3F. Stout load.
Mike C.

 

[cynthialee]

My .50 CVA Hawken Pistol seems to be happy with 30 grains of 3F.

 

[Coot]

I have a .50 flint pistol with a 12" barrel (Jim Chambers kit) and normally shoot 26 grains with a .490 ball. On one occasion I became distracted while loading & double charged the powder (52 grains). :redface: Wasn't any doubt that I was shooting a magnum when that double charge went off. I don't recommend it.

 

[RedFeather]

Thanks! I figured as much. Don't want to get the .44 magnum "S&W" tattoo, if you know what I mean.

 

[crockett]

Same here although I use 37 grains fffg with a 50 caliber and a .018 patch.
I may be wrong but somewhere in the back of my mind is a notion you can only drive a pistol ball so fast- after top velocity is reached you are wasting powder- the ball is already out of the barrel. I think shotguns with round pellets are similar- only so fast you can push a round sphere- or so I think. In any event there are all sorts of stories of double charges or someone used their rifle measure on the pistol, etc- generally both gun and shooter survive but not much else is accomplished.
Since a round ball can only be driven so fast the option for more power is a greater ball- like some of the 69 caliber horse pistols, etc. Years ago I was in Union City TN and visited Dixie gun works and they have a lot of stuff not in the catalog- or at least they did many years ago. They had a BIG 69 caliber Tower "Pirate" type pistol that I regret buying. Smooth bore but one big handgun.
So on a 50 caliber 30-40 grains. For me, I get better accuracy at 37 grains, the only reason I use that charge.
If power is what you are after, maybe go with a conical that drives deeper into game. You'll be on rare ground- I don't know anyone shooting them out of a single shot pistol but they ought to work (I guess).

 

[cynthialee]

my Hawken pistol has a 1:48 twist
I don't want to put the amount of powder it would require to stabilize a conical through the thing.

 

[Heelerau]

I have shot 50 grs of FFFg out of my \3rd Mod Dragoon a few times, pretty lively load, worst of that the loading lever would come undone. Just use about 28 grains of FFFg in her now, and ver pleasant with plenty of punch when needed.

 

[fraungie]

I shoot conicals that I cast from a lee .450 mold. They weigh in at 200 grains. I shoot them out of my .45 cal CVA KY pistol. They work fine. I grease them with crisco and use 30 grains of 3F. It gives you a heavier bullet than the ball. I bought the mold for my 1858 Remington. I can't get them to go into the colt 1860. They seem to shoot about the same as the round ball. The round ball is a little mote accurate from the revolver.

 

[Swede50]

30 grs of pyro RS with a RB in a 45, 50 or 54 is comfortable.
I have shot 50 grs of Pyro with a 54 REAL boolet and it has more punch and recoil but it is a good dear load.

 

[timothymattson]

Can you shoot RS powder in a pistol, what is the advantage?

 

[Billnpatti]

I have a .54 caliber pistol that a friend built. It seems to prefer 25 grains of 3f for targets. I tried upping my charge to 30 and 35 grains but it seemed that nothing but more recoil was gained. Those short barrels can burn only so many grains of powder and after that, the extra powder is blown out the muzzle in an unburned condition. Enjoy your pistol with the lower charges. It will be happier and you will be happier with the lower recoil. If you want to see how much powder your pistol can burn efficiently, get a chronograph and fire 3 to 5 of each load over it. Start with 20 grains and work up in three to five grain increments. Make notes of the average velocity of each load and at some point you will see that the velocity gained is less than the powder that you added. It's easiest to see if you make a graph of your velocities versus your powder charge. The graph will go up in pretty much of a straight line until you reach your maximum efficient load. At that point, your line will start to bend. At the point where it starts to bend, is your maximum efficient load. That means that adding more than that amount of powder isn't going to get you much.

 

[Zonie]

Can you shoot RS powder in a pistol, what is the advantage?

Sure you can shoot Pyro RS (or 2Fg black) in a pistol if it is a percussion cap style.
It will work fine in a revolver or a single shot pistol.

The RS powder is made for shooting rifles and shotguns so it burns a bit slower than the Pyro "P" (pistol) powder.
Light powder loads of RS like most pistols use will also produce a little more fouling and less velocity than a equal load of P makes.

That said, I see no advantage in using RS in a pistol except maybe if you are using it in a rifle or shotgun you only have to have one kind of powder.

Speaking of one kind of powder, Pyrodex P will also work in rifles if the powder charge is reduced about 10 percent below the RS load.

Some rifles shoot better with the P. Some don't.
The only way to find out is to try it and see what the results are on a target.

 

[theoldredneck]

From the stand point of how much is too much. Let me give you something to think about. I know this is a muzzle loading forum but recoil is recoil. The long term damage you can do is not always apparent at the time. Some of us that have used the heavy recoil handguns for years are having wrist and hand problems now. Wisdom would be to do the heavy recoil loads in moderation.