1851 36 cal Navy

[jes0860]

I just ordered a 36 cal steel frame 1851 Navy. Since my brass frame 44 cal loosened up a month or so ago, I decided to change calibers and materials of construction.

I was shooting the 44 with 26 grains of Goex. I found load data that supported a 25, 30 or even 40 grain load, but 26 was too much for it!

I think the bore butter may have contributed to the problem, since the cylinder was very hard to pull off the stem. It seemed to be glued on.

Long story short, I found some data on the Goex website for 36 cal. It says 15, 20 and 22 should be OK. I was planning on using 18 grains.

Any feedback on the load for a 36 cal? Has anyone experienced any problems with bore butter? I would certainly appreciate any comments.

Thanks,

Jay

 

[Mike Brooks]

I use 19gr 3fff in mine and lube the arbor pin with Balistol.

 

[Mulebrain]

I 20 grains goex fff, with .375 lead ball. I use Crisco over the cylinder chambers.

 

[mykeal]

It's simply nonsense for anyone to have published data saying that 25, 30 or 40 grains was an appropriate load for a brass framed percussion revolver. Whoever posted such data should be ignored as having no clues about black powder loads.

I have the best accuracy with my Pietta .36 cal 1851 Colt Navy using 20 grains by weight of fffg real black powder under a lubed felt wad and a .375 round ball. I have not had a problem with fouling the cylinder base pin with that loading.

As for Bore Butter, I have recently switched to Ballistol for all the applications that I used to use Bore Butter for. I made the switch because Bore Butter got runny in hot weather. I did not experience the problem you had at any time using Bore Butter.

 

[mazo kid]

Jay, that loading data for the brass frame was way off, as folks here have verified. The Bore Butter does get runny when the weather/gun is hot. I have read on another forum about using SYNTHETIC grease for lubing the arbor pin and that seems to work. I bought a tube of Mobil 1 synthetic, about $5 or so, haven't tried it yet for over ball lube/sealer yet. That will be enough grease for a looooong time!

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I don't think you can get 40 grains of powder into a.44 Army size cylinder anyway and still seat the ball. That's a light load for a Dragoon model. 30 grains is a full load in my '60 Armies.

 

[bingo1952]

I don't know about an 1860 Army but a '58 Remington will take 40 grains under a round ball and 30 under a Lee conical. You can't use a wad with those powder charges though.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

ditto mykeal.
brass framed Colt .44's should not be shot with over 25 grs powder charge under the ball.
a '58 would handle it but best about 20 grs for target loads.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I just checked my Uberti Remington, and with 30 grains of FFFg I can just seat the ball level with the chamber mouth using normal force on the lever. Too much pressure and I'd be worried about overstressing the link pins in the ramming lever.

 

[Don]

I shoot 25 grains of Pyrodex P with regularity in my brass .44 Colts and have seen no signs of damage thus far. I only load more than 25 grains in my steel framed revolvers. In my .36 steel colts I load any where between 20 and 25 grains of pyrodex p without a problem. In my brass framed .36 colt I wouldn't load any more than 20 grains preferring 18 or 19 grains.

Don