hopkin allen under hammer

[rawhide]

hey gang just picked up a under hammer yesterday. ben looking for one for some time. .50 cal. I havn't miked the bore yet but looks to be a shooter. brought it for $145.00 only bad on the gun was it still had a charge in the bore! no ball just powder. scrubed it out put a light down super good shape! lands still have sharp edges. I think I got a deal anyway... well to my question. load data? what the min and max on this guy. or good target load? mostly just going to be a rondy gun. thanks rawhide.

 

[Many Klatch]

For a starting load you can't go too wrong with one grain per caliber. That would make your load about 50 grains. 35 grains makes a nice pop when shooting a pistol. If all you want to do is make smoke and noise for the flatlanders, use 35 grains of 3F.

Many Klatch

 

Rawhide,
To the best of my knowledge H&A UH pistols were offered in .36 & .45 caliber, perhaps yours has been re-barreled? In any case I don't think you will need any more that 30-35 grs of 3F for starters and may find it adequate for 25 yards. I only use 45 grs in my .50 rifle for 25 yards.
Mark
Mark

 

[rawhide]

everything I'm finding is on the .36 looked at gunbroker there was one .50 looks just like mine. mine looks way better shape. and it is marked hopkins & allen. weather pemitting hope to shoot it today.

 

Rawhide,
Not to be picky but the H&A on Gunbroker is a .45. I also feel that he is asking to much money for his pistol. I have had a couple over the years and always found them to be reliable, fun and accurate. Good shooting.
Mark :thumbsup:

 

[rawhide]

oops my bad I think it was guns america or some place like that they had a .50 h&a. estamated at 300-500 bucks. well at any rate... shot the h&a yesterday nice shooter. sarting load was 15 grains a cast .490 ball and a .012 spit patch. shot a little low. tried 20 grains group upened up a bit. at 30 she gets pretty jumpy! and groups suck. tried one at 40 wow what a hand full! but was spot on. think it was luck. so 15 grains I think is the load for target work. just need more range time and adust the sights alittle. :thumbsup:

 

Rawhide,
Sounds like you'll get it together. Have fun.
Mark :thumbsup:

 

[omarick1948]

Rawhide,
To the best of my knowledge H&A UH pistols were offered in .36 & .45 caliber, perhaps yours has been re-barreled? In any case I don't think you will need any more that 30-35 grs of 3F for starters and may find it adequate for 25 yards. I only use 45 grs in my .50 rifle for 25 yards.
Mark
Mark

I have a factory original H&A UH pistol in .32 caliber! They made 'em!

 

Horner,
It's very possible that the .50 being spoken of is original also, I am only aware of the .36, .45 and now a .32. I am certainly not an authority, only an enthusiast.
Mark

 

[rawhide]

.32 would be cool! well next question is becuase it don't say on it is this a numrich import or not. I don't think it is. threads on nipple look bigger then 6x1 metric plus the nipple wouldn't fit any of my cva guns. witch is 6x1 threads. so is it 1/4x 28?

 

[mocons]

Sorry about the late response, but the old H&A underhammers used a 1/4" x 32 threaded nipple. You can get them from TOW. They even come in different lengths depending on your barrel thickness.

 

[hawkeye2]

H&A didn't import, they are all made in the USA and all the threads are US. Production began in the early 60s before manufactures had any interest in the metric system. H&A/Numrich also sold parts to other assemblers so you may find them with other's names on them but all guns based on the H&A action were made stateside.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

In order to keep the nipple and trigger guard as the spring, the breech of the bore is a couple inches ahead of the trigger. Making for a very short barrel. Putting 50 grains of powder in one would leave only 3 or 4 inches of bore space between the ball and the muzzle. Certainly not enough to burn up 50 grains of powder.

I have the 1982 ad for the Deluxe Target Boot Pistol in 45 caliber scanned inot my computer. The nipple is only about 5 inches from the muzzle. The Deluxe Target Boot Pistol also have a walnut forearm. (Why?)

 

[zimmerstutzen]

 

[Ray-Vigo]

One grain per caliber is better suited to rifles. 50 grains in a pistol is going to kick hard by comparison. Even the Lyman Plains Pistol in .50 recommends staying below 45 grains. I'd lead off at 25 grains, which to me is more a medium target load for a pistol. The better half's .50 pistol shoots nice groups at 25 yards with only 15 grains. 20 grains works for her at 50 yards. Yours will vary somewhat, but using full rifle loads for these is going to come out way hot, it seems to me.

 

[rawhide]

well I fond that 15 grains of 777 FFFg works well, I'm using a .010 cotten patch and a cast .490 ball. off the bench it dose ok. off hand with it I wiggle way to much. I need more range time with it. hope to take it out here real soon weather here has been realy wet!

 

[Ray-Vigo]

That sounds to me like a reasonable target load. Sometimes "less is more" with targets.