Hunting Pistol?

[skeet]

If I had my dithers, I would carry my 1860 Colt Army in my left hand and my 1851 Colt Reb Navy in my right hand and any deer within range would see some muzzleloading pistol fire!!

Anyhoo, Illinois reality doesn't allow for that type of John Wayne deer hunting.

 

[jdixon]

I took a doe last year with this pistol - photo below. I guess it could pass for something more like a sawed off carbine - .50 cal. 16.5" barrel - using 55 gr. of Fffg it produces about 1450 fps at the muzzle. It is good on whitetails out to 60 yrds or so.

 

[Protrucker]

J.R.
Nice job harvesting a couple whitails. :thumbsup:

Please give some details about your pistol. Make, model, etc. Do they make it in .54?

 

[jdixon]

That thing is a Pedersoli Kentucky Bounty pistol. I bought it as a kit gun on lark a couple of years ago. I wanted a pistol to hunt with and figured this one would fit the bill. Within limitations, it does. There is a post I did last winter on this pistol that lays out the particulars on it, complete with chronograph data and shots of some targets. See topic # 202409 - or this link may take you to that post -[url] http://www.muzzleloadingforum...?tid/202409/post/361413/hl//fromsearch/1[/url]/

 

[buttonbuck]

I shot the gp pistol today with a 380 real bullet and 40 grains of 3f. OUCH It kicked with more recoil than my 44 mag, it was uncomfortable and I consider the 44 mag just about right. SO I figure back it down to 30 grains and a roundball and get used to the gun. I need to spend some quality time with this pistol.

 

[Runner]

I told ya to put a pad on the trigger guard! At 60 grains of P, even a shooting glove on your hand is not enough when you get to double digit shot numbers. They make a 250 50 caliber REAL mold that might throw the perfect bullet for your gun. The 250 drops the recoil factor considerable. The Ballets are also a choice if you don't like round ball. At 30 yards, 40 grains under a 490 is plenty for deer. Somewhere I have a target with 13 straight shots touching at 30 yards with a CVA Kentucky 50. Course it was scoped. The guns are capable of good accuracy, but shooting them off hand with hunting loads is a challenge! For those not concerned with tradition, the Cheap Shots work very well out of most of these type of pistols. I don't want to discuss them here tho.

 

[jtmattison]

I shot the gp pistol today with a 380 real bullet and 40 grains of 3f. OUCH It kicked with more recoil than my 44 mag, it was uncomfortable and I consider the 44 mag just about right. SO I figure back it down to 30 grains and a roundball and get used to the gun. I need to spend some quality time with this pistol.

You should give the 300 grain REAL a try. It's not as painful as the 380.

IMO the Plains Pistol loaded with 35 grains of 3f and a PRB kicks about like a .44 mag.

HD

 

[torn moc]

40 gr !!!! YEE HAW!!!
I know what thats like!!! shot .66 CAL FLINTLOCK PISTOL WITH 40 gr one time and I learned Not to do that again!the hammer cut a 3/4" slice in myfinger that took 2 months to heal...
we got to learn the Hard way some times :shake:

 

[ryoung14]

Hi BMM,
Sounds like our handgun hunting backgrounds are similar. Before muzzleloading came along, I hunted mostly with a Contender.

Based on that experience, I often thought the TC Scout pistol in either .50 or .54 held the most potential as a BP hunting handgun. In one of his BP Loading Handbooks, Sam Fadala worked up some Scout pistol loads that packed a heckuva wallop...on paper anyway. As I recall, they'd take as much powder as the Scout rifle. Sam wasn't shy about saying they were a handful. Still, the hogleg grip frame would probably make the recoil easier to manage than something like a Plains Pistol.

The trick is finding one. They don't turn up often on the auction sites.
Bob

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I regularly use 40 gr. 3F in my CVA Hawken .50 under a PRB. stout load.

 

[Bountyhunter]

I normally carry this pistol in my belt. I took a nice little fork with it a couple years ago. I was coming in at dusk, and he stood up from behind a log about 15 yards out. I just calmly pulled the pistol and lifted his skull cap. I charge it with 40 gr of FFg and a .520 prb. Same powder and ball as my rifle.

Onlyiest problem is that the F&G Nazis in Kansas now specify that the barrel has to be 10" long. This one is just 9", but it works very well, and we dont allow F&G on our property anyway.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

nice pistol, is that one a 'Plains' model? .50 cal.? in my state NC you can't carry a pistol w/your muzzler rifle. doesn't make sense to me as you could use a cart to haul as many rifles to your stand/blind as you could handle.

 

[nightwolf1974]

Hi BMM,
Sounds like our handgun hunting backgrounds are similar. Before muzzleloading came along, I hunted mostly with a Contender.

Based on that experience, I often thought the TC Scout pistol in either .50 or .54 held the most potential as a BP hunting handgun. In one of his BP Loading Handbooks, Sam Fadala worked up some Scout pistol loads that packed a heckuva wallop...on paper anyway. As I recall, they'd take as much powder as the Scout rifle. Sam wasn't shy about saying they were a handful. Still, the hogleg grip frame would probably make the recoil easier to manage than something like a Plains Pistol.

The trick is finding one. They don't turn up often on the auction sites.
Bob

I have 2 in .54, I love them!

 

[Bountyhunter]

I believe it is a Bondini and it is just marked J&S Hawken. (Its 3AM, couldnt sleep, and the pistol is in the safe, and I dont want to wake everyone up trying to get it open.... :surrender: )

It is a .54, and has a single set trigger, and is incredibly accurate. I picked it up from a trader at a Rondy between Durango and Cortez, Colorado in the late '70's. It's been a lot of miles since then.

 

[mykeal]

Yes, it's a Bondini. Here's mine, a .50 cal:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

nice pistol, that drum shaped similar to a T/C threw me a curve. any idea what worth would be?

 

[flintlock2000]

I'm thinking of a winter project and have been looking for a nifty pistol kit. Where can I see the details on the Chambers pistol you mentioned? I've never seen one. Thanks!

 

[rkeltner]

i have one of the scout pistols in .54 cal, and like sam fadala said, it is a handful. that said, it can be shot quite accurately, easily putting its groups inside the kill zone. according to the t-c manual, with the max load(120 grs. powder, 430gr maxi bullet) it'll do better than 1800 ft. lbs. energy! back when they were still in production, i saw where one outdoor writer took an elk with one!(by the way, mine ain't for sale!)

 

[bigbore442001]

I owned a Scout pistol in .54 caliber when they first came out. I tried all kinds of loads in the gun but it seemed that nothing shot very well in it. I ended up selling the gun down the road. My muzzleloading hunting pistol is the Kahnke M82. The accuracy is superb.

 

[oldwolf]

Bigbore - Do you have a picture of your Kahnke?