Load for a .36 Navy

[Gene L]

1861 Navy, Uberti with a steel frame. I'm getting various info from the web; I think about 20 gr. fffg, round ball, mainly because I have a spout for that amount for my flask. Does that sound about right?

 

[Zonie]

20 grains of 3Fg powder sounds like an excellent powder load for a .36 cal Colt Navy.

Have fun.

 

[smoothshooter]

Start out with full loads, and work your way down.
This information applies only to percussion revolvers.

It's pretty hard to screw up as long as you don't drop the charges so low you stick a ball in the barrel. I wouldn't go below 15 grains by weight.

 

[Gee Dog]

I enjoy various loads in my steel frame Navies. Anywhere from 18 to 25 grains and a .380 work great for me. I use a Pietta ”˜51 and a ”˜61 and 22 grains Pyrodex P, Black MZ or 3f black seems nearly ideal. Twenty grains of T7 is a nice load too; good power and accuracy combined.

My only brass frame is a Griswold & Gunnison (.36) and I keep that at 15 grains.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Some guys shoot as little as 5 grains of FFFg with cornmeal filler or COW (creamed wheat) over the powder to bring the ball near the mouths.

 

[MSW]

when I had time to shoot it, I used 20 grain of 3F Goex, then a paper wad, then some instant grits, then another paper wad (I cut them from milk cartons) then a .357 RB and a wee bit of grease. the ball should come to just shy of the mouth of the cylinder.

fun to tinker with - light recoil and reasonably accurate.

it goes bang, it smells bad and ”¦


you could put your eye out!!!!!

what's not to like?

 

[nkbj]

Gene, my best load for the '61 is a Lee round nosed 9mm mold modified with a 3/8" drill, the bullets rolled between a couple pieces of formica to put a bevel on the base loaded over a full charge of FFFg. In the '80's that was the closest I could get to the original military ball. Very accurate, deadly on bean cans and field mice and when the gongs go SPANG! people wonder what in the world that guy is shooting over yonder.

 

[Grenadier1758]

when I had time to shoot it, I used 20 grain of 3F Goex, then a paper wad, then some instant grits, then another paper wad (I cut them from milk cartons) then a .357 RB and a wee bit of grease. the ball should come to just shy of the mouth of the cylinder.

fun to tinker with - light recoil and reasonably accurate.

it goes bang, it smells bad and ”¦


you could put your eye out!!!!!

what's not to like?

I am certain you meant to type 0.375" diameter ball.

Measure your cylinder mouth. The loading process should shave off a small ring of lead. At least it should be a firm friction fit. My Uberti navies require a 0.380" ball.

 

[Gene L]

I'm in it for the fun, not for putting holes in playing cards. I'm not that good of a handgun shot and don't compete. So I'm going with what I have rather than what would stop a charging bad guy.

 

[Larry Akers]

I shoot an Uberti Leech and Rigdon in competition and use 15 gr. 3F and enough Farina (about 10gr. volume) to bring the ball (.375) to the mouth of the cylinder. 25 yd. aiming point is 6 o'clock on the 10 ring and center at 50 yds. I usually come home from Friendship with a medal or three.

 

[crockett]

20 grains sounds about right. You don't want any air space between the powder and the ball so you want to seat the ball down on the powder. If you use a wad, that's okay, just seat the ball down firm, with the wad between powder and ball.

As a general rule you want the ball as close to the front end of the chamber as possible- so it travels immediately into the barrel. This usually improves accuracy. That is the reason some folks use fillers (like cream of wheat). They want to use a light powder charge AND they want the ball at the end of the chamber so...to avoid any empty space between powder and ball, they use the filler.
I've found that I get better accuracy with larger powder charges, somewhere around 18-20 grains. If you use a thick wad that takes up space, then 18-20 grains is about all you can get in the chamber. You can get close to 25 grains if you omit the wad and put lube over the ball but I never push things that far. I like the wads as they are less messy that lube. They also sweep the bore with each shot, taking out a lot of fouling. You can make your own wads, and I've done that but the manufactured wads are better in my opinion.

 

[nkbj]

I'm in it for the fun, not for putting holes in playing cards. I'm not that good of a handgun shot and don't compete. So I'm going with what I have rather than what would stop a charging bad guy.

You know what? That's the piece I was packing the only time I ever went room to room clearing a house and expecting a confrontation. The perps had already left so I can't testify as to what kind of awesome whoopie combat potential resides in the 1861. But the looks on the faces of the Houston PD officers were priceless.
:rotf:

 

[Heelerau]

I have used 15 grains of FFFg Goex, greased hard felt wad over powder for years. The mate who I bought my Uberti London Navy Colt from over 35 years ago, did replace the fore sight wit a taller brass one (bronze welding rod) so it is now POA is dead on at 25 yards. It has also been good enough to dispatch the occasional wounded "hopping deer"

 

[Sasquash]

Hi
I have 2 navy pietta´s, one with steel frame and another with brass frame.

They do have different twist rates.
The steel frame one is new production and has a fast twist rate, and likes .375ball + 15gr of 3f swiss powder + 10mm felt wad.

The brass frame one is older has a slower twist rate and likes more velocity: .375 ball + 17gr 3f swiss powder + 5mm felt wad.

I seal the chambers with Nivea Creme...you know I like my hands smooth and hidratated, why not saving time doing it while shooting??? XDDDDDDDD.

 

[azmntman]

I seal my chambers with lead :grin:

I do often use a felt wad too if I plan on shooting more than a cylinder or two. Use to use Crisco but its real messy, coats the drivers side mirror pretty well with blackened crisco which is a beast to get off in the field :td:

 

[aeatwood]

Try 2F as well.

 

[TFoley]

Due to a 'slight' mistake on the order form, my gun club's beer mats arrived by container truck - seems we'd ordered 100,000, rather than 10,000. Sooooooooooo, here we are, a few years later, still using them for making VERY fine wads for all kinds of BP shooting, rifle and pistol. I actually had to resharpen my .45cal wadcutter at least four times last time I banged out a couple of thousand wads for my .44cal revolvers and I still have a stack of beer mats from floor to the underneath of my loading/casting bench. Mrs tac just reminded me that there is another box of five thousand under the stairs.... I used to soak them in some kind of cooking fat, until I realised where the fish and chip smell was coming from whenever I was shooting. Not soaking them doesn't seem to have made the slightest difference - not that I'd notice anyway.

 

[Rat]

In my Remington Navy I'm not sure about the weight, but what has worked forever is a .38 special case for a measure, for loading the slug, or conical bullet, and a .357 Mag case as a measure for round ball. I use felt wads under the ball, and Swiss 2f. No grease or fillers, as that would be kind of a hassle when out in the wilds. In fact, when I carry it afield and afar when hunting big game, I carry paper cartridges for it. Not combustuble, but just a paper cylinder, tear open, pour in powder, then the ball and wad is in the end of the paper. The pistol is really accurate, and the ".36" has plenty of power. It will dispatch a deer, or even bigger game if you know where to place the bullet. On the other hand, that small ball really does not damage much meat on small game.

 

[bigted]

Rat, fun fact here concerning your 36.

Decades ago an outfit discovered that a man and a deer take about the same to kill concerning handguns. This "company" used to use goats or deer to wound and patch up for drill.

The same outfit used different handguns to dispatch the same goats and deer to determine effectiveness at killing.

So figuring how many men got killed in the civil unease, then the leap to dispatching deer with the good old 36 cal revolver used in proper effective range.

 

[Rat]

My understanding is that the .36 cap and ball revolvers, being either Remington or Colt, were equal to a modern .38Spl, in effectiveness. Energy tables, or foot pounds of energy won't bear this out, but in actual effectiveness, or effect they are pretty equal. That makes sense to me. Kind of like there are lots of modern rifle cartridges that won't drop a buffalo, but have much more "power" than a 45-70, but a .45-70 drops buffalo very well. Maybe it was that same outfit...not sure where I read it. Anyhow, don't want anyone shooting me with a .36!!!