MVTC Ketland Trade Pistol

[grampaJ]

Well , the brown toy truck left one at my house today. The order was telephoned on 3-31.Received as described. 8" brass barrel.607 id smoothie. Now for the fun part. I will order some balls for PRB to see which works best.Planning on fffg,Goex. Probably begin with 30 grains,and 25 and 35 respectively. What will be new to me will be learning wads and shot loads. I am sure there are some BTDT experiencs to be passed along, so help me out. The only negative that I have found so fas as Q goes are the barrel pins standing proud of the stock, Making smoke in NC, GrampaJ :v
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[torn moc]

Sounds Great !! ...But

Photos Please !!!

 

[poordevil]

I have been interested in that one myself. Mike Nesbitt did a review of it in a Muzzleloading Mag. a while back. If I remember right , it was mostly favorible. Keep us posted on the progress you make with it. I have also been looking at the percussion Tower Sea Service Pistol by Loyalist Arms

P

 

[grampaJ]

If ya just gotta have some eyecandy, go to Middlesex Village Trading Company and look at their pistols. The Ketland is an English smoothbore. I'm going to obtain .570 balls with .018 lubed patches which TOW will be sending along... Latest from GrampaJ in NC. :hatsoff:

 

[grampaJ]

Patches and .570 balls came today. Now to find time for the range.Can't believe nobody's wanting to talk possible shot loads GrampaJ

 

[Zonie]

"HODGDON'S New Black Powder DATA MANUAL NO. 1", 1971 shows the load for a .58 U.S. Springfield Pistol Model 1855 as being a .570-.575 patched roundball over a powder load of 40 grains of FFg powder.

As a sidenote, this manual was published about the time I started into the world of muzzleloading and for years it was the only guide I had.

edit:
As a sidenote the manual shows loads for shotguns too.
For a "light" 28 guage load they recommended 1 1/2 drams (48 grains) of FFg under 5/8 oz (273 grains) of shot.

A .570 roundball weighs 278 grains so that shot load would be very close to the same weight.

 

[goon]

Will the brass barrel require a lighter load? Just wondering out of idle curiosity.

(Not that a .570 round ball at any velocity would be a good thing to have coming at you...)

 

[Zonie]

Woops! I didn't notice this was a brass barreled pistol.

The problem with brass barrels is that unless you know exactly what kind of brass it is made from you don't have any idea about its strength. It could be almost any kind and there are lots of kinds.

Brasses vary in tensile strength from over 100,000 psi (hard) to less than 32,000 psi (annealed). This lower value is about half the strength of the typical low carbon steel used for muzzleloading gun barrels).

Adding to the problem, the Yield strength of some annealed brasses can be as low as 10,000 psi.
The typical Yield strength of low carbon muzzleloader barrel strength is about 32,000- 60,000 psi.

Without going into details the Tensile strength is the point that the material breaks and the Yield strength is the point where the material takes a permanent bend.

Anyway, without knowing the actual mechanical properties of the brass I would say a 25 grain load would be a max and I'm going out on a limb even giving that as a safe figure.

 

[poordevil]

Try to get hold of the Mike Nesbitt write up in Muzzleloading Mag. He shot that model and treated it like a real gun with real, not baby light, loads. Like you, he noticed it had some cosmetic issues, but other wise was built safely.

P

 

[M Kuhn]

I went straight to the horses mouth and asked about this gun.
Pete is their tech at MVTC and he stated 35 grains as max load for that gun with an equal amount of shot.
He said it would probably shoot higher powder loads but that it could eventually stress the brass barrel and he didn't recommend it.
Also mentioned that the barrel on that particular gun is a little short for effective shot loads.
The steel barrels would obviously be stronger but for brass barrels 35 grains max.

 

[poordevil]

SO How is the pistol working for you? Do you like it, does it work? Would you recamend it?? :bow:

 

[grampaJ]

Apologies Aplenty...Runnball and I have broken it in but have not worked on easing the triggerpull. The half-cock distance is greater between unfired and half than it is from half to ready.(Don't know how else to say it.) But it is easy to get used to. I would recommend it to any looker for a smoothie pistol. I haven't tried shot in it yet and am not impressed with my shooting smoothies yet but it's coming. Used 30 of FFg, FFFFg prime .570 PRB using heavy pre-lubed P's from TOW. Gpop in NC :thumbsup:

 

[mjn]

I have no knowledge of the Indian flinters so my question is, do they seem like solid guns? Are they worth the money?

 

[grampaJ]

To my eyes they are well worth what they cost ($325 and $25 Shipping) They are solid and I had no fears in firing the pistol. The lock sparked and I have never had any misfires. BTW you will need to furnish a flint as they come without one..7/16" worked well. Could take wider. Touchhole already bored. GrampaJ in NC :thumbsup:

 

[grampaJ]

Runnball and I eased the trigger pull on the Ketland by lightening the sear spring, slicking up the pivots and otherwise polishing lock interior. You don't have the tendency to pull off your aim to get it to fire now. I'm a happier camper now. (Actually I was in charge of watching and encouragement along with the cat who was also intensely interested in the outcomes :v GrampaJ

 

[nkbj]

Yep, cat makes all the difference. :wink:

 

[grampaJ]

Since the cat improved the trigger pull, Runnball and I have had better opportunity to wring the Ketland out.Runnball is able to hit a three inch circle at aprox 25 yards consistently. Been doing smoothbores several years but I'm gaining on him. Suffice it to say, I am NOT interested in spending any time observing the weather if it was being pointed in my direction. The brown toy truck brought it but it aint no toy. Get one and have a ball.No pun intended. GrampaJ in NC :thumbsup:

 

[Celt5494]

I've had their Germanic cavalry pistol for a good five years now and have had zero problems with it. Always sparks and shoots. As much as a smoothbore can be it's quite accurate. Only thing is it is extremely large so if you have small hands I might recommend a smaller model but I believe their guns to be solid and they have great customer service.

 

[LRB]

All of these India guns need to be considered as an assembled kit to be rebuilt. In most cases. I bought one of their, MVTC, British heavy Dragoon pistols. I am extremely pleased with it, but it was a lot of work in making it into a reliable, halfway, accurate copy of the originals. It will pay to Kasenite the critical moving parts in the lock, after you smoothe them up. The tumbler and sear are case hardened, but it is shallow, and they wear fast. They are no where near any description of quality, but for the price, and some work, they can be adequate. There is no way I would recommend MVTC guns to anyone who isn't capable of re-working the gun themselves. You are dealing with sloppy threads, over sized tumbler holes, very poor sear/tumbler notches, very shallow case hardening, Horrible frizzen to pan fits which are a project all to their own, way too much wood, and crappy wood at that. Wood to metal fit, I've seen worse. At any rate, this is what I ended up with, and as I said, quite pleased with the end result.

 

[denster]

Looks like you did a pretty nice job of turning a sow's ear into a silk purse Wick.