31Colt penetration test

[Leatherbark]

I shot my Uberti 31 into a water soaked Numrich arms catalog.......Its about 3 inches thick where its swelled with water..........The 31 penetrated to page 698 and another penetrated to page 649. the balls were unhurt except for the rifling marks...I think I could have used them again.............They penetrated deeper than I figured they would.
Another test involved a steel Maxwell house 3 lb coffee can........The 31 penetrates both sides out to 25 yards..........My load consists of as much 3fg that will go in the chamber and still have room for a wad and ball with around 1/8 inch cleareance left.......I figure around 15 grains of powder..This load chronos in the low to mid 700's.....In all I was well surprised at the .320 balls performance. I'm wondering if the Single "O" buckshot I'm using may be harder than pure lead?......................Bob

 

[Blizzard of '93]

pure lead is very soft, it can be marked with thumbnail. what range was the catalog at when you did the test on it?

 

[Leatherbark]

I shot the catalog at 10 feet. I shot the can at 10ft and then moved it to 25 yards.......still punched through both sides.....I then moved the catalog to 50 yards and nailed it with the Blue Ridge with a .490 ball on top of 80 gr of 3f........Blasted all the way through. Ripped it pretty good................Bob

 

[torn moc]

I just bought one of those little fellas..havent shot it yet. People usually dont think they are that strong....I sure wouldnt want to get hit by one....Nice little gun though arent they. People actually depended on these for self defense way back in the day.Thanks for doing the test!

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[Russianblood]

Commercially cast buckshot has around 3% antimony in it. It may have made for better penetration being harder than pure lead.

 

[44-henry]

I've got a pair of Uberti 49's that I actually haven't shot yet. I do remember some years back I had a Navy Arms Wells Fargo that I did some shooting with and I had no problem driving the Hornady ball through seasoned 2x4's with full loads of 3fg Goex. That Wells Fargo model accounted for lots of gophers in one summer and it had the uncanny habit of actually shooting point of aim without any modifications.

 

[Leatherbark]

I plucked that little nub of a sight off of my 49 and drilled out the hole and used a piece of brazing rod to make me a taller and wider front sight with a tapered flat top. I used JB weld and pressed the new sight in. I then square notched the hammer sight and now i have a useable sight picture that shoots to the point of aim..................Bob