.40 cal load

[rmende]

I have made a 40 cal single shot percussion knife pistol (some of us call them cut and shoots) I really have no idea on what type of load to use as I want to test fire it. The barrel is riffled and around 4" long and it snaps Number 11 caps really well.I have some FFF powder but also need the patch size.
I will post some photos as soon as I work out how to send them.
Thanks

 

[Brian6396]

I have a 4 inch barrel .45 and it shoots nice with 15 grains of fffg.
you may have to experiment with patch thickness to see what works best. Last time out I just cut up an old pillowcase and seemed to work fine with the light loads.

 

[Snakebite]

I had a little deringer back in the day and I used pillow ticking as a patch and it worked just fine. I think about 15grs of FFF was also the load I used.

 

[Billnpatti]

Anywhere from 10 to 20 grains of 3f will do just fine. I wouldn't use more than 20 grains. A barrel that short will not burn more than 20 grains, even if it will burn that much. The extra is just blown out the muzzle and is wasted. Actually, you will have plenty of fun with only 10 grains so why use more?

 

[Many Klatch]

Try shooting .36 caliber buckshot with a thick patch and about 15 grains of 3F. We have found that the bigger buckshot work great in small caliber rifles.

Many Klatch