40 cali Muzzle Velocity?

[blueyonder]

Anyone know what kind of velocity a 40 cal ML with a 40" barrel will produce with 50-55 grs of powder?

 

[roundball]

Anyone know what kind of velocity a 40 cal ML with a 40" barrel will produce with 50-55 grs of powder?

As a general reference, the 1975 Lyman BP Handbook has a chart using .395 balls in a 43" barrel with G-O FFFg...and I believe the G-O powder was the forerunner of todays Goex...but don't have a clue how it comparees.
But for what it's worth, 55grns of G-O FFFg lists 1939 fps as it's velocity.

As an FYI...I recently got a .40cal flinter and was shocked a couple weekends ago when I was plinking empty .12ga hulls at 25yds...had a few lined up on a 2 x 4 and they're so light the breeze was almost tipping them over.
I shot them with .40grs Goex 3F and went to set them back up again, figuring they had simply been 'knocked' over like a bowling pin and was shocked to find that the .395s had blown right through both thickness of hull plastic like it was a sheet of paper...so I'm assuming even just 40grs in that small bore must really make some mojo!

 

[blueyonder]

thanks roundball

 

[nchawkeye]

I'm going to say somewhere around 1800fps...You've got a lot of variables, but my info is out of a 2001 Dixie Gun Works catalogue, using DuPont FFF, they show 1770 with 47 grains and 1884 with 56 grains, out of a 40 inch caplock.

If you are squirrel hunting, 35-40 grains is a plenty, all you want is to be shooting flat enough to hit them in the head out to 50 yards or so...If you are turkey, fox, coyote, raccoon, hunting then 50-55 grains is about right...

Actually, muzzleloading hunters as a rule don't worry too much about how fast we can move a ball...Just where we put it...Good Luck...

 

[JeffinNZ]

My flinter with a 38 inch Colerain produces 1850fps with 50gr of 3Fg Swiss.
My percussion with cut down 33 inch Colerain turns in just on 2000fps with the same charge.
Never really feel the need for either though.

 

[Le Grand]

Roundball, The G-O powder mentioned in the old Lyman Black Powder Handbook was made by Gearhart-Owens Explosives. Today's GOEX powder is basically the same thing with their old name shortened to "GOEX." The biggest change in their powder "recipe" came about when the plant was moved from Pennsylvania to Louisiana some years back. Le Grand