50 cal Pistol

[Shifty]

The AUTO Mag had a special chamber with slight serations in it to slow down the rebound on the carrier ,this had to be cleaned really good, I had a chance to buy one about a yr ago but was too slow.
I used a Bobcat barrel and lock made all else, the barrel measures .923 with my mike thats roughly 59/64" or 23.4 mm. I got of two these at a pawn shop for $60.00 total they had the black plastic stocks,one was mint so I put the works into a wood stock for my wife and it shoots great ,but only load it with 60grns for her ,she has neck,back and wrist trouble,the other one didn't have as good a barrel so it became a pistol,I built it because I had been wanting a Ped-Bounty but can't pay those prices, I think this gun is just as good for me.I still don't shoot above 50grns because of the wood.

 

[asbrown]

I would love to say it was, as I have had a similar idea bouncing around my head for years but I just don't have first hand experience. There was a fellow here a while back who had two hawken type rifles he made with very short barrels. Like 16" or 20" or so. do a search for short or shorty rifle and you may find him. He'll
have first hand accuracy reports I'm sure.

 

[rodwha]

:hatsoff:

 

[Shifty]

The CVA Bobcat that I made my pistol from has a 1-48" twist I think it shoots ok, with a prb,
But if you want a faster twist barrel look for a Traditions Buckskinner, some of those had a 1-20" twist & some had a 1-28or32" twist,Half octagon to round 21" barrel. I have one of the 1-20" twist guns that I bought to make a pistol out of but after shooting it with some load& bullet combos recomended by some one on here maybe it was Round Ball, I decided to leave it as a rifle=load 70grns 2Fg Goex,TC Maxi Ball, with felt wad between powder and bullet 1 1/2" to 2" group at 50yds,Idaho Ron told me to try a paper patch on some conicals ,but haven't got to do that yet,he knows what he is talking about,check some of hus stuff on the other forums. Hey almost forgot the Pedersolo Bounty has a 1-18" twist barrel and I hear it is a great shooting gun.

 

[rodwha]

Not that I know, but it seems to me from what little I do know is that anything with a faster than 1:48 twist will have shallow grooves intended for conicals and such. How well would that work with PRB? Just use thinner patches and smaller diameter balls?

Do deeper grooves inherently work with PRB better? I suppose it does. Why?

 

[Shifty]

WEll with the fast twist barrel shooting a prb you have to use lighter loads in a rifle for good accuracy,so maybe you are on the right track here,50 grns or so would be a lighter load in a rifle but it would be a good load in a pistol accuracy shold be great,like you said a pistol with 10-12" barrel with 1-20" or so twist 50grns powder or 1-32" twist with 60 grns or so would make fine shooting piece I think.wish I could find another Buckskinner Rifle so i could try it.Hey if i get a chance in the next few days I will shoot my Buckskinner Rifle with prb and with 40grn powder and with 50grns and we'll just see what it will do ,of course it has a 21" barrel.

 

[Shifty]

The deep rifling is beter for a prb because it will grip the patch ball better and the cloth patch will seal the groves . The real shallow rifling is better for conicals, and the really shallow works good with the paper patch bullet.

 

[Shifty]

Hey rodwha,I finnaly got to take my pistol down in the woods to my little range and shoot it today.Well to begin with my front sight sucks at that distance ,will have to make another one but anyway here goes= all shots at 50 yds sitting down using shooting stick 5 shot groups, 60grns ffg bp .490 Speer rb,blue pillow tick patch,mink oil lube ,cci caps,not very good 8" group
=50 grns everything else the same 2 3/4" group. I think it shows promise even with 60grns, with different front sight and a little experementing.I had never shot 60 grns in it before today,didn't think I ever would.wander what a felt patch would do?

 

[jutimut]

I rebarrel trappers 40/45 cal 400/410 451/458 ,both have 1/18 twist powder T7 for all loads 14.5 in barrels prb can be pushed over 1600 fps in both cal 55 grn 40 65 grn 45 2 inch 50 yd groups . PP bullets for hunting 40 cal 55 grn T7 265 grn 1375 fps have on a good day shot 3 inch of bench 100 yds . 45 cal 65 grn T7 305 grn pp 1355 fps . with these two pistols have hammered 27 deer from 20 ft to 119 laser range yds good rest of course never shot twice all were pass through . forget deep grv prb ball has to upset to much in short barrel lots of blow by go shallow step up twist and have one serious hand gun

 

[Shifty]

Boy that is serious,sounds like a real piece of shooting iron how is the recoil on the wood work out.

 

[rodwha]

I'd think 50 grns ought to give it enough umph out to 50 yds, and those groups are quite good!

 

[Shifty]

I had 5 plastic 1 gal. water jugs I had saved the kind with the snap on lids didn' have any with screw on lids ,so today couldn't go hunting so I filled them with water took them out to range lined them up on a board shot them at 50yds with my 50 cal pistol,50grns ffg,patched round ,it shot through all 5 juggs ,the first 4 blew apart,what do you think it would do on a deer.Made a new front blade sight for it the other day put solder on the blade facing to the rear,worked good.

 

[rodwha]

It's hard to say exactly what jugs of water correlate to in regards to performance on flesh. It's certainly not scientific, but it does give an idea, especially as a means to compare it to other loads and whatnot.

But 50 grns behind a .490/.495" RB from a 16" barrel ought to be plenty of horsepower out to 50 yds against a deer. At least that's the way I understand it from those who use PRB. From a rifle they may say it's good to 75 yds, possibly a little more.

 

[Shifty]

I just read on the BPJ site that after there testing 17" of penetration in water was equal to 12" in body tissue,and that a prjectile penitrating at least 3 jugs and destrying the 3 was good for deer. My pistol shot through all 5 jugs I had and destroyed the first 4 jugs.

 

[rodwha]

"...and that a prjectile penitrating at least 3 jugs and destrying the 3 was good for deer. My pistol shot through all 5 jugs I had and destroyed the first 4 jugs."

:thumbsup: