BIG loads

[zodd]

Afternoon all- was at the range shooting my .45 cal Traditions pioneer pistol when a mate turned up with his lyman plains pistol in .50 cal. I was shooting my usual "girly man" target loads of 15 grs 3f behind a.440 rb. He was loading up with 50grs 3f behind a 320 grain lee REAL.There were some pretty impressive percussive shock waves when he was firing it. I moved a few bays further down :grin: In conversation later he said he has loaded it up with 70 grs 3f :shocked2: no worries. I told him that I thought that he was way overloading that pistol.He said that as a rule of thumb you could load a pistol to twice the caliber (eg;50cal=100grs) :shocked2: :shocked2: Now that sounds wrong (and dangerous) to me and I have never heard of that rule of thumb before.I warned him that that was dangerous.Whats everyones thoughts on this, surely those loads are tempting fate ( or am i wrong)--cheers zodd

 

[Zonie]

zodd: IMO, you are quite correct.
Of course you had a good idea that you were correct when you noticed that his thumb looked like he had been pounding on it with a large hammer. :rotf:

I think that from a safety standpoint his "rule of thumb" was alright for a rifle but IMO it is a large waste of powder to shoot the kind of loads he was shooting in a pistol.

Maybe that explains why the Lyman Black Powder Handbook doesn't list any bullet loads larger than 40 grains for their .50 caliber Single Shot Pistol.

Shooting those heavy bullets with large powder loads is also a very good way of cracking the stock.

IMO, if he wants a lot of power, he should be shooting a rifle. :hmm:

 

[redwing]

Was he a little man? :rotf:

 

[mykeal]

I completely agree with Zonie. What the guy was doing constitutes abuse of the gun, and it will eventually damage either the gun or the shooter.

Lyman's GP Pistol uses the same lock as the GP Rifle, and the barrel is simply a shorter version of the GP Rifle barrel. Both parts can probably handle the heavy load safely, but as Zonie said, it's a complete waste of powder to shoot over 40 gr in that short a barrel. The real issue, I agree, is with the stock, especially the area through the lock and breach section. One can only guess where the barrel and lock parts are going to go when it lets go.

 

[mazo kid]

Zodd, in my opinion you are quite correct. What is the object of loading a PISTOL with that load?! Sure, your buddy could load the thing with powder out to the muzzle, but is he getting any accuracy? If nothing else, it is a waste of powder, not to mention the potential for a broken gun (or worse). Emery

 

[bwhoffman]

I did big loads once. 50gr in a .50 trapper.
Could not get any repeatable shots/groups.
tightened up back down in 25gr land and became
real tight at 15 to 18gr.

hunting loads are one thing, repeatable paper punch/small trail walk target loads are another!

another plus to loads that get the job done for accuracy, my Wm Parker has probably close to 5000 shots thru it. it is still extremely accurate and structurely tight. I feel that big loads would have used up the integrity of this gun at about the 500 rounds mark.

Food for thought!

 

[Harold1950]

I was shooting my 54 GPR at the range one day and it was about time to leave so I thought I'd shoot my 50 Traditions Kentucky a few times just to heat up the barrel. I cleaned up all my 54 stuff and got out my bag containing the stuff for the pistol. I usually look to make sure I had everything picked up but this day I was either distracted or not as efficient as I usually am. To make a long story short, I had left my powder measure used with the GPR on the bench. It was set to measure 80 grains of powder. Needless to say, I filled it up with powder thinking it was the one I use for the pistol, set at 15-20 grains. When it went off, I almost lost my hold on the gun, the recoil was the worst and you know how the stock is on the pistol, really smooth. I was done for the day and most thankful the pistol had held together and also thankful for the reminder that I need to be more careful and look everything over before I change from one caliber to another. Not something I would anyone to know but hopefully someone can benefit from my mistake. I don't see how your friend could shoot many times with his load, the recoil must be a booger on his body not to mention what it is probably doing to the gun in the long run. Just a thought.......Harold

 

[zodd]

Thanks guys for the responses, which I will pass on to my friend.I guess my main worry was that there might be a catastrophic failure of the pistol and he would be hurt.Mind you, the whooomph factor and the deep resonant thump at the core of your body mass when the pistol fired was pretty amazing.Surprizingly, he was quite accurate too, scored in the high eighties for the international match we shoot ( 25mtrs- duelling off hand-shoot 13 score best ten shots)----cheers zodd

 

[Poor Private]

Personally I think it was/is a testostorone thing. He wants to hear that big bang. Just stand a couple of stalls away from him whenever he shoots.

 

[jtmattison]

The guy is nuts and don't know what he's talking about. I believe Lyman lists 50 grains of 3f as their max pistol load. IMO 50 grains is a heck of a whomper.

Whenever we see guys doing stuff like that there is one perfect solution...refer them here for some schooling.

:thumbsup:

HD

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

I have a 20 gauge flintlock pistol with a 12" barrel and I've been using 40 grains of FFG in it with good results. I also have a .577 percussion pistol with a 9" barrel and it came with a 1 dram measure(27 grains). Both are accurate and easy recoilers and give satisfying clouds of smoke and noise. Loads such as your friend is using are dangerous and aren't likely to give anything resembling accuracy. He is an accident waiting to happen and sadly, he will cause grief for many others with his foolishness. The anti-gunners love idiots such as he.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

zodd - I have a .50 caplock that I loaded with that 50gr 3F load and REAL slug. I didn't get any groups with it much and recoil was sharp.
I backed down to 40 gr and things got stabelized.
it would do for bear load or hog back-up I suppose. at close range but no shots at a distance.

 

[Freedom]

With a charge that big with a boolit that big the recoil must have been huge!!

anyone that says that its a waste of powder must not own a chronoghraph, because you will see that the more powder you pore to it the more FPS you will get. Accuracy; well that's another story.

His stock will break very soon with this load. :youcrazy:

Dangerous...yeah for the shooter :surrender: but I doubt he is going to burst a barrel. Made a cannon out of a 50cal pistol barrel once, I could not blow up the barrel NO matter what we shot out of it or how much Black powder, but it sure destroyed the carridge often. We abused it severely! :rotf: ...it would not break or even blow the nipple out!

 

[flaming canvas]

I hope he has a good source of replacement stocks. I went through 3 on my GPPs before I got cured of wanting to shoot 50 gr 2f behind a round ball. It will be just a matter of time before he has to replace the stock if he keeps up what he is doing.

 

[renovato]

All your friend needs to do is shoot that load across a chronograph to realize that greater recoil and noise doesn't equal greater velocity and power. The extra recoil comes mostly from the extra weight of the ejecta caused by having more powder, rather than the higher velocity of the projectile itself. Overly stout loads are known for breaking stocks at the wrist. Ask him if he wants a heavy chunk of barrel pivoting off at the stock and whirling towards his face! Ouch!