Buck & Ball In A Pistol ?

[nilo52]

I Have Heard Of Using "Buck & Ball " Ammo In A Cannon. Could This Concept Be Adapted To A Pistol ? By This I Mean Could You Use A Normal Sized Ball With A Few Sub-Caliber Balls ? The Reason I'm Asking Is To See If Anyone ( the "old hands") Have Already -Been -There-Done-That ?
I'm Not Sure If It Would Scale Down To Pistol Size, But I Am Intrigued By The Notion. :idunno:
Musing nilo52 :hmm: :hmm:

 

[Zonie]

I haven't done it but I think it might work out of a smooth bore pistol.

When I think of buck & ball I think of the .69 and larger caliber Military muskets.
They of course were smooth bores and were loaded with a bore size ball and usually 3 smaller balls.

They proved to be devastating at fairly close range against the enemy.

I think that shooting buck & ball out of a rifled gun would work fairly poorly.
The tight fitting patched large ball would probably go where the gun was pointed (although it would be at a much lower velocity with those smaller balls absorbing a lot of the powders energy) but I suspect the loose balls would do the same thing that bird shot does when fired out of a rifled barrel. That is to say they would fly outward in a unpredictable cone shaped pattern.

 

[Many Klatch]

It's a lot of fun in a 64 or 66 caliber smoothbore. I have a pair of Tower Pistols that I have extensively reworked (that means that they now shoot when you pull the trigger). The guns are not meant for target shooting, but with a patched .64 roundball and 5 or 6 .32 balls over 35 grains of 2F it will make a respectable noise. I don't have any .64 or .66 caliber over shot wads so I just pack a little wad of patching on top of the buckshot.

Many Klatch

 

[Toomuch_36]

The short answer is "yes".
This can be and has been done in large bore smooth pistols, and even later in the Lemat revolver in the civil war.
Get a good grip though as it can be a hand full.

Toomuch
............
Shoot Flint

 

[Toomuch_36]

Yes those "Ultra-Hi" Tower pistols had an horendous trigger pull. I almost needed a come-a-long to pull the trigger on my first one.
Both of mine have since had a major face-lift. I have found in the "Trade Rifle Sketchbook" that the barrel and some furniture matches that of the "Wheeler" trade pistol. I now have a more correct brace of pistols and, for me, a more comfortable grip.

Toomuch
.............
Shoot Flint

 

[RickD]

If you try this post the results..I`d like to know

 

[Many Klatch]

Toomuch; my Tower pistols were actually more of a kit than a gun when I got them. I took a lot of wood off of both of them and painted them black since the wood was nothing to brag about. One lock needed a new main spring and frizzen. I made Siler parts work by drilling new holes for the main spring and grinding down the frizzen until it fit in the lock. The barrels seem to be the best thing about the guns. The tumblers and internal parts are not hardened so neither of them will stand up to extensive use, but for occasional noise makers or stump movers they are adequate.

Many Klatch

 

[Toomuch_36]

Agreeded, The barrel, thimbles and some brass furniture were all I used. For locks I used Cochran kits.

Toomuch
.............
Shoot Flint

 

[flintlock75]

I have used buck and ball out of my .67cal smoothbore Tower pistol a number of times. at 10 yards the ball and 4 .32cal buckshot all hit the silouet target. at 15 yards the buckshot spreads out and hits go down. I have also used just a load of 10 buckshot with a wad. at 10-15 yards the shot spreads about 5 feet.I have had the buckshot bounce off plywood backstops at 20 yards with only dents in the wood.They loose power very fast, they would be effective on soft targets but would likley not be fatal.I would not use buckshot on any hard target as they will bounce off.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

I have used buck and ball out of my .67cal smoothbore Tower pistol a number of times. at 10 yards the ball and 4 .32cal buckshot all hit the silouet target. at 15 yards the buckshot spreads out and hits go down. I have also used just a load of 10 buckshot with a wad. at 10-15 yards the shot spreads about 5 feet.I have had the buckshot bounce off plywood backstops at 20 yards with only dents in the wood.They loose power very fast, they would be effective on soft targets but would likley not be fatal.I would not use buckshot on any hard target as they will bounce off.

You've got it. In firing small shot from a pistol the velocity is low and penetration is poor. While buckshot can be effective from a musket with 80 grains of powder that can't be compared to a pistol with half the powder and 1/4 the barrel length. Such loads may be fun to play around with on paper or tin cans but for flesh and blood I'd trust the ball and skip the buck since only the ball would be effective anyhow.