Detonation??

[dennis byrd]

I would love to lower the powder charge for my 32. cal. flintlock. I currently shoot 20gr of FFF and it shoots well and I like it, however my kids love shooting my flintlock and I would lower the charge if it is a safe practice. I would be grateful to someone with experience in this calibre to help me along. Thank you much Jet90

 

[Zonie]

"Detonation" being the title of this post caught my attention.
While this can be a problem with smokeless powder it is not a problem with black powder.

The only requirement for a minimum powder load in your flintlock is there must be enough powder to cover the vent hole completely. If there isn't, the patched ball or bullet will block off the vent and prevent the pan's flash from reaching the powder.

How much is enough? That would depend on your rifle and where the vent hole is relative to the face of the breech plug.

zonie

 

[MikeChapin]

Zonie's right about the minimum powder charge. With black powder you do not have to worry about the the pressure problems that you have with smokeless.

Though I have never done it, :hmm: I have helped people clear dryballed rifles by putting three or four grains through the nipple or touch hole to pop the ball out.

As long as there is enough powder to cover the touch hole and enough to get the ball our the barrel there will be no problem.

 

[mudd turtle]

Zonnie: Are you saying that it would be safe to drop the charge of powder -say from 60 grains to maybe30 or even as low as 20 grains and have the rifle shoot. How well could one exspect reasonable accuracy from this reduced charge. Mudd Turtle.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

don't know what bore you have but I lots of times plink with 32 gr. 3F in my .50 with PRB - hardly any recoil and accuracy is good. still has some power for groundhogs and such.

 

[mudd turtle]

Humm! Very interesting. I have a Mississippi that I bought several ago from a friend and tried to shoot it some with 60 grains of ffg and it kicked pretty good.I think I will try a reduced load in it when I get to shoot itagain- Thanks MuddTurtle. Ps how low do you think I could go over all.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

if that Miss. rifle is a .58 bore somewhere around 40 grs or so should be OK.

 

[J.D.]

I would love to lower the powder charge for my 32. cal. flintlock. I currently shoot 20gr of FFF and it shoots well and I like it, however my kids love shooting my flintlock and I would lower the charge if it is a safe practice. I would be grateful to someone with experience in this calibre to help me along. Thank you much Jet90

How old are the kids? IMHO, 20gr of FFFG in a 32 is a mild load that kids can handle well.

The question in my mind is does your gun have a patent breech? The powder chamber should be full of powder so's the ball seats on the powder. If you use less powder than is necessary to fill that chamber, the light charge MAY generate higher pressures and heavier recoil than a heavier load.

IMHO, using the lightest powder charge possible, insuring that the ball is in contact with the powder, is completely safe. Leaving an air gap between ball and powder may create problems if such a light load is used regularly.
J.D.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Mudd Turtle. I had a friend who could not get his .62 caliber rifle to hit an 8 " bangplate at 25 yards to save his life. He had fired about all his lead balls before I arrived at the range. While we were talking he managed to dry ball the barrel, so Of course, it was MY FAULT! I went to my range box, and got a couple of screw drivers. We were able to remove his touch hole liner, and I was able to push his PRB forward enough to squeeze a few grains of 4Fg powder in behind the ball. Back went the vent, the lock plate went back on , and my friend rested the gun on the bench rest, took careful aim, and fired the ball out. Now, if you had taken bets from me, him, and the other members of the club standing around, I doubt you could have found someone who would bet that ball would go 10 feet from the muzzle of that gun. We would have lost! The ball hit the bangplate absolutely dead center. It was moving so slow we could all see it in flight. The shot sounded like a percussion cap on steroids going off.

So, I would not worry about 5 grains of powder getting a PRB out of a. 32 caliber rifle at all. Go ahead and reduce your charges . 15-17 grains is a nice load and has no recoil for kids or adults. Its accurate out to 25 yards, but, as a friend of my brother told him, " Hell, all the ball has to do is penetrate the paper target!"

 

[roundball]

I would love to lower the powder charge for my 32. cal. flintlock. I currently shoot 20gr of FFF and it shoots well and I like it, however my kids love shooting my flintlock and I would lower the charge if it is a safe practice. I would be grateful to someone with experience in this calibre to help me along. Thank you much Jet90

JD, people routinely put 10-15 grns into a patent breech to bloop out a dry ball...there's not enough powder to create the kind of pressure wave that bursts barrels from a bore obstruction point of view.

How old are the kids? IMHO, 20gr of FFFG in a 32 is a mild load that kids can handle well.

The question in my mind is does your gun have a patent breech? The powder chamber should be full of powder so's the ball seats on the powder. If you use less powder than is necessary to fill that chamber, the light charge MAY generate higher pressures and heavier recoil than a heavier load.

IMHO, using the lightest powder charge possible, insuring that the ball is in contact with the powder, is completely safe. Leaving an air gap between ball and powder may create problems if such a light load is used regularly.
J.D.

 

[paulvallandigham]

If you have one of those guns with that Darn powder chamber, by all means follow JD and Roundball's advice! Use a filler if you want to use a charge that is less than the amount of powder needed to fill the smaller powder chamber. If it holds 20 grain, and you want to shoot only 10 grains, make up the difference with corn meal, or cream of wheat, or Puflon, or some other filler.

The last thing you want to do to any barrel is be firing a powder charge that has any substantial gap between it and the back side of the PRB in the barrel. Strange pressure curves happen when you do this, and its not healthy to repeat that very often. Even with a percussion action, that nipple and hammer are awfully close to your face. If something gives, its like to be one or both of them.

My point in making my prior post was to assure you that a small charge of powder is still going to push that PRB out the barrel. I do believe that JD is correct, and that almost any kid I know can handle a 20 grain charge of FFFg powder in a .32 cal. rifle. The weight of the gun is such that there is NO discernable recoil to feel.

 

[J.D.]

JD, people routinely put 10-15 grns into a patent breech to bloop out a dry ball...there's not enough powder to create the kind of pressure wave that bursts barrels from a bore obstruction point of view.

Yes, I am aware of that. That wasn't my point. Jet is apparently worried about recoil.

A too light load in a patent breech MAY, produce more pressure and more recoil in a bore as small as a .32 than a powder charge that completely fills the antechamber.

Just something to think about whan shooting small bores.

J.D.