Here to anger some more people on my antics. 5.5in barrel pieta for hunting.

[muzzleloadingat18]

I want to preface this with the fact that I don't recommend doing what I do. That being said I have been on this journey to find out just how much power I can get from this pistol. I have yet to Chrono it but I have done some testing. I made a mold for a 160gn wad cutter because I think it is the best shape projectile for the job. Better shape than a round ball and not losing muh velocity. Yes you heard me right I made a mold. My latest experiment was with home made powder. I used willow and it worked good screened 3 times and milled for about 6 hours total. Screening more than once makes it faster I stand by it. I think the water homogenizes everything. I used 20gn and it felt like 10gn of go ex. After that I used a precisely measured amount "as much powder as i could fit flush in the chamber" and rammed down my wad cutter. The powder under a good bit of force compacted and left about 1/5in gap to fill with lube. That load felt hotter than 50gn of pyrodex with a round ball. And for those calling me an ***** because thats too much powder for a short barrel. I was getting very very little smoke far less than go ex or swiss. I shot into soft dirt and got about 14in of penetration I compared the penetration to the same as a +p ball 45acp. They both did about the same. I think I can get more velocity if i continue to improve my powder the biggest thing is going to be getting the powder dense enough that when compressed it will fill most of the cylinder so that I don't wast any space. I'm happy with the mold as well. Fit tight loaded easy and cut a ring of lead. Hard cast so no expanding. I'm estimating the velocity at 850 or 900 so even with good soft bullet I don't expect any real expansion. With what I have done so far I can say 100% it can take a deer humanly if done correctly. Within 20 yards it will punch a 45 hole through any deer all day and twice on Sunday. Because of the wad cutter it will punch a clean sharp hole and the deer will bleed alottt. Next step is to Chrono and smoke a pig with it.

 

[russellshaffer]

Fun experiments. Don't hurt yourself but let us know how it goes.

 

[muzzleloadingat18]

Fun experiments. Don't hurt yourself but let us know how it goes.

It's safe. I have done max loads of 45gn of pyrodex with a 200gn bullet and she takes it all day long. The only things are I shot her hard enough that the clip that holds the loading lever up broke. So I'm using a bread tie untill I can figure out how to fix it and still have her look pretty. I am pretty sure it is a known problem and not particularly from me loading it so hot. The recoil is on par with a 45 colt. Not light cowboy loads it feels like full power saa loads. Now Ruger loads are a different story but in terms of standard pressure I think it's on par. I'm very interested to see what velocity I can get. I think that because the powder is screened and non compressed it dose better compacting it tight. It also probably breaks up the grains to a finer f but it's safe regardless.

 

[rodwha]

It's safe. I have done max loads of 45gn of pyrodex with a 200gn bullet and she takes it all day long. The only things are I shot her hard enough that the clip that holds the loading lever up broke. So I'm using a bread tie untill I can figure out how to fix it and still have her look pretty. I am pretty sure it is a known problem and not particularly from me loading it so hot. The recoil is on par with a 45 colt. Not light cowboy loads it feels like full power saa loads. Now Ruger loads are a different story but in terms of standard pressure I think it's on par. I'm very interested to see what velocity I can get. I think that because the powder is screened and non compressed it dose better compacting it tight. It also probably breaks up the grains to a finer f but it's safe regardless.

So how have things progressed?

I also have a 5.5” Remington Sheriff. I want to carry mine while hunting as a hog may very well be what I have to go into that thick crap to find. Loaded with sporting grade powder and a bullet, and you have a very competent sidearm. A UK ballistics calculator for Swiss powder shows a 230 grn bullet with 32.5 grns of 3F should get about 850 fps. I’ve seen higher figures, and using longer driving bands should increase the pressures a little.

I used Accurate Molds to create several designs. I’ve used a .457” ball and a 170 grn and 195 grn WFN that are each very short for caliber. The meplats are .375” and the bullets are .400” and .460” so as not to take up powder capacity. What I found, starting at 25 grns, my base charge, is that at 32.5 grns it didn’t matter which I used. And with my Ruger I used those and something like 3-4 others that I bought or were gifted to me to try, including Kaido’s 240 grn bullet, which worked well but were slightly too small for the Ruger chambers as sometimes I’d have one slide up off the charge. That gun likes 37.5 grns it seems.

I have a more accurate powder measure and will be refining their more accurate charges, along with how they do +/- 2.5 grns as I’m considering sacrificing a little accuracy for penetration. My rough measurements show enough excess space to fill with lead up to about 230-235 grns or so.

Do you have a pic of your bullet? Know the dimensions of it? I’m always curious what people use and their experience.