12 grains of 3f pushing a .375 roundball is lethal at the ranges that most indoor firefights happen.
You put that bullet in the right place and it is game over for the bad guy.
BP guns are not about massive power and hydroshock. They are wound channel makers and marksmanship is the key.
So do some load development. Maybe with that pistol it needs 17 grains for all we know. Once you get the load right it will serve you well.
Now I will say if you are limited to a BP revolver for a defense weapon then you should be shooting a .44, an 1860 or an 1851 in fantasy 44 is great. Now if you are a big fella, then consider the Dragoons or a Walker. A Walker loaded with a conical and 40-55 grains of power is the ticket.
I'm not "limited" to these guns - I do also have my Ruger LCR & a .380 (both CC guns) - but since I enjoy shooting them and now have more of them than centerfire handguns, and since they are SO cheap to shoot, I want to be able to consider them "home-defense capable."
We have weapons in various places in the house. In a home break-in, you may not have the luxury of fetching a weapon from another room.
Now mind you 2" at 10M is still better than the short-barrel .38 or .380 will do, ever!
I don't really care for a debate of this type, but, round balls do expand - much more and much more reliably than conicals (which are going to be going a lot slower) - and energy is energy. There's no reason not to maximize it. Black powder weapons are entirely capable of producing hydrostatic shock.
(Even with 25g of powder there is barely any recoil; it's just so easy to shoot also.)
I just happened to collect a number of .36s and a ton of associated gear. If home defense was the ONLY mission, and these the only option, you're right that .44 would've been smarter.
But, as for what is "enough" in terms of energy, indeed, who knows. Many poo-poo the lowly .22 rimfire but in an exhaustive study done some years ago it was shown to result in stoppage of bad guys more reliably than any other handgun round! How? Probably because
- With virtually no recoil, one can put many bullets on the target in a short time
- Most people, most of the time, will give up the fight after being shot just once, by nearly anything
- Ammo is so cheap people tend to shoot them a lot and learn the gun very well
It just so happens that these SA, long-barrel BP guns have all the same advantages.
(A moderately-loaded .36 BP gun is close in energy to a .22 LR from a handgun - a hot load is more like double.)
Yet while a 12gr load might do the job, I'd prefer 25g, all things considered.
I think my eyesight is honestly the biggest problem along with loading consistency. I've ordered some tiny funnels to help with the latter issue.
And I've found some .380 balls to try. I ordered lots of .375 initially since that's all that Hornady makes and all a number of retailers carry.
We'll see what happens with more careful loading and various charges and ball sizes. (I'm just not ready to reach for the Crisco yet tho.)
I started this thread only because I read comments that BP revolvers are "SO" accurate they will shoot 2" groups at 25 yards, and, well, mine/me can't do that.
For those laughing at my inability to shoot, please post your 25 YARD targets. Not that I doubt there are many doing a lot better than I am - I know there are. I just want you to walk the walk.
