Pietta 1851 .36 Navy Chrono Data

[PastorB]

Finally got around to shooting my 1851 .36 over the Chrono. Stock Pietta Navy, that I've had for years, probably has 10 or 12 thousand round thru it. All loads used 3F or substitute equivalent, as measured by volume. Hornady. 375 round balls, and CCI #11 caps. Crisco over ball for lube. I use CCI #11 for range work, as I have many 1000's of those, and Remington #10's for "serious" shooting, as my stockpile of those are under 2,000. I get slightly more cap jams with the CCI #11's than the Remington 10's, but really get very few with either. That is unless I use a conical, where with anything other than a very low charge, the cap blows back into the action. Very rarely happens with RB's, no matter the powder or charge. I know, Slixshot nipples, heavier spring, blah, blah, blah. I shoot my guns stock, they work for what I want to do. The Conical loads with 777 and Pyro P cap jammed every shot, the Swiss with lower charges was not as bad with conical. Loading the conicals was a REAL PITA! I know, I know, during the Civil War, conicals were standard issue. My loading port is enlarged to accept bullets, still very difficult to start straight, and as you can see, I have a press to load off the gun, and conicals are still hard to load. I am not in the Civil War, so I much prefer round balls. Here is the data, generally, you're gonna get right around 1000fps with a round ball, no matter the powder or charge, withing reason of course. Copied and pasted from my field notes:

Stock Pietta 1851 .36 Navy 7.5" barrel

3 gr. Swiss 3F

1021
972
1018
1041
1050
1001

1016 avg.

27 gr. Swiss 3f

1086
1084
1052
1095
1112
1062

1062 avg.

27 gr. Goex 3F

1006
1000
993
1003
1011
1034

1008 avg.

23 gr. Goex 3F

980
968
953
980
1003
966

980 avg.

23 gr. Pyro RS

993
989
959
946
938
978

967 avg.

23 gr. Pyro P

1034
999
1038

1024 avg.

27 gr. Pyro P

1021
1003
1005

1010 avg. NOT A TYPO, lower than 23 gr.

27 gr 777

1086
1064
1149

1100 avg.

23 gr. 777

1025
1034
1045

1035 avg.

25 gr. 777 125 gr. Conical

1017
987
991

998 avg. Cap jam every shot!

20 gr. 777 125 gr. Conical

972
929
953

951 avg. Cap jam every shot!

15 gr. Swiss 125 gr. Conical

672
641
653

655 avg.

20 gr. Swiss 125 gr. Conical

832
771
762

788 avg.

 

[cyten]

love these chrono tests!

 

[Celt5494]

I have several .44s and am on the lookout for the right .36 to add to what I have. I'm surprised they are moving that fast as in truth I have never chrono'd anything like that. Any idea what they are doing at distances?

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I've been curious about using 2f in mine. If you have any data on 2f in this gun I'd be much obliged if you post it. Thanks for trying RS in it and the data.

 

[PastorB]

I've been curious about using 2f in mine. If you have any data on 2f in this gun I'd be much obliged if you post it. Thanks for trying RS in it and the data.

I have never shot real black 2F in my life in any gun. I use 3F in everything when using real black powder. Goex is not nearly as hot as subs, measured volumetrically. From a lot of shooting, literally thousands of shots thru many different guns, I have concluded that Pyrodex P is equivalent to Swiss 3F, velocity wise. Don't know if that would carry over with Pyro RS and Swiss 2f. In revolvers, the compression (and size) of the ball seems to be more consequential than choice of powder is used. With the exception of a max load of 777, which I don't care for in my revolvers, all other powders are very similar in performance. Often within 50 fps of each other.

 

[smoothshooter]

Finally got around to shooting my 1851 .36 over the Chrono. Stock Pietta Navy, that I've had for years, probably has 10 or 12 thousand round thru it. All loads used 3F or substitute equivalent, as measured by volume. Hornady. 375 round balls, and CCI #11 caps. Crisco over ball for lube. I use CCI #11 for range work, as I have many 1000's of those, and Remington #10's for "serious" shooting, as my stockpile of those are under 2,000. I get slightly more cap jams with the CCI #11's than the Remington 10's, but really get very few with either. That is unless I use a conical, where with anything other than a very low charge, the cap blows back into the action. Very rarely happens with RB's, no matter the powder or charge. I know, Slixshot nipples, heavier spring, blah, blah, blah. I shoot my guns stock, they work for what I want to do. The Conical loads with 777 and Pyro P cap jammed every shot, the Swiss with lower charges was not as bad with conical. Loading the conicals was a REAL PITA! I know, I know, during the Civil War, conicals were standard issue. My loading port is enlarged to accept bullets, still very difficult to start straight, and as you can see, I have a press to load off the gun, and conicals are still hard to load. I am not in the Civil War, so I much prefer round balls. Here is the data, generally, you're gonna get right around 1000fps with a round ball, no matter the powder or charge, withing reason of course. Copied and pasted from my field notes:

Stock Pietta 1851 .36 Navy 7.5" barrel

3 gr. Swiss 3F

1021
972
1018
1041
1050
1001

1016 avg.

27 gr. Swiss 3f

1086
1084
1052
1095
1112
1062

1062 avg.

27 gr. Goex 3F

1006
1000
993
1003
1011
1034

1008 avg.

23 gr. Goex 3F

980
968
953
980
1003
966

980 avg.

23 gr. Pyro RS

993
989
959
946
938
978

967 avg.

23 gr. Pyro P

1034
999
1038

1024 avg.

27 gr. Pyro P

1021
1003
1005

1010 avg. NOT A TYPO, lower than 23 gr.

27 gr 777

1086
1064
1149

1100 avg.

23 gr. 777

1025
1034
1045

1035 avg.

25 gr. 777 125 gr. Conical

1017
987
991

998 avg. Cap jam every shot!

20 gr. 777 125 gr. Conical

972
929
953

951 avg. Cap jam every shot!

15 gr. Swiss 125 gr. Conical

672
641
653

655 avg.

20 gr. Swiss 125 gr. Conical

832
771
762

788 avg.

I think conical bullets were used in paper cartridges only because because the cylindrical sides gave a good place to attach the combustable paper tubes to.

 

[Majorsideburns]

I wonder if your max powder loads are slower than lesser loads because of gas escape breaking the seal of the ball and barrel?

 

[Stantheman86]

I think conical bullets were used in paper cartridges only because because the cylindrical sides gave a good place to attach the combustable paper tubes to.

100% the case, the only real way to make nitrate cartridges work is with a conical bullet , plus the idea of smaller charges and a big bullet seemed more ideal for shooting people at that time

I play around with bullets here and there but round balls are cheap, easy to load, easy to find , and work well enough to kill paper while still being historically accurate

 

[Stantheman86]

I'm constantly learning and getting ideas from this forum. I just read a post from 2004 where a guy says he uses cheap non-petroleum hand cream with the pump as chamber grease....he just squirts it over the ball at the range for convenience....I'm like, thank you Good Idea Fairy

I'm not on the Frontier, I'm on the range, I'm perfectly ok with smearing knockoff Jergens in my chambers

 

[Flintlock Whiskey]

I'm constantly learning and getting ideas from this forum. I just read a post from 2004 where a guy says he uses cheap non-petroleum hand cream with the pump as chamber grease....he just squirts it over the ball at the range for convenience....I'm like, thank you Good Idea Fairy

I'm not on the Frontier, I'm on the range, I'm perfectly ok with smearing knockoff Jergens in my chambers

It softens hands while loading chambers.

 

[ernbar]

It softens hands while loading chambers.

Madge would have agreed

 

[smokeyjoe]

PastorB, I've never heard of those kind of velocities in a '51 Navy .36 cal. You got me going now. I gotta break out the chrony and up my charge. I've been shooting .375 RB with about 20gr 3f with a lubed felt wad over the charge but I dont think Im getting that kind of velocity. I'm gonna bring up the charge to 23 gr and see what happens. Thanx for posting this data.