Power Load, 69 Caliber

[nero]

I have a 69 caliber musket, 1815, it was originally a flintlock & converted to percussion for the civil war. I have Hodgdon Triple Seven FFFG power. Using .675" ball, ,015" patch, what power load is recomended ?

 

[hawkeye2]

By power load do you mean a hot load? That musket has a welded barrel and should not be fired with anything other than mild loads and then only after being inspected by a competent gunsmith. The North-South Skirmish Assn. does not permit use of these early Springfields because of the weakness of the barrel and in N-SSA competition the loads tend to be very mild. Do not use tripple 7 3f and a patched round ball! Use only GOEX 2f and keep the loads low, less than 50 grains and 40 or less would be safer. Springfield and Harpers Ferry built quality firearms but 200 years of corrosion and fatigue may have reduced the gun to a potential pipe bomb. If you are serious about wanting to shoot this musket and possibly use it for hunting I recommend you buy a replacement barrel and save the original barrel to go with it so as to maintain collector's value. Excellent barrels are available from Bobby Hoyt and Whitacre's Machine Shop at reasonable cost.

 

[BrownBear]

I have a bud who's all about "power" for his modern-built 69 caliber. I won't even hint at the charges he's using, for fear that you'd try them in that original. He just loves the noise and smoke from big powder burns, loading the big piles of powder to flatten the trajectory. He acknowledges that the real killing power of the 69 comes from the diameter and mass of that big ball rather than the speed.

Maybe someone here can recommend safe charges for originals based on experience, but with no 69 cal shooting behind me I won't try to gin one up for you.

 

[curator]

The original military load for the 1816 US .69 caliber flintlock musket was 110 grains of Fg black powder and a .662 round ball. The powder charge was expected to prime the pan before the remainder was poured down the barrel. The pan holds (on my Pedersoli reproduction)a tiny bit less than 10 grains (a lot!) This charge was reduced to 90 grains for the 1842 percussion .69 smooth-bore musket. I load 70 grains of FFg and a patched .662 round ball for most shooting.

 

[BEP]

And remember - that undersized, non-patched ball had a lot of "windage" around it, keeping pressures down as well.

 

[bpd303]

hawkeye2 has given you the absolute best advise.

 

[varsity07840]

By power load do you mean a hot load? That musket has a welded barrel and should not be fired with anything other than mild loads and then only after being inspected by a competent gunsmith. The North-South Skirmish Assn. does not permit use of these early Springfields because of the weakness of the barrel and in N-SSA competition the loads tend to be very mild. Do not use tripple 7 3f and a patched round ball! Use only GOEX 2f and keep the loads low, less than 50 grains and 40 or less would be safer. Springfield and Harpers Ferry built quality firearms but 200 years of corrosion and fatigue may have reduced the gun to a potential pipe bomb. If you are serious about wanting to shoot this musket and possibly use it for hunting I recommend you buy a replacement barrel and save the original barrel to go with it so as to maintain collector's value. Excellent barrels are available from Bobby Hoyt and Whitacre's Machine Shop at reasonable cost.

I had Dan Whitacre make me a RIFLED flint 1816 barrel for a custom gun I built. 3 groove rifling as for a rifled '42 percussion. It ran me around $350.00. Bob Hoyt relined an original flint smoothbore for around $150.00.
I shoot 80r of Goex 2F with a patched .662 ball.

Duane