Smooth bore pistol bullet question

[Cowboy45j]

My Grandpa has a .69 caliber smooth bore flintlock "horse pistol" and one of his friends gave him a bag of about 25 conical bullets for it. My question is, would there be any advantage/disadvantage shooting conicals from a smoothie? especially with such a short barrel?

 

[Golfswithwolves]

Most likely you will not get good accuracy from the bullets as they probably will tumble in the air. But if the bullets have a construction like some shotgun slugs where they have a lot of weight out front and not much in the rear, then they could be much more stable in flight (modern military tanks have smoothbore guns, and shoot such rounds VERY accurately). For the most part though I believe you will get better results from the smoothbore pistol using round balls. Conical bullets mostly need some spin from rifling in order to stabilize their flight.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Is this an antique or a reproduction? Makes a big difference. In any case it was meant for ball loads only. If it's an antique, firing it may well result in a trip to the emergency room for the shooter and possibly those around him. Come to think of it, some of the modern stuff in this bore wasn't all that safe either. I'd have a good blackpowder gunsmith check it out.

 

[Many Klatch]

Sounds like one of the Japanese made Tower pistols. I have two of them. Mine were junk with good barrels that I reworked until they went off every time. Good luck on getting them to shoot.

Round ball with 35 grains of powder is a maximum load that I use. I recommend that you start off with 20 grains.

Many Klatch

 

[Cowboy45j]

It's a reproduction gun. We've shot it a whole bunch with PRB's. We've been afraid to shoot it with the conicals. They kind of look like giant Mine' balls.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

You may find recoil with the Minies to be a tad noticeable.

 

[Zonie]

Cowboy45j
IMO, a .69 cal smoothbore was never designed to shoot a conical bullet.
Not only will it give poor accuracy but the increased recoil from shooting a heavy bullet will very likely damage the wooden stock.

Stick to shooting the roundballs and having fun with it. If you ever buy a roundball mold to make your own balls those conicals will melt down very nicely and add some lead to your project.

 

[Cowboy45j]

Thanks for the tip. I guess I should start looking for a mold.

 

[Many Klatch]

For odd sizes the best person to get molds from it J Tanner in England. They will arrive in a couple of weeks. The molds fit a standard mold handle. I have a .64 round ball mold that he made up for one of my Japanese Tower Pistols.

http://www.jt-bullet-moulds.co.uk/

Many Klatch