smoothie pistol question

[adkmountainken]

i have a very nice 50 cal smoothbore pistol with a 5 inch barrel. shoots round ball very nice at around 10 yards lots of fun. thinking about taking it for squrriels when i am deer hunting and contemplating where to start for a load. thinking 15 grains FFF maybe wad of hornets nest and some #4 with hornets nest over top? i am thinking 5-10 yards max for the pesky buggers on a kamikaze mission to my frying pan. anyone have any ideas??

 

[Nobade]

I'd go maybe 30 - 40 grains of powder, don't want those shot to bounce off. If you have a 1/2 inch punch some cardboard wads will work well. 2 over the powder and one over the shot. At least that's how I loaded mine. Same dipper for powder and shot.

 

[adkmountainken]

i think 30-40 might be a little stout for a 5 inch barrel? will give it a try i was running 20 grains with round ball and ball flattened right out after hitting gong.

 

[adkmountainken]

pics

 

[Celt5494]

If it were me I would start off patterning it at the different charges starting off where you wanted to start at 15gr. You want a nice tight pattern for those squirrels at those distances you described or they might get away and then die off. I don't think you would have an issue getting rid of some of the squirrel population with a 15gr load but it does seem a tad light to me.

Edit: Beautiful pistol by the way!

 

[PathfinderNC]

Try it out with a soda can at different distances and see how it performs. That will tell you all you want to know.
Oh, and have FUN!

 

[Nobade]

OK, 5 inch barrel. I missed that part. Never mind my ranting...

 

[Rob M.]

i have a very nice 50 cal smoothbore pistol with a 5 inch barrel. shoots round ball very nice at around 10 yards lots of fun. thinking about taking it for squrriels when i am deer hunting and contemplating where to start for a load. thinking 15 grains FFF maybe wad of hornets nest and some #4 with hornets nest over top? i am thinking 5-10 yards max for the pesky buggers on a kamikaze mission to my frying pan. anyone have any ideas??

Sounds good bud. If you get any tree rats post pics and let us know ! Hunting stories are always fun