So I found a .36 Underhammer pistol

[bigmatt-madcustoms]

I measured the bore and one of my small hole guages says .350.. so thats a .340 ball.. How much powder min/max can I safely use..

Oh and the gun is a Hopkins & Allen kit gun in unfired condition...neet little toy..

Thanks
Matt

 

[M. De Land]

I shoot 15 grains of 3 F in my .36 caliber flint and percussion match pistols.
A friend of mine beats me regularly with his match pistols and he uses 11 grains if I remember correctly, course he could beat me with my own pistols and loads if he wanted to! :rotf:
He's just a good shot!
Nice find, they make excellent target guns when set up right.
I'm going to snag one, one of these days when the price is right at a gun show.

 

[bigmatt-madcustoms]

I can just about guarantee this little lady can shoot better than me.. :wink:

Someone did a somewhat poor "brownish" job on the gun but the bore is in perfect condition.. I am sure I paid too much for it but I just had to have it.

Thank you for the load info..
Matt

 

[Zonie]

My 1972 "BLACK POWDER GUN DIGEST" shows your pistol and calls it a "Numrich H&A Boot Pistol".

It says they were offered in .36 and .45 caliber but your measurement of .350 for the bore doesn't surprise me.

That was back in the day when a lot of muzzleloaders were sold with some strange bore sizes.

For example, the Numrich Arms Minute Man sidelock and their underhammer rifle also was called a .36 but the Dixie Gunworks catalog, speaking of the rifles says,

"As with many muzzle loaders the named .36 caliber that this is available in is not a true bore size. The truebore (sic) size of the .36 is a .347 land to land. Order mould in size .340 to fit."

If it were mine I would treat its powder load like any other .36 caliber pistol. Anything from 10 to 30 grains would be fine but a 15-20 grain load will be a good stout load. The 15 will probably be the most accurate.

 

[bigmatt-madcustoms]

Thanks for the info fellas... Now I have found some balls for this at Track of the Wolf, Are they my only supplier option at the moment? Or are there other small bussinesses I should be supporting?

Oh and how about a well made ramrod as well?

Thanks
Matt

 

[F.G. Ford]

Those are great Pistols!
Get a length of 5/16" brass rod, with sliding bore protector attach this to a piece of deer horn.
Lee mold are a good supply to make your bullets.
Fred

 

[Many Klatch]

A wooden ramrod with an old glass doorknob always looks good. You will probably want to make some sort of a wooden stand to hold the pistol upright while you reload. Otherwise the barrel roams a bit too much for most range officers.

 

[CKeshen]

My Feinwerkbau History #1 36 cal. loves 12 grains of Swiss 3F. It is the most accurate handgun that I own (BP or not).

 

[bigmatt-madcustoms]

Hmmm Lee doesn't seem to carry a .340 ball mold nor does Lyman...at least I can't find it on their web site..

Any other places I should be looking?

Thanks
Matt

 

[Shifty]

I bet you could make a mold . or call Eddy May in Ga, i have lost his number he cast about every size balls.

 

[bigmatt-madcustoms]

I know I can for sure.. sometimes time is better spent just grabbing one off the shelf.

Thanks
Matt

 

[Zonie]

If it was my pistol, I'd just go with buying the .340 balls from TOTW.

As you've found, it's an odd size ball for a muzzleloader and the only other guns I know of that would use it are the other Numrich .36 caliber underhammer guns.

Even the cheapest bullet molds cost over $20 and for that price you can buy 200 rounds. :hmm:

Don't get me wrong. If your pistol used a common sized ball and you had several different guns that used it, buying a ball mold is a worthwhile investment. Just not so much for a odd sized ball that probably won't get shot a lot.

 

[Pete44ru]

.


I seem to remember that one of the commercial shotgun buckshot sizes ( O, OO, OOO ? ) might fit.

I bought the proper .36 cal Numrich/H&A .340" RB's for my U/H rifle from Track of the Wolf.

.


.

 

[Zonie]

The Dixie Gunworks catalog shows the American #00 buckshot to be .340" diameter.

Going to the Hornady site and checking out their #00 buckshot, they say the diameter is .330".
Hornady goes on to say they hold a roundness tolerance of +/-.001" and the industry standard for roundness is +/- .006".

Neither of these roundness tolerances control the actual size. Roundness only controls the shape (variation from being a perfect sphere). That said, if the ball is out of round +/- .001, its size variation will be greater than +/-.002 (roundness tolerance is a radial tolerance zone, that is, the variation from a true arc on any side of the ball).

Hornady sells these #00 buckshot in a 5 pound box.
That would be about 650 of them. :grin:

 

[Tinker2]

Mine likes 15 grains of 3F .33 00 buckshot
The .36 cal Numrich/H&A came with a .343 bullet mold, way back when anyways

I used a .343 for years? than a .340 for years, now I mostly use 00 buckshot .33

I also shoot .314 patched Hornady SWC



Have fun

William Alexander

 

[nit wit]

the early 70's and I stuffed .360 wad cutters down the bore. I think I used 25 grains of powder. We used to go to the local dump and shoot rats.
I picked up a .36 and a .45 last year. I will keep this .36 and not let it get away like the last one.
Nit Wit

 

[gl1200a]

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/Super-Buck-Lead-000-8-lb_jar-360/productinfo/SBK30/

Look at the chart at the bottom.
Their 001/2 is .340

 

[bigmatt-madcustoms]

Thats a pretty good price if the quality is good... Anyone ever order from them before?

Thanks
Matt

 

[gl1200a]

A friend orders their stuff all the time with no issues.
In my .36 *not a underhammer* I use Hornady .350 000.

 

[bigmatt-madcustoms]

Finally got a chance to shoot this little lady...

15 grains under a TOTW .340 ball with a .010 patch worked well..

I jumped it up to 20 grains and she who shall not be named stuck her head out the back door and said"warn me next time your going to do that"..

Amazing what 5 extra grains will do..

Thanks again for everyones help..
Merry Christmas
Matt