To the range with my pistols

[Electric Miner]

The Remmie shot like normal on 30 grains of Pyrodex P, a wad lubed with Bore Butter, a .454 ball, and a CCI #10 cap. Which is to say it shot very well. The Colt 1851 took some getting used to. Smaller everything to work with. Discovered something interesting. The Remington fires just fine with CCI #10 caps. The Colt, on the other hand, didn't like the CCI #10's at all. They were too small. Most of the time, the first drop of the hammer forced the cap on the nipple, and it didn't go off. A second pull of the trigger on the cap would fire the round. Switched to Remington #10's and tried CCI #11's. They both worked just fine.


Found something else out. Hodgdon claims on their website that the max load for a Colt 1851 Navy steel frame is 30 grains of Pyrodex P. I started at 20 grains, which was fine. Then I tried 25 grains, which threw the balls all over God's green earth. Literally, I hit the target twice at 15 yards. No idea where the rest of the shots went. However, after looking at how much powder 25 grains was, I loaded 30 grains into the chamber. As I suspected it would, it came right up to the top of the chamber. I couldn't get a wad in, much less a ball, without seriously compressing the load. Dumped the powder out and went back to 20 grains.

 

[Zonie]

That's what it takes.

A little experimenting to learn what the gun likes and then excepting it for what it is.

I've seen hundreds of posts by people who apparently want a black powder .44 Mag and complain about the load limits like their gun suddenly became a .22 short.

 

[Electric Miner]

If I want a .44 mag, I'll buy a .44 mag. There are some nice ones out there. I shoot cap and ball for the fun of it. Keeping them all in the black is better than huge recoil and fire out the barrel.

 

[rafterob]

Yeah, I usually shoot my target loads of 18 grn. but once in a while I'll fill er up for a manly boom and ear to ear grin.

 

[Electric Miner]

25 grains give a pretty sharp little rap.