Uberti .31 1849 Pocket Power

[Eterry]

The .31 percussion revolvers were the grand Daddy of the .32 S&W Long , which was also pretty anemic but was hugely popular as a pocket revolver round well into the 1980s

You don't need "knockdown" power in a little mugger repellent, walking around gun like a .31. You just need to put a couple balls or bullets into a bad guy, and if he dies 7 days later oh well , at least he ceased his hostilities and you got back from the theater with the wife safely.

Little bullets aren't going to do much but we know this , these are self defense guns.

I'd sooner trust my NAA mini with 5 .22 Stingers in it than a .31 Pocket but technology advanced and that's what they had back then.

The Lymans Black Powder Manual shows the 31, with 50 grain ball and 13grs ffffg to have 795 fps & 70 ft/lbs energy.
A 22LR in a 4" bbl has from 50 to 100 ft/lbs of energy, depending on cartridge.

So yea, a 22 can have more energy than a 31, but you can't set their clothes on fire with a 22!!!

The legendary US Marshall Bill Tilghman was killed by a 32 short, but not immediately. The 32 Long was created almost 20 years after the short.

 

[Eterry]

Acquaintance shot his .31 pocket model in a friend's basement at a log turned sideways. Ball bounced back & hit him in the forehead. Don't know if it bounced off of wood or perhaps a bullet previously imbedded because the log had been shot into before. He wasn't mortally injured, but had a knot for awhile. Fun little pistols, not my first choice for grizzlies.

40 years ago a very unlearned Me shot a small green Hackberry tree with a chiefs special 38 at about 5 feet. The bullet gouged the wood, turned and hit me in the shin. I got the world's worst blood bruise! Limped for 2 weeks. It didn't penetrate and i still have the bullet!!

 

[Eterry]

I don't think I'd wanna eat some meat that has had some lead passed through it ( 'jes sayin" )

I take it from the above statement you don't hunt.

 

[Stantheman86]

The Lymans Black Powder Manual shows the 31, with 50 grain ball and 13grs ffffg to have 795 fps & 70 ft/lbs energy.
A 22LR in a 4" bbl has from 50 to 100 ft/lbs of energy, depending on cartridge.

So yea, a 22 can have more energy than a 31, but you can't set their clothes on fire with a 22!!!

The legendary US Marshall Bill Tilghman was killed by a 32 short, but not immediately. The 32 Long was created almost 20 years after the short.

The blast of sparks, flame and smoke is almost as deadly as the .31 ball out of those Pocket models
I can't imagine they'd have any usable power with those blackpowder charges, but there has always been a market for small , easy to carry pistols. Colt sold tons of those .31's .

 

[Eterry]

Back then, everyone was equally armed . The bad guys had cheap derringers, or knives, etc, you would have had a little pocket piece and a knife , or some other weapon

All these people on YouTube talking about using Pietta snubbies for defense, I'm like ok you're already behind the 8 ball to meth heads with Hi Points and Taurus .38 snubs

However, the local PD Facebook page posts "weapons caches" seized in drug raids and I've seen some Pietta brasser 1858 Rems in there
All the people who use percussion revolvers for home defense.....the odds are not 0 that the bad guys will whip out percussion revolvers too and you can shoot it out 1860s style hope the bad guys get cap jams

Proof they don't call it DOPE for nothing!

A few years ago the SWAT team served a warrant on a known user/seller who was strapped everytime we dealt with him.
The team made entry and the subject of the warrant picked up a brass frame 44 Rem and ripped off a round, then it jammed up. Before you could say "this is gonna hurt" 11 rounds replied to his one.

Is that Urban Renewal???

 

[bud in pa]

If you have to use an underpowered weapon try for a soft target like a face or testicle. no body wants to get shot in either place.

 

[Stantheman86]

Proof they don't call it DOPE for nothing!

A few years ago the SWAT team served a warrant on a known user/seller who was strapped everytime we dealt with him.
The team made entry and the subject of the warrant picked up a brass frame 44 Rem and ripped off a round, then it jammed up. Before you could say "this is gonna hurt" 11 rounds replied to his one.

Is that Urban Renewal???

The brass frame 1858 Pietta seems to be a favorite of meth heads

 

[Stantheman86]

Found under the car seat of a gang banger

This is the c rap that annoys me, because enough of this and the ATF will make them harder to buy

I can't imagine being a cop and a couple thugs start ripping off shots out of .44 Brassers at me....I'd be like this is some Twilight Zone ----

 

[SOLANCO]

Found under the car seat of a gang banger

This is the c rap that annoys me, because enough of this and the ATF will make them harder to buy

View attachment 211694

I can't imagine being a cop and a couple thugs start ripping off shots out of .44 Brassers at me....I'd be like this is some Twilight Zone ----

Five words in the name of the gang. I wonder if he could spell them all correctly.

 

[JT1200R]

The gangbanger owned a gun that was legal for him to own

 

[45D]

I doubt very seriously that a felon can own a cap gun in California. It's a state by state thing.

And btw, ATF doesn't "make" laws, Congress does.

Mike

 

[SOLANCO]

I doubt very seriously that a felon can own a cap gun in California. It's a state by state thing.

And btw, ATF doesn't "make" laws, Congress does.

Mike

Neither ATF nor any other federal agency can make law. Laws are written by Congress and all too often give federal agencies too much rein in their authority to interpret law and to issue rules.

 

[Stantheman86]

Neither ATF nor any other federal agency can make law. Laws are written by Congress and all too often give federal agencies too much rein in their authority to interpret law and to issue rules.

All the ATF has to do is include muzzleloaders under the same umbrella of the law as cartridge firearms and the party is over for freely buying them. Which is why I cringe whenever I see one in a "seized " pic

And I'm sure this will give some people heartburn including a resident "guru" I won't name but these "conversion cylinders" are eventually going to draw the heat on percussion revolvers too......when people are making ATF ruled "non-firearms not using fixed or modern ammunition " into firearms using fixed or modern ammunition, you're just asking for Big Brother to stick his previously indifferent hands into things. But hey, we eat our own sometimes. Wait until gang bangers start shooting people with .45 ACP 1858 Piettas.

It's not "law" it's policy. Congress had nothing to do with Wrist Braces now requiring a $200 tax stamp. The ATF made a ruling. It's as easy as that

We are allowed to freely buy muzzleloaders as long as we are above 18 and in most states, not a felon. Because the ATF allows this.

 

[Whitworth]

My brother was firing an old Webley revolver I had that was rechambered from 455 to .45 Colt. A big old lead slug bounced off a locust stump and came back hitting Steve in the chest. Lesson learned, shoot soft wood with big slow bullets.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Acquaintance shot his .31 pocket model in a friend's basement at a log turned sideways. Ball bounced back & hit him in the forehead. Don't know if it bounced off of wood or perhaps a bullet previously imbedded because the log had been shot into before. He wasn't mortally injured, but had a knot for awhile. Fun little pistols, not my first choice for grizzlies.

I had this happen to me with an 1860 .44. Fairly light charge, but it hit a piece of hardwood and bounced back to hit the first joint of my firing hand's thumb. I cussed a bit, but then thought about what would have happened if the ball had missed my thumb and hit me in the eye.

 

[45D]

Sorry, ATF can't make law ( or enforceable policy).

Mike

 

[Bad Karma]

40 years ago a very unlearned Me shot a small green Hackberry tree with a chiefs special 38 at about 5 feet. The bullet gouged the wood, turned and hit me in the shin. I got the world's worst blood bruise! Limped for 2 weeks. It didn't penetrate and i still have the bullet!!

our local sheriff, (60 years ago) was shot in the chin by a .38 swc from a Chiefs Special. Didn’t even break his jaw. Range was less than ten feet. He never even had a chance to draw his pistol, (also a Chiefs Special) just tackled the offender and cuffed him.

 

[Bad Karma]

The gangbanger owned a gun that was legal for him to own

Under federal law, yes. California views things differently.

 

[Bad Karma]

All the ATF has to do is include muzzleloaders under the same umbrella of the law as cartridge firearms and the party is over for freely buying them. Which is why I cringe whenever I see one in a "seized " pic

And I'm sure this will give some people heartburn including a resident "guru" I won't name but these "conversion cylinders" are eventually going to draw the heat on percussion revolvers too......when people are making ATF ruled "non-firearms not using fixed or modern ammunition " into firearms using fixed or modern ammunition, you're just asking for Big Brother to stick his previously indifferent hands into things. But hey, we eat our own sometimes. Wait until gang bangers start shooting people with .45 ACP 1858 Piettas.

It's not "law" it's policy. Congress had nothing to do with Wrist Braces now requiring a $200 tax stamp. The ATF made a ruling. It's as easy as that

We are allowed to freely buy muzzleloaders as long as we are above 18 and in most states, not a felon. Because the ATF allows this.

1968 gun control act exempts pre 1898, muzzleloaders and replicas of these from regulation as firearms. They can not be regulated by atf because they are not firearms. Congress would need to write a new law defining them as firearms.

 

[Eterry]

our local sheriff, (60 years ago) was shot in the chin by a .38 swc from a Chiefs Special. Didn’t even break his jaw. Range was less than ten feet. He never even had a chance to draw his pistol, (also a Chiefs Special) just tackled the offender and cuffed him.

May have been a target load. My 38 target loads clock around 650fps from a 4".