Who shoots a horse pistol?

[Stantheman86]

Using .530 balls is possible for cartridges but that paper would have to be very thin, almost like Tracing paper.

Probably a better bet to dump the powder down the pipe, drop the .530 ball in and use the cartridge paper as wadding. I do this with my Smoothbore muskets, or just drop the bare ball down and use newspaper wadding. Groups with my .69 muskets with loose .648 balls and wadding are actually very good.

For a smoothbore pistol designed for Combat , I think bareballing a .530 or
520 with wadding on top will give usable combat accuracy. Hornady makes .520 balls, I use them in my Mississippi rifle.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Using .530 balls is possible for cartridges but that paper would have to be very thin, almost like Tracing paper.

Probably a better bet to dump the powder down the pipe, drop the .530 ball in and use the cartridge paper as wadding. I do this with my Smoothbore muskets, or just drop the bare ball down and use newspaper wadding. Groups with my .69 muskets with loose .648 balls and wadding are actually very good.

For a smoothbore pistol designed for Combat , I think bareballing a .530 or
520 with wadding on top will give usable combat accuracy. Hornady makes .520 balls, I use them in my Mississippi rifle.

I made a batch of authentic pattern paper cartridges for that Harper’s Ferry using Hornady .530” and newsprint, once lol!

It became enstuckened after only two shots. Resorted to doing as you describe, nip the end, dump powder, remove ball, drop ball, ram paper. Worked well! But later on I used .509” cast balls from a Track and could load close to a dozen before needing to swipe the bore and didn’t need to separate the ball. I think I tried the original ~50 grain charges with them. They actually grouped very well! Would have thumped an enemy real good!

Merry Christmas!

-Smokey

 

[Stantheman86]

I will gladly shoot looser groups and be able to load and shoot all day with a smaller ball , once I get the cartridge paper size right.

.648 ball is the biggest I'll go in my .69 muskets , bare ball or in a cartridge. Larger size balls offer no real world advantage in that case.

I played around with them in my Plains pistol and effectively it gave smoothbore accuracy with way undersized balls in a cartridge, but if I were fighting bad guys I'd be glad for the fast rate of fire and "minute of man" at 40 yards accuracy

 

[toot]

I shoot .680 DIA.RB'S in my 69 CAL CHARLIEVILLE with out any problem. I bare ball on top of the powder and use KRAFT shopping, paper bag for wadding.

 

[Steve Blancard]

Just got back from the range. The Aston pistol acquitted itself quite well. I first tried a .530" ball and a .010" patch, but a little bore roughness did the patch no favors. So using 35 gr of Goex Cartridge grade, a bare .530" ball and a paper wad to hold the ball in place, it did surprisingly well. This was at about 10 feet offhand. Pretty good combat accuracy for a 167 year old horse pistol.

 

[IdahoHawken]

I too have an M1842 Aston. Mine is in nice condition with a pretty clean bore. I used a .530 rb with .010 patch. It fit snug and rammed down smoothly. My bore is bigger than .530 because a .530 ball will roll freely down the barrel without a patch. I first tried 15gr. FFFg and then worked up to 30gr. FFFg. The load I had that worked the best was 30gr. FFFg. I did not try FFg which might be the better powder to use. At 15 yards I can hit a chest size target. After about each 10 shots I wiped out the barrel to remove fowling and make reloading easier. Nothing looks cooler and is as fun to hold as one of these giants. When I acquired that pistol I referred to my friend's 44 mag as a small bore pistol.

 

[Stantheman86]

How many .530's can you roll down the pipe before fouling makes loading "sticky"?

That piece may shock you, some .530 bare balls under a wad might perforate a paper bad guy out to 40-50 yards.

 

[Steve Blancard]

I ran a dry bore brush down it after every 5 shots. I could have gone longer, but that seemed prudent. It has already surprised me!

 

[Stantheman86]

Bare Ball with wadding is so much easier in my smoothbores but best put the hammer down on a leather scrap to plug the nipple and pour some water in the bore and let it sit while you pull your targets.......because bare balling and not using lubed round ball cartridges makes that bore beyond crusty after 50+ shots.

Otherwise I'm running patches down forever to get it all out.