Who to believe - Pietta or Traditions (max powder)

[JIMinPHX]

I just started fooling around with a .44 cal Steel frame 1851 Navy revolver. Two different books came with it. One looks to have been printed by Pietta Brothers in Italy. The other looks to have been printed by Traditions. Page 10 of the Pietta book says that the proper powder charge for this revolver is 12-15 grains of FFFG. Page 4 of the Traditions pamphlet says that the proper charge is 22-30 grains of 3F with a round ball & 19-25 grains of 3F with a conical. Ain't that just a kicker? They give you two grossly conflicting specifications on the single most important piece of information that you need to use that darn thing. I'm going to have to write a few letters to somebody about this one.

 

[Don]

The 12-15 grain recommendation is for a .36 cal. revolver. The 21-30 grain load is for the .44. If your revolver is .44 than go by the 21-30 grain charge for round balls and 19-25 for the conicals and you will be alright.

Don

 

[pondoro]

I had the same experience with my Pietta-made Cabelas revolver (a Colt 1860 44). The bulk of the people on this board said, "Go with the higher numbers." I did and still have the gun intact so far. All ten fingers as well.

 

[jim gray]

I wouldn't even consider shooting a 12 grain charge out of my .36 caliber revolver let alone one of my .44's. Once I thought that I could develop a very light plinking load for my .36 caliber revolver and get a lot of shooting in without using too much powder. I loaded all of the chambers with 10 grains of FFFg and roundballs. The first shot was at a tree stump at a range of maybe 10 or 12 yards. The ball bounced off of the stump and came right back at me. It barely missed my thigh. I emptied the rest of the chambers into a much more distant dirt pile and gave up on the plinking load. I use 18 grains now in that gun.

As for my .44 cal. Navy I stick with a load of 25 grains in it, but mine is the brass frame. Yours should handle 30 grains without any problem.

Sorry for the long story, but I hoped you would learn from my mistake rather than your own. Enjoy your gun safely. :thumbsup:

 

[mewing6003]

I would be extremely wary of using any load under 20 grains in a .44 without somekind of filler. I know on my 1860 pietta using 15 grains, the ball will not contact and compress the powder, there would be an airgap! I use cream of wheat filler when I play around with lighter loads. Just a word of caution, but be very cautious using light loads in any C&B revolver. Some of the loading levers will not seat the ball far enough down! :imo:

 

[mec]

Whoever writes those load sheets for the Italian companies does not know a thing about the subject.
Some of the flasks come with eithe 22 grain or 28 grain spouts and these are very good full chamber charges for the 36 and .44 respectively. I have used the 22 grain charge with my colt type .44s but it is marginal and generally displays a slight hang fire with pyrodex p. It would probably do very well with a wonderwad between powder and ball. The colt navy types will usually hold about 25 grains of powder and still leave enough room to seat the ball. The belt sized .44s will hold about 37 grains. The remington new model navy in 36 will hold about five grains more than a colt chamber with correspondingly higher velocities while the remington .44 army is about the same as the colt types.


None of these charges will come anywhere close to damaging the revolvers.

 

[JIMinPHX]

Thanks for all the useful information guys. I do appreciate your taking the time to respond. I thought I had posted this in the right place & after reading what you wrote, I know that I did.

My thinking was that the higher charge was probably correct for several reasons, but I

 

[Arrowstorm]

I tried shooting my .44 navy colt for the first time and I used 14 grains of powder which was a happy medium for the 12-15 that I had read.

The ball didn't even come all the way out into the cylinder!

25 grains is what I use now and it's all gravy. :grey:

 

[JIMinPHX]

Well, it's been a week now & still no answer from Traditions. I sure am glad that you guys were here to ask about this.