1858 Uberti in 36 caliber

[Ugly Sauce]

Sure would like to see a picture of your holster.

Will do tomorrow.

 

[gtrgy888]

Makes me kinda curious how fast a 36 ball would be flying with 30 grains behind it - anyone chrono? Can you do that is, say, a conical or other type of slug?

I’ve chrono’d approximately 1081 feet per second, 203 foot pounds energy with 28 grains of Old Eynsford and .380 roundball. It looks like a ballistic twin to .380 acp, but with bigger diameter and soft lead that dumps energy in the target. I’ll have more solid conclusions as I collect more data points.

 

[gtrgy888]

I'm not sure on the max, but in my gun I run 24 grains of 4fg underneath a slug, which leaves some space above the nose of the bullet, enough that I don't worry about a bullet that does not want to seat deep enough in the field. I think when I was doing load development I put in 26 grains without intending to, and that maxed it out with the LEE bullet, one or two chambers I had to shave the nose off the bullet so that the cylinder would rotate. But 24 grains of 4fg under a 140 grain slug that I have that is only a hair longer than the LEE bullet pops off pretty good.

My guess is that it would hold at least 30 grains under a ball. Next time she's unloaded I'll fill the chamber to the brim, dump it out and weigh it. I'd be curious as to how much a '51 will hold, if anyone is interested in that.

With a 51 Uberti, I can usually fit 28 grains comfortably and 30 grains with unreasonable compression and the kind of force that bends a loading lever.

 

[armoredman]

With the lack of supplies AND parts, I'd hate to break anything on my BP guns - repairing them might be difficult.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Sure would like to see a picture of your holster.

There she is snug in her cocoon, which has traveled many a mountain mile. Don't remember where I got it. It also fits some other pistols I have, and my 1860.

 

[tinhorn]

With the lack of supplies AND parts, I'd hate to break anything on my BP guns - repairing them might be difficult.

I think off-the-gun loading presses are only $25-30.

 

[44 Dave]

With the lack of supplies AND parts, I'd hate to break anything on my BP guns - repairing them might be difficult.

A single action revolver only has about 7 moving parts, a lot less to brake than a semi-auto. My"cap guns" are my go to pistols, one is always loaded. I have 2 semi autos and 4 or 5 cartridge pistols.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I think the 'smiths on this forum could fix anything.

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

Everytime I buy a new revolver I also purchase 2 - 3 bolts, trigger spring and hands. I also keep a good amount of mainsprings. I should also note that ive only ever had to replace the wedges in open tops and even that wasn't due to wear and tear but to find a proper snug fit.
The way things are going in the world id say its not a bad idea to spend that extra 100 $ and ensure you can keep that BP revolver running for a good while

 

[hawg]

I've broken a couple of Remington loading levers, a link and a few pins. I never broke a lever until I made a link out of a bicycle chain and pins out of U joint needle bearings. I've broken one hand spring and it was in a brand new G&G that had a ledge in the hand channel.

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

When they are tuned properly parts don't break near as often if ever.

 

[dirt-poor]

Some interesting ballistic data here:

http://poconoshooting.com/blackpowderballistics.html

This guy got velocities as high as 1250 ft/s shooting 80-grain .375 balls with a Pietta 36-caliber 1858 Navy having a 6.5-inch barrel. He did that by compressing 35 grains of 3F Pyrodex into the chambers. (Pyrodex is more compressible than black powder.)

 

[gtrgy888]

Some interesting ballistic data here:

http://poconoshooting.com/blackpowderballistics.html

This guy got velocities as high as 1250 ft/s shooting 80-grain .375 balls with a Pietta 36-caliber 1858 Navy having a 6.5-inch barrel. He did that by compressing 35 grains of 3F Pyrodex into the chambers. (Pyrodex is more compressible than black powder.)

I got 1,346 fps from a 7.5 inch barrel by compressing 28 grains of 777 under .380 roundball. It dropped the loading lever and my jaw. I no longer load 777 more than 21 grains, since that loading reliably surpasses 1,100 fps with less stress on the gun.

 

[armoredman]

I don't think I want to blow a gun up, and these BP revolvers are NOT the worlds strongest steel. But that's cool.

 

[hawg]

I don't think I want to blow a gun up, and these BP revolvers are NOT the worlds strongest steel. But that's cool.

You're not going to blow one up unless you load a percussion cylinder with smokeless. You might make it beat itself to death.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

It's interesting that some worry about using 4fg, but no one worries too much about stuffing all the 777 possible into a revolver.???

 

[Jackrabbit1957]

Interesting that you mentioned that, I recently tried 4 f in one of my Old Armies under a 200 grn hollow point, was almost uncomfortable to shoot. I am gonna back it down a bit. Big difference in recoil over 3 f. FWIW pure lead cast bullet.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

The bullets will certainly kick more than a ball, with any powder or powder charge. When using 4fg, I don't fully charge my revolvers, as I like to leave plenty of space between the nose of the bullet and the end of the cylinder. Actually, I don't use the maximum amount of powder with any granulation. The only time I tried 777, it chained fired, and blew the front sight and loading latch lever off my 1860. !!!

 

[Eyrie G. Dogg]

T7 is hot! It's possible to overdo that stuff. Ima real fan but try to restrain myself, "a little".

Does anyone practice the Hodgdon T7 15% reduction advisory? I do, sometimes.

 

[gtrgy888]

T7 is hot! It's possible to overdo that stuff. Ima real fan but try to restrain myself, "a little".

Does anyone practice the Hodgdon T7 15% reduction advisory? I do, sometimes.

After that chrono result, I load 777 down by 20%. There’s no good reason to go higher than 21 grains in a .36. For real black powder, even the premium stuff, full chambers come short of 21 grains of 777.