Black Powder loads and accuracy

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Joshboyfutre

Joshboyfutre

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Hey guys just have a couple questions here. One is, whats everyone's best accuracy load for roundball outta pietta 1860 army. Nice weather rolling in and want to experiment and find the best one for mine. Figure I'd get a good starting point from the shooters on here. Second is what the max anyone has loaded one of these .44 pistols? How about walkers and dragoons(big as a walker?). Just curious on the second question
 
I haven't had my walker very long, but I don't go over 50 grains of powder. I don't want to beat up the wedge. In the owners manuals it says that the max for real bp is 35 grains in a .44 and 28 of pyrodex
 
Start out with about 24-25 grs. of FFF and start experimenting. That's part of the fun. You won't get too much more than 30 grs or so as max, depending on the type of wad, etc. you use. In the Dragoons and Walkers, trying to shove in as much powder as those big cylinders will hold, with extended shooting, often leads to a loose gun and worse.
 
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For accuracy? Try 15 grains 3F, work up in 2 grain increments. Shoot each chamber separately, find the one that shoots best, do your workup with that alone.
 
I been shooting 27g of 777 but can tell the rounds are a little wild. Just haven't had a chance to really sit down and get some experimenting with different loads in, been to cold lol. I dont have a walker but plan on getting one eventually, just watched lonesome dove the other day and noticed Gus carryin one, that sealed it! lol
 
Yep, many folks don't know that the general rule for cap guns is that lighter loads generally produce better accuracy.
When I was target shooting with .36 Navy models way back in the 80s, 11-12 grains FFFg was the norm.
Follow Mike's advice if you really want the best accuracy.
Since we're not using these for personal protection, a heavy "manly" load is counter-productive.
--Dawg
 
Can't speak to the Walker. I've found best accuracy with the 1860 Army to be 25 or so gr. of 3F and a lubed felt wad. Tried 20 grains to 30 and the middle amount worked best. BTW, I tried .451 and .454 round ball and it didn't make a noticeable difference, at least not with my shooting.

Have fun experimenting.

Jeff
 
Josh, what's your ultimate goal with one of these revolvers? Competition shooting? Target shooting? Backyard blasting? Hunting?
 
Right now just target shooting but would like to do some competition type stuff eventually and mayb a little hunring if the mood strikes me. I really dont have a particular goal in mind I just like learning as much as possible about any hobbies I take part in. Hell some of the questions I ask are just curiosity, like what a big load in a walker is. I'm new to black powder but not shooting. Figure if I'm gonna do it might as well be as good as possible at it. Guess I like to challenge myself. For this particular question I'm just trying to narrow down the window for different loads im gonna test 25-30g compared to 15-35. I've figured out these forums are full of info so any question that comes to mind gets posted.
 
Can't help much on the 1860 Army. One sees very few (if any) at the national or state level in line competition shooting. Mike will agree with me on that. If you're getting into CAS, the 1860 Army will be more commonly found since your target is about ten yards away and shot group is not important.

Line competition shooters favor the Remington New Model Army .44 caliber either "As-Issued" with original design sights or adjustable Micro sights added.

If you're into CAS competition shooting, the Colt 1860 will perform well.

Start at 15 grains of 3FG BP. You may need a filler of cream of wheat to compact the powder. With a reduced load, sometimes the loading lever plunger cannot reach to seat the ball on the powder, so a filler is used to allow the ball to compress the filler, which in turn compresses the powder.

This is the accuracy one could possibly expect with the 1860 Army using 18 grains of GOEX black powder, cream of wheat (to position the ball below the face of the cylinder and compact the powder), a Hornady .44 caliber round ball and T/C Bore Butter on top of the ball. Distance fired 25 yards.

Good luck withe "homework".
 

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"I haven't had my walker very long, but I don't go over 50 grains of powder. I don't want to beat up the wedge. In the owners manuals it says that the max for real bp is 35 grains in a .44 and 28 of pyrodex."

Uberti used to state that their reproduction of the Walker was so much stronger than the originals using a higher grade of steel and then listed the anemic charges you show.

There's a fellow who uses his Walker to hunt hogs and uses 66 grns of 2F Triple 7 behind a ball.

45Dragoon can fix up a Walker so that the gun functions properly and will last with stouter charges. A max of 28-35 grns is pointless with a horse pistol designed to use more, but I also wouldn't use stout charges as the norm if it were to eventually destroy it. No sense in that either.
 
If you want to kill hogs or zombies you can fill the chamber full then ram down a round ball, but I have only done it once to "experience" it.
With my 1860, 18 grains and thin home made wad is the smallest charge the ram will seat with out filler, but 25 grains is where it shoots best.
 
Whoops, I wrote that post wrong. When I was talking about the max charges I was talking about charges for the 1860 army, and not for the walker.
I need to proof read my posts!
 
The stoutest load I tested in a 58' NMA was 30 grains and a 177gr SWC. Took a good deal of force to compress flush with cylinder. This would be adequate for hunting and has adequate accuracy although I tried i with an already very fouled barrel.

A good all around load is a Lee 200 gr conical on top of 22 grains of powder in a flash paper cartridge. I had 3" groupings at 27 yards with this and it would suffice for smaller game or varmints. I enjoy shooting this load and it's a pretty authentic paper cartridge load.

For RB, still looking for the best marksmanship load. Going to test 18 BP +18 filler grains next weekend.

As the gun gets fouled accuracy goes bad so load development should be done with cleaning tools on hand if you want to test multiple ones during the same range visit.
 
My brother and I were playing with his ASM Walker a few years back. Found we could get a tad over 60 grains in each chamber. We only shot one cylinder with that load. It was fun but 360 grains of powder for 6 shots was more than we wanted to burn.

As far as accuracy goes, a friend of ours, who is an accomplished pistol shot, was regularly hitting bowling pin-sized targets at 50 yards using a 50-grain load in that Walker.
 
1860 and ROA did best for me with 20 fffg and fill to chamber mouth with corn meal. Seat .454 or .457 ball respectively, grease cap and look for good groups.
 
"the max charges I was talking about charges for the 1860 army, and not for the walker.
I need to proof read my posts!"

Actually Uberti's max charge was something like that (~30 grns) for the Walker.
 
My Pietta NMA does best (not tried fillers) with 30 grns of 3F Olde E or T7 with a ball, my 170 grn WFN, or 195 grn WFN, and my ROA does best with 35 grns.

I never tried anything below 25 grns or anything other than multiples of 5 as I'm not just a paper puncher and need a useful load, and use an adjustable rifle measure.
 
Excellent video FG, That is one good shooting 1860 Army.

And who says Colts can't shoot!!!!

Josh, when you sight in using various loads make sure you rest the revolver on a secure base just like FG did and find out what the revolver is capable of. After that there will be plenty of time to find out what you're capable of.
 
Yes, that is good advice. I tend to shoot onehanded like I would in competition when testing loads, but I'll generally devote a range visit to a specific load. This is a much slower way of finding the ideal load.

As for the Pietta NMA liking hot load and ball, interesting. My Uberti NMA likes hot load plus conical much better then hot load with .457 ball, which is not very accurate. I imagine this is because of fairly fast rifling twist in modern built Uberti NMAs so a really fast round ball would get too much spin but a slow ball or fast conical would be ideal.

Last time I shot paper cartridges with 22gr of black and a Lee 200 gr conical, scored 83/100 by mlaic scoring with one bullet less. This kind of load is something quite close to authentic combustible paper cartridges of the civil war era, and it is definitely accurate enough for any practical purpose. It would be sufficient for a hunting sidearm, imo, but I don't have a chronograph on hand.
 
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