compressed Triple Seven loads in an NAA Super Companion

[Busyhands94]

i have recently been reading previous posts on the forum, about compressing Triple Seven in the NAA super Companion. i got curious so i thought i should try this out. i have a Super companion and a companion, i have an indoor range (with ventilation now) and i have Triple Seven pistol. so, i loaded up my Super companion with about 6 or 7 grains of Triple Seven. i put 4 in the cylinder, compressed it with a wooden dowel to about half of the space it occupied, and then i added a little over a half of a scoop and compressed that too. i was barely able to get the bullets into the cylinder, but i managed to after forcing one in, then i compressed the rest of the chambers a little more and those rounds went in just fine. i capped the cylinder with Remington #10 caps, and went out to my indoor firing range to give it a test. i fired at a log round, and an old Digi-Key catalog. i fired three rounds into the catalog, then two into the log round. let me start by saying that the pistol really felt like a gun, it had a little more recoil than usual. i took the phone book outside, as well as the log round. i opened up the book, and on average the bullets penetrated about 900 pages in the phone book. the bullets were rather deformed but i could still see the rifling impressions. i then examined the log round. i took my machete and split the log open, and looked at the penetration. about 4 1/2 inches of penetration into the log! the bullet had no rifling marks, and left a rather blackened channel. i am guessing that the lead got heated up and softened a little from being shot and the wood grain rubbed the sides of the bullet until the rifling marks were gone. the bullet looked very shiny as if it was just cast, and had some grooves in it from the grain of the wood. that is quite interesting! the other bullet seemed to disintegrate when i shot the wood, and only got about 1 1/2 of an inch of penetration. i took the gun inside to clean up, and i started using a Windex soaked Q-Tip (great for cleaning NAA companions) and swabbed out the bore. along with that black T73F residue came a few flakes of lead. from what i have heard lead bullets will start to lead up the bore after about 1000 FPS, so i believe i am getting over 1000 with this little bugger! i think i will try buying some Copper jacketed bullets to try out in my Super Companion, that will help with the leading problem. does anybody have an idea where i could fine some copper jacketed .22 bullets for cheap, that are unloaded? thanks in advance!

~Levi

 

[TheRodDoc]

45 grain hornet at around $16.00/100.

 

[Busyhands94]

i think i might have to try some, i will try and borrow a Chronograph so i can figure out how fast these are traveling!

 

[Pete D.]

777

From the Hodgdon website - about 777:

Loading density should be 100% with light compression not to exceed .100".

Pete

 

[dtvburns]

Easy busyhands, I don't want to read about you blowing up a cylinder and having to type a post with only one hand. I have the NAA Super Companion too and it seems just fine with FFFF Swiss. If you want more powder get a bigger gun.... or a couple of them. I now have seven from the NAA SC to the Walker.

 

[Busyhands94]

this gun will handle 2 grains of smokeless, i assure you that the handgun is plenty strong. i know that putting smokeless in any BP gun sounds like a recipe for disaster, however NAA had that in their Companion's manual before the ATF made them take it out. same with Freedom Arms and their BP minis. if they kept it in they would have to re-classify these guns and require the same treatment as modern firearms. keep in mind that these guns do not hold that much powder in the first place, and they are rock solid and made from the same steel their cartridge guns are made of. i have fired about 50 shots of this compressed load and i see no stress marks of any kind on the cylinder or the retaining pin. when i removed the nipples to clean the gun they came out easily as well. i appreciate your concerns, and i am planning to buy a 1858 Remington steel framed revolver pretty soon, that should be plenty powerful! and as soon as i can afford a Walker i will be ordering one!

~Levi

 

[robhof]

The Companions are the miniature equal to the ROA, as stated they are made with the same metals and to the same tolerances as their modern counterparts. NAA and FA went the extra step of having a reduced capacity chamber as added insurance against overloading the mini's.

 

[Busyhands94]

that is a good point, now that you mention it they are like a mini ROA! haha! that is kinda cute when you think about it! good point about the stepped cylinder, that is good they added that to the design, i don't think you could safely shoot smokeless with them otherwise.