Dug out the Plains Pistol

[mec]

.490 Ball and 20 grain measure of H777. pillow ticking patch.
the sun was wrong for the narrow sights so I tossed an alibi round. Put a white aiming point over the target and the rest were good. I hid the alibi round.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_10_51/ai_n14936903

 

[Manyirons]

Ball that big ya outta call er a mulligan! Good shootin!

 

[arcticap]

The article stated:

Some users were satisfied with close range destructiveness while others valued the high degree of accuracy and extended range performance of pistols with rifled bores and usable sights.

The later category came to include the accurate mid-bore dueling pistols favored on the European Continent and considered as unsportsmanlike in the British Isles.

I've read that because only smoothbore pistols were legal for dueling purposes in the U.S., some people would use a sharp edged tool in repetitive circular motions in order to lightly gouge swirling scratches into their dueling pistol barrel. They believed that side stepping the law would give them an accuracy advantage in a duel, and the swirling scratches became known as "scratch rifling".
Have you ever heard about how well scratch rifling actually worked or was it only a psycholgical advantage?

I've also read reports about how some of the .54 caliber Lyman pistol stocks develop cracks after being fired with heavier hunting type loads. The lock does look rather large and long for the pistol doesn't it? Maybe the extra inletting needed to fit it sacrifices some stock strength, or the stock should have been made beefier, or better wood used? What type of wood do you suppose it is?

 

[mec]

There is a lot of inletting inside the stock with just thin veneers between. I've heard of 54s splitting stocks even with the prescribed loads that come with the pistols. I had an old CVA 50 that I would load with 50 grains of Pyrodex or fffg. It was loud but never developed problems. I've stayed at 40 grains and under with this pistol though I have used that charge with Lee 250 grain REAL bullets and Hornady 385 bore riding projectiles. I prefer to be cautions with it to avoid stock cracking. the old aston johnson dragoon pistols are heavily inletted too and frequently have cracks under the lock plate. Could be from the loads and could be from using the thing as a knob kerry.

I don't know if scratch rifling was supposed to be a sneaky way of getting around the smooth bore question or not. Europeans didn't stick at rifled bores and I don't find any mention of smooth/vs rifled in the Irish or French Codes. There are a lot of elements of the Code that went ignored. One such was the injunction not to discharge your pistol in the air instead of at your opponent. It was considered short of honorable and disrespectful of the seriousness of the duel. Nevertheless, some sources say that Alexander Hamilton said that he was going to fire his pistol harmlessly and that that is what happened when he squared off on aaron burr. Another version is that he didn't realize he had a single set trigger or failed to use it properly.

 

[Manyirons]

An another version was he KNEW bout tha trigger, used it fer cheatin an jus blew it that las time.

Course, since he's real dead long time now we's never goin know!