God i love this walker

[WALKERs210]

Finally got to go out back and run a few rounds through the Walker and at same time I took my 1851 36cal for its maiden trip. First cylinder in the 51 using 15g 3F and if I could hold steady have no doubt it would have stacked the shots. Now comes the Walker, started off kinda wimpy but had to get the feel for it. First load was 20g 3F BP with .457 rb which was a dream to shoot. I then loaded the 51 again this time with 15 g of Triple 7 for comparison. Don't want any more Triple 7 period. Now its time for the love affair to start. Pulled the Walker out, loaded up with 40 g 3F BP again with the .457 RB. Defiantly more push but nothing that you can't handle and in fact I will more than likely increase the charge by 5g to see what it will do. The Walker will do a lot more than I am capable of doing but this outing has sparked a love affair that will be hard pressed to be beat. I didn't use a paper target so don't have picture to show grouping but for me I'm pleased.

Went back out to my shooting range and picked up the piece of Pine 1"x12" I used for a target, in old cowboy movies you see a guy in the saloon flip a table over and start shooting from behind it using the table top as a shield. For most of my life I thought, boy that is dumb, but to my surprise there embedded in the wood was one of the 36cal rounds. It was close to a knot in the wood and I suspect that the wood in that area was harder but never thought it would actually stop a round from going threw it..

 

[hardway]

They are fun aren't they?

What's the difference in the feel of black powder vs substitute for you?

 

[WALKERs210]

Defiantly a more defined PUSH. Also seeing that the 36cal had one shot using Triple 7 did not penetrate the 1" pine board, like I said there is a knot close and I expect that the wood in that area was hard I was only shooting from a range of around 30 ft. And the BP just smells better.

 

[Tuckerp229]

They be really fun

 

[WALKERs210]

Weak Load or Hard wood??

At 30ft I would never have thought that a 1" piece of pine would stop a 36cal shot. This was the 18g of Triple 7 with .375 rb don't know if it was weak load or very hard wood.

 

[Oyeboten]

I'd guess the Load did not develop full power on that one...

I would expect a .36 Cal Ball out of a Colt Navy to blow right through a Pine Knot itself or it's immediate grain, or through much harder Woods of that section/thickness, with no problem, at that range.

 

[mykeal]

Loose 777 can be inconsistent. It's sensitive to compression. If you're not aware of that, and compress it like black powder when seating the ball you can get 'weak' shots pretty easily. The 'limit' on how much it can be compressed seems to vary a great deal - sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't.

 

[WALKERs210]

MYKEAL I was not really aware that compressing 777 could cause this, but that's why I look and read here. I always make every attempt to load each round the same just like you would at a loading table when working up loads for rifle or pistol shells. The other 11 rounds I fired from the 51 ripped threw the board like it was hot butter, 6 were BP and 6 were 777.

 

[mykeal]

Loading 777: You need to use enough force to firmly seat the ball on the powder but avoid that extra push to compress the powder column. It's a fine line. 777 was not intended for use in percussion revolvers so this sort of extra work shouldn't be too surprising.

 

[WALKERs210]

MYKEAL I am going to work on adding another bedroom here so you can just come and be my live in go to guy.. Thanks for all your information and support without making me or other feel like a dumb ass. Do you like real coffee or that unleaded stuff..

 

[mykeal]

I like real coffee and real beer. And two drams of Lagavulin after supper.