Powder load for 1581 Navy replicas

[fastone_84401]

Hi. I just purchased my first C&B pistols, a pair of 44 caliber, nickel plated 1851 Navy revolvers, made by Pietta. I've bought all the kit and I'm hoping ot shoot them on Monday.

The book that came with them calls for a load of 12-15 grains of FFFg but I see many of the flasks for sale actually throw 24 grains as standard for the Navy pieces.

So before I screw anything up, could someone advise on the correct powder charge, please? TIA.

Here's a blog post with links to pictures of my new shootin irons. http://wasted_electrons.blogspot.com/2008/02/here-are-those-shiny-new-pistols.html

Doh! That would be 1851, not 1581...

 

[Coyote Hunter]

If they are the .36 cal, I use between 20 to 25 grains of 3fg. depending if I'm using a wonder wad or just lube over the ball.

If you have one of the .44 "navies" then you can go up to 30 grains with no problems.

But that is just me...I'm not an "insured" expert, just shooting 'em for several years.

Have fun

CH

 

[bigbadgun]

lol 1581 Navy I want one of those. Do they come in Autoloaders

 

[Pancho]

Fastone, what the guys are referring to is that the Navies were 36 cal. and the Armies were 44 cal. I've learned through this forum that the army preferred the 44 cal. because although maybe unwritten, the object was to shoot for the horse and dismount the rider. Of course the Navy didn't have that horse problem and that the pistol was to be used at close range. The navy had the marines armed with rifled muskets to do the killing before bringing the vessels along side for close fighting.

 

[mec]

.44s work well with the long spout that comes with some flasks and throws 28grains of goex fffg. they will also work well with the 21 grain spout ment for36 caliber if you are careful to seat the ball down on top of the powder column. The sheets that come with the replica revolvers are pretty much nonsense. Colt's instructions called for filling the chambers with powder leaving enough room to seat the ball or bullet. With a round ball this works out to 15-16 grains for the Police/Pocket Navy, 18-25 grains with the full sized 36 navy and 28-35 grains for a comfortable fit with the army .44. The dragoons work very well with 40 to 50 grains while the Walkers will do with 50 to 60. The higher charges work with goex powder but Swiss is so dense that it might be difficult to compress the ball below the chamber mouths. -possible but not easy and possibly not even possible if you are using a fairly thick treated wad between bullet and powder.

 

[mec]

Round ball loads from .36 1861 Navy velocity and extreme spread in FPS
25Grains Swiss FFFg .380 " 1101 71
25 Grains Goex FFFg .375 1000 59
22 Gains Swiss FFFg .375 1048 35
Same load wonder wad 973 60
22Grains Goex FFFg .375 849 74
Same load with wonder wad 801 74
22Grains Swiss FFFg .375 1070 37
22Gr/Vol. Pyrodex P. 375 1015 44
Round Ball loads 1860 Army-velocity /ex spread
various replicas Colt and Uberti

28 Grains Goex FFFg Second Generation Colt 822 55
28 Grains Goex FFFg Uberti 871 104
35 Grains Goex FFFg Second Generation Colt 855 37
35 Grains Swiss Uberti 1031 48
Same Load Different Day 1020 34
40 Grains Goex FFFg 992 34
40 grains Goex FFFg with Wonder Wad 942 30
40 Grains Swiss FFFg 1042 49
40 Grains Swiss FFFg with Wonder Wad 1055 80
jamming in 40 grains of Swiss with a wonder wad puts quite a strain on the loading lever and isn't necessary for reasonably high velocites. 35grains is almost as fast.

 

[fastone_84401]

Thanks for the help, guys and please excuse my ID error. I grabbed the book but was on the wrong page when I wrote the post initially. Thanks for keeping me straight. Now to get to the desert for some shooting on Monday!

 

[DixieTexian]

As long as you are shooting black powder and not smokeless, you should be safe as long as you can seat the balls far enough for the cylinder to turn. This will not be the most accurate load, but it is hard to blow up a pistol using black powder. The thing you have to worry about is chain fires. Do some research and figure out what you feel comfortable doing to prevent them, and you should be OK.

 

[Misfire99]

It's my opinion that the paper doesn't care how fast the ball is going when it punches a hole in it. What it does care about is how accurate your shot was. Full power loads are seldom the most accurate loads. So do some testing and find out what shoots best in your revolver. If all you are trying to do is make a bang and some smoke just set off the can of BP. It will make a big bang and lots of smoke.