Totally Unscientific Penetration Test 1862 Pocket Police

[Ugly Sauce]

Since I'll be packing the Little Brat during hunting season, for a small game/survival side arm, I was curious as to just how much of a punch I could count on in case I need to discourage a wolf or cougar that is getting too friendly.

For a "control" I fired three shots from my AirLite, a 36 grain bullet going 940fps. They zipped right through. I was impressed, as I had been using the AirLite in that role. The board is left over from the motorcycle/kayak trailer I just built out of my former Snowmobile trailer. It's good fresh, dense heavy wood. But for sure, nothing wrong with a .22 pistol for a wilderness side arm.

Then as the the Brat was already loaded with my grouse/rabbit accuracy load, a 130-something grain bullet over 15 grains 4fg. I put five of them into the board. They only went half way, which surprised me. Not bad news as it will be gentle on small game, but kind of ineffective I suspect on wolf or courgar.

Then I loaded her up with my "general purpose" load, a ball over 20 grains of 4fg, and those suckers tore right through the board like it wasn't there. So that's a confidence builder. And that's all I was looking for, to see if she'd go through some good dense lumber.

The Little Brat says: "thanks for listening".

 

[hawg]

If you put two boards up back to back the .22 will still most likely have deeper penetration but it sounds like your 20 grain loads will do the job.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

True. Yes, a real penetration test would have involved layers of media, and where they stopped. I was just going by "if she'll shoot through this board, it will penetrate well in Mr.Wolf and I'll be happy." Way back in the day, I tested a whole bunch of pistol calibers, and wrote a small self-published book about choosing handguns for hiking and back-packing in bear country. I used one-inch boards soaked in water, (left overs from a fence I built) and then stacked them up, and compared how many boards the different calibers would penetrate with similar bullets. For me, the .41 magnum penetrated the most. !! Not by a lot, but it did. I didn't see that coming.

So the ball will do the job. Murphey's Muskets/Natural Man did some ballistic gel testing with an original 1862 and the same load I think. He even put some bones in the gel, and the pistol did quite well.

I was surprised that the slug didn't go far/deep out of the 1862. I think it actually weighs closer to 140 grains, and I guess 15 grains of powder just isn't enough to get it going fast enough. But again, that should be good for not tearing up much meat on small game, so not a problem.

 

[Jeff62]

I opine that your testing satisfies the requirements for a scientific finding as your result displays consistency and repeatability against a control.
Based on your study I, too, now can reliably expect a Pocket Police to perform similarly against a 3/4” (?) board and be adequate against wolf and Cougar.
My 1860 Army too

 

[Ugly Sauce]

!!!! There will be days when I won't want to spook the big game, shooting small game, and I'll have the 1860 on me side. Me and the 1860 did a lot of pre-season scouting last week. Although, the SMLE was my main line of defense on that trip, so the "Sheriff's Model" was just along for the ride. Still, in 1860, I trust.

Don't let the looks fool you. She's rough on the outside, but she's been tuned to perfection by Jack on the inside.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

it sounds like your 20 grain loads will do the job.

I just threw a charge on the scale from the spout I was using. It's throwing a little over 23 grains, so that's some pop for a .36". The '62 is a bit of a mighty-mite. I recall now that I can get 25 grains under a ball, in that gun, but I don't like the ball that close to the chamber mouth. Sometimes a ball just doesn't want to seat all the way, I'm not sure why that is, but I wouldn't want the gun to bind up in the field so I always like to leave a little room for when/if that happens.