Recommended powder for front stuffer pistol?

P

PAINTBALL GUY 3

Regular
EE Expired
Rating - 96.4%
27   1   0
Location
ont.
Hello all,

I've purchased an antique WM Parker muzzloading pistol from a member here. It is my first antique and I'm very pleased with its simplistic elegance. The pistol was converted to caps meny moons ago, is .64 caliber 9.5" smooth bore and is still a nice solid piece with just the right amount of character. I wish I could post some pictures but working with a tablet is very frustrating, so I tend to avoid posting altogether.

Anyway, after running around Regina for awhile, I found someone who will order BP in for me. But now I just need to know which brand and grain size I should be feeding this pistol. Any recommendations?

Thanks much.

Ti
 
In Sam Fadala's book "Black Powder Loading Manual" he tests a Navy Arms LeMat revolver which also has a .65 cal smoothbore barrel. He uses a .649 cast round ball with 1 Pyrodex Pistol Pellet in one test and a .595 cast round ball with 25 grs of FFFg black powder in another test.
 
Try the Hill Folk Muzzel loading supplies In Sask. They have powder Travel alot of the gun shows
 
Thanks much everyone for the info!

I'd like to touch on something in Goldenlakepete's post. Pete, you mention there being used a "pyrodex pellet". So then am I to assume substitute powder is safe to use for antique pistol shooting?
 
PAINTBALL GUY 3 said:
Thanks much everyone for the info!

I'd like to touch on something in Goldenlakepete's post. Pete, you mention there being used a "pyrodex pellet". So then am I to assume substitute powder is safe to use for antique pistol shooting?
Click to expand...

Sir - with shooting, it's not a good plan to assume anything - particularly when you are holding a genuine antique in your hands, and trying to shoot it with modern substitute propellants. As for the Pyrodex pellet, it is designed to be shot from a modern in-line rifle, not an antique muzzle-loading pistol of the traditional variety, no matter how finely wrought it might be. The reason for this is the pellet has a small centrally-located 'insert' of black-powder that is directly in line with the flash from the #209 shotgun primer used in most, if not all, modern in-line rifles. I don't recall that Pyrodex actually make a .64cal diameter pellet, so loading anything smaller and firing it off might just be the last thing you recall doing until you wake up in ER with a 'WTF was that?' on your charred lips. Sadly, the more usual victims of such errant daftness are those folks around the shooter. Back in the early 1980's I was present in the next shooting-booth when such an event actually took place - from a vastly overloaded Colt Trooper - and managed against all odds to keep the unfortunate victim alive long enough for him to die as we put him on the stretcher in ER.

Reading in my numerous books on the matter, I'd opine that Mr Tyokell18 has it just right. Personally, I'd take his sage advice and stick to using the real black stuff from the real thing, the way that ol' Chuck Moore intended, but, hey, that's just me. You'll probably get away using 18-20gr of Pyrodex RS - thats 'Rifle/Shotgun', BTW - if you had a mind to do so. Pyrodex P [for Pistol] is intended for use in calibres up to .45" or so in a modern-made percussion pistol. Even a 16-20gr load of Triple 7 in an old and original .64cal handgun, orginally made as a flintlock, is something I'd only care to watch, but not to shoot. To me, it comes under the heading 'Here, Earl, gimme that and hold my beer'.

tac
 
Last edited:
I have shot my .50-calibre Lyman Plains Pistol with 25 gr Pyrodex RS or P behind bore-buttered-patched .490 balls. I'm not of the "bigger-louder-faster" persuasion, at least as far as loading is concerned. Both RS and P work fine, although I notice that the Pyrodex P doesn't smell as much.
 
Sam Fadala's book "Black Powder Loading Manual". AKA The Lyman Black Powder Handbook and Reloading Manual. About $30 in your local gun shop or Amazon. Good read and lots of info about shooting vintage and modern BP firearms.
 
tacfoley said:
Sir - your .50cal Lyman pistol is not 200 years old, as the OP's pistol likely is.

'snot just me that says it, but many other shooters of BP firearms agree that old guns need old-style propellants, as a look on www.muzzleloadingforum.com would show you.

tac
Click to expand...
Thanks for the clarification tac, I was wondering why mine looked so new ;-). I agree that guns as a rule should be fired with the propellants they were designed for.
 
Last edited:
PAINTBALL GUY 3 said:
Thanks much everyone for the info!

I'd like to touch on something in Goldenlakepete's post. Pete, you mention there being used a "pyrodex pellet". So then am I to assume substitute powder is safe to use for antique pistol shooting?
Click to expand...

As I pointed out - Mr. Fadala was using a modern made Navy Arms replica LeMat revolver. As others have posted - you have an antique and should treat it with great care.
 
@Goldenlakepete - of course, shooting a revolver like the LeMat, where the flash impinges directly onto the centre [accelerator] black powder insert of the Pyrodex pellet, makes sense for a successful discharge. A single-shot pistol, like the Charles Moore - or, indeed, anything else of that type with a side-lock, no matter whether it is percussion or flint, has the ignition charge impinging on the SIDE of the charge of whatever is in the breech. As such, a successful ignition is not certain, particularly with a solid pellet of a propellant with a flash temperature almost three times higher than black powder.

Many years ago, I used German RWS BP 20gr revolver pellets in my Rogers & Spencer revolver with great lack of success - one was not enough and two was too much.

tac
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom