I have had my antique Colt 1896 revolver for a couple of months and thought I might share some observations for the archives re: reloading for this caliber.
First off I have been only using smokeless powder, primarily Bullseye( no BP yet) that sits behind either a 205 grain heeled bullet or 200 grain hollow based bullet.
Lots of sources on the internet indicate 3.5 grain of Bullseye as a good load that replicates original balistics. Apparently original loadings for the 41 Long Colt threw a lead 200 grain slug at 750 fps with 237 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.
The above load is really pleasant to shoot(almost powder puff) and accurate with the heeled bullets , not so much with hollow based. The hollow based seem all over the place. I got a chance to chrony this load and was only able to acheive an average of just under 500ft/sec.
Has any one else used this load or higher with bullseye? I would normally just start working up loads on a non antique handgun but wonder if anyone has some experience here with this antique in the upper limits?
First off I have been only using smokeless powder, primarily Bullseye( no BP yet) that sits behind either a 205 grain heeled bullet or 200 grain hollow based bullet.
Lots of sources on the internet indicate 3.5 grain of Bullseye as a good load that replicates original balistics. Apparently original loadings for the 41 Long Colt threw a lead 200 grain slug at 750 fps with 237 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.
The above load is really pleasant to shoot(almost powder puff) and accurate with the heeled bullets , not so much with hollow based. The hollow based seem all over the place. I got a chance to chrony this load and was only able to acheive an average of just under 500ft/sec.
Has any one else used this load or higher with bullseye? I would normally just start working up loads on a non antique handgun but wonder if anyone has some experience here with this antique in the upper limits?
