light load for a .36 calibre?
- Thread starter War Song
- Start date
vagrantviking
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Alberta
I've gone as low as 5gr in a 45-70 with a round ball for an accurate gallery load.
Yesterday I helped someone clear a dry ball in a .45 Kentucky style long rifle with one shot of ffffg under the nipple. That's about 3gr. if I remember correctly.
Heard of shoots that had an event where you try to load light enough to penetrate one side of a coffee and have the ball stay inside.
Guess it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Yesterday I helped someone clear a dry ball in a .45 Kentucky style long rifle with one shot of ffffg under the nipple. That's about 3gr. if I remember correctly.
Heard of shoots that had an event where you try to load light enough to penetrate one side of a coffee and have the ball stay inside.
Guess it depends on what you are trying to accomplish.
Boolitcaster
CGN Regular
- Location
- Vancouver Island
The lowest I have gone in a 36 rifle was 15 grains. With that little charge of 3F, it is probably still as powerful as a 22 magnum.
Having owned three '51 Navy's and two Texas Patersons, the lightest (and quite accurate load) was 15 grs. FFFg. Ladies could shoot 2" groups with at 15 yds.
However, for a little more interest, try 25 grs. Feels a little more like shooting and recoil is still minimal.
However, for a little more interest, try 25 grs. Feels a little more like shooting and recoil is still minimal.
I'd watch out for the chamber before loading too light. If it's a barrel with the necked down powder chamber in the breech plug or something similar it could be that you end up with the ball sitting on the ledge and a loose charge. Likely as not it'll be too little to matter despite the more of an explosion than a burn. But it may result in a sharper recoil impulse than what you're hoping to achieve. So the first step is to find out if the barrel is a full bore right to the plug or not.
If it is then I think you'll be amazed at how light you can get if the goal is a low recoil and sound for a new or small shooter. As mentioned the indications are that as little as 3 to 5 gns will get the ball out of the barrel. But I'm thinking that for any sort of distance and reasonable speed to get the ball spinning well that you'll want more like 8 to 15 gns.
You don't say for sure if it's for a long gun or not. But if by chance it's for a revolver than once again be sure that you use enough powder or otherwise top the powder with a filler so that the ram can set the ball onto the charge firmly. I know that the ram will only set the ball so deeply. If it's not deep enough to at least lightly crunch the charge then you need a spacer wad or filler.
This is all pretty much a standard black powder warning. Sorry for repeating it if you already knew about ensuring no loose powder and air gaps.
If it is then I think you'll be amazed at how light you can get if the goal is a low recoil and sound for a new or small shooter. As mentioned the indications are that as little as 3 to 5 gns will get the ball out of the barrel. But I'm thinking that for any sort of distance and reasonable speed to get the ball spinning well that you'll want more like 8 to 15 gns.
You don't say for sure if it's for a long gun or not. But if by chance it's for a revolver than once again be sure that you use enough powder or otherwise top the powder with a filler so that the ram can set the ball onto the charge firmly. I know that the ram will only set the ball so deeply. If it's not deep enough to at least lightly crunch the charge then you need a spacer wad or filler.
This is all pretty much a standard black powder warning. Sorry for repeating it if you already knew about ensuring no loose powder and air gaps.
- Location
- Golden Lake
In Sam Fadala's book "Black Powder Loading Manual" he tests several .36 cal rifles and the lightest load he uses is 20 grs of FFFg.
My bad. I presumed that the OP was making reference to a .36 calibre revolver.
My wife has a .36 calibre TC "Seneca". Can't recall her load data, but there is so little recoil with any load, I can't see the point in downloading for anyone capable of shooting the rifle at all.
My wife has a .36 calibre TC "Seneca". Can't recall her load data, but there is so little recoil with any load, I can't see the point in downloading for anyone capable of shooting the rifle at all.
I have a 32 cal Dixie Poor Boy (I think that is what it is) and it is fairly fussy about what charge it is accurate with. 25 - 30 grains of 3F seems to give the best group and with amounts less than that the accuracy drops off quite markedly. At 36 cal, I doubt that you have a recessed breach but with very small charges, the ball might block the flash channel to the powder. Try using 10 grains and bench the gun to see what your group size is, as well as work your way up in charge and compare group size
cheers mooncoon
cheers mooncoon
infideleggwelder
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
i have a .32 CVA Squirrel, and have gone as little as 10 gr with good results. rodents still die. just short range.
Thanks a bunch guys! So I guess there's no such thing as a minimal load for a straight chamber muzzleloader? I was worried about these old-wives' tales I heard about powder detonating when not enough is loaded for a certain caliber. Appreciate again for the information 
! Yes, this is a long gun, hoping to work out a gallery load for it.
Not worried about the ball blocking the flash channel, I would add a sized spacer on the bottom so the base is right before the touch hole.
! Yes, this is a long gun, hoping to work out a gallery load for it. Not worried about the ball blocking the flash channel, I would add a sized spacer on the bottom so the base is right before the touch hole.
If it's made right the touch hole should be pretty much right at the end of the breech plug. So even if there was only just enough to fill in the gap around the base of the ball and the rearward edge was right ON the plug it would/should still fire.
The ONLY time you risk detonation with black powder or the substitutes is if you leave an air gap and the powder can fall around in the breech due to not ramming the ball fully home.
It's the same issue with BP cartridges. the cases MUST be filled 110%... literally. The idea is to compress the charge that last 10% to bring it to "just" 100%. If you don't fully fill with BP than some BP and some other filler such as a wad or grain like Cream of Wheat or similar has to be used.
Best of luck with the gallery shooting.
The ONLY time you risk detonation with black powder or the substitutes is if you leave an air gap and the powder can fall around in the breech due to not ramming the ball fully home.
It's the same issue with BP cartridges. the cases MUST be filled 110%... literally. The idea is to compress the charge that last 10% to bring it to "just" 100%. If you don't fully fill with BP than some BP and some other filler such as a wad or grain like Cream of Wheat or similar has to be used.
Best of luck with the gallery shooting.
