10" barrel how much powder is too much?

J

Joey V.

New member
Hi all,

How much 3f powder would you guess it possible to burn in such a short pistol barrel (10 inches)? I am not talking about exceeding max charges I am talking about burn rates and how much is a waste of powder? I am shooting 50 grains of 3f and it seams like it is all burning but until I have snow on the ground it is hard to tell for sure...

THX..
 
Without knowing more (caliber) I would estimate you are at max right now. Besides, assuming you are talking about a single shot ml pistol, you aren't going to turn a pistol into a rifle. And even rifles do not always consume all the bp when shot.
 
robhof

If you can't wait for snow; put an old sheet on the ground in front of the gun. There was some talk in a Walker section awhile back and tests done over a sheet with 60gr and the conclusion was that it was a waste of powder and 45-50 was a cleaner burn, now that's in a revolver and a slightly shorter ba:rolleyes:rrel.
 
The "snow" and "white sheet" thing is just more BS myth that continues to perpetrate the ML world. Approximately 60% of total charge of black powder remains as solid combustion product so no matter if all the powder is burning in the bore or not, you're still going to get black chunks on the snow/sheet.

Caliber, projectile mass, projectile to bore friction factor, effective (not overall) barrel length, rifling twist, vent loss and so forth all play into how much powder can burn efficiently in a given bore - and, if you're talking a revolver or breech-loader, you have to factor in the cylinder gap or breech losses too. A 10" barrel doesn't give much room, I use 14"-16" barrels on the Big Game Hunter pistols I build and 10"-16" barrels on my small-bore & target pistols. I think a picture of my personal BGH pistol is in my profile here, it has a 16" long 54cal 1:66 twist bore that does quite well with 75gr of 3F under a 0.535" PRB.

Mark
 
The "snow" and "white sheet" thing is just more BS myth that continues to perpetrate the ML world
Click to expand...
Not completely and in the past, what we did, is collect what is on the sheet and try to ignite it. Surprisingly, there always seems to be some that will ignite. However, it's gotten to a point, that doesn't really matter. If you do your homework up front, then don't worry about too much about it. Whenever we get a good shot-string, we call it quits and live with it. I use to work in a testing lab and if you test anything hard and long enough, it will fail. .... :rolleyes:



Be Safe !!!
 
30 years hunting with 10 inch cva mountain pistal. 60 grns 3f....all the retired critters seemed to think it was ok :). Efficient?? I don't know...never paid attention, thats just what i have always shot out of it.
 
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