Saw this on another gun forum

D

DennisCA

New member
I realize I'm a bit a noob when it somes to black powder - but isn't this hella dangerous?
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200 grains in a flintlock pistol

http://i1225.photobucket.com/albums/ee382/klan792/MuzzleFlash_zps4d649b3d.png

So I've been sick three times in the past four weeks and cleaning up and preparing this Kentucky pistol was my project. I went to the range today and towards the end, I decided to fire it with 200gr of powder for the hell of it. Here's a cool picture of the flash.

I actually did this twice. The recoil was quite stout and the trigger guard slammed into my middle finger hard enough to bruise it.

FYI, I knapped that flint myself. I got about 50 shots out of it today, and I can probably get more if I turned or flipped it.
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Of course it's dangerous. Firing that much black in a pistol is asking for trouble. The flash you see is excess powder burning outside the barrel and doing nobody any good. If that guy keeps up with that kind of experimentation you will see him posting results some day under the name of "three fingered Bob" or something like that.
 
When I was a kid, had a guy tell me that you can use smokeless in a muzzleloader. He said just cut the powder charge in half. I told him it was a bad idea. Long story short:He had a 50 cal T/C Renegade. The docs used his big toe as a thumb and what was left of his right hand to build two fingers.
 
I just don't understand people that do dangerous stuff "just for the hell of it". Isn't it true that BP is an explosive, not a propellant? Eventually the physics catch up with you and you loose something, like an eye or hand. Dumb!
 
I have a Savage ML that uses both powders! LOOK it up. Look up the different in both powders.
 
I used to shoot my RoA on the night of 4th July. I swear the fireball looked larger than that in the photo.

That said, go with recommended loads. No need to be missing some digits.
 
I earn the largest part of my living making custom muzzleloaders. I usually use commercial barrels, but I do make my own barrels too from time to time. I have been doing this kind of work since the early 70s. I do not even know how many barrels I have made in my life, but it’s been a bunch.

The idea that 200 grains of powder is more dangerous in a pistol than it is in a rifle is just an old wives tale.

Let's take a 54 caliber barrel for an example.

If the barrel was1 inch in diameter and it's 42 inches long, inletted into a rifle stock and someone was to load 200 grains of powder into it we'd all say that's about 2X more powder than most hunters would use, but a double load is not dangerous in a well made gun. It’s useless, but not dangerous.

The dangerous part comes from the possibility of the stock breaking under recoil and the barrel slamming backwards into the shooters face or body. This cannot happen if the arm is well made with good wood and a good barrel

Now, let's cut that same barrel ( used with the same lock) down to only 10" long.

Why would it suddenly become weaker?

It doesn't!

200 grains in a pistol is not dangerous but it's silly.

The powder charge will not burn in that short a barrel. Much of it will simply be ejected in front of the gas from the part of the charge that does burn.
If we try 200 grains in the rifle we get more pressure because the barrel is longer, so it gives more time for more of the over-charge to ignite.

A 200 grain charge in a pistol will actually give LESS pressure than it will in a rifle.
 
At Cedar Creek in 1991 a fellow in my unit put 3-4 loads-60 grains each-in his P1853 Enfield. When he fired it sounded like a thunderclap, knocked him and the guy behind him down, when we got back to camp we found his stock was cracked.
 
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Cracked stock could also be because of poor bedding.

One of my classmates removed the action from the stock. There was a huge gap where the recoil lug bears against and the immediate flat spot behind the recoil lug. The stock would have cracked by the second shot.
 
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