Confused about powder in a Pietta 1858 New Army.

[Mixxerd]

I got a Pietta 1858 New Army .44 stainless target model. I shot it a couple times after doing some reading since it didn't come with a manual and loaded it with 30grains of fffg Goex or Jim Shockey's Gold, and a 180gr flat nose conical that my dad cast before he passed away. Shooting seemed to go fine and I just had fun with it switching between round ball and conical. I wanted to experiment going higher to 35 or 40 because after pushing down my bullet there is a large gap of empty space. I contacted the company at Pietta.it(?) and did my best to navigate the site because it was in Italian. I found the contact screen and they said that they had manuals on the site and they linked it back to me. I found the manual and it was in french and Italian. I was deterred and did a google search and found the manual in English. The manual only says 12grains min and 15grains max. How can I be that far off, wow I didn't search right. Can any other users of this gun chime in on how much they use for standard back yard plinking? Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer!

This is the manual it is page 18 that I am talking about.
http://www.pietta.us/pdf/Manuale_Avancarica_ENG.pdf

[flyingmonkey35]

Black powder is measured in volume not grains. Buy a brass powder measure desgined for black powder and you can push em pretty heavy.

If you are using one see what a 40 GRn by Volume vs 40 grains of weight look like.

[Mixxerd]

I have a brass measure and a digital scale that measures grains I will check out what I see. Maybe I will post what I find, for science. Thanks for the input flyinmonkey35.

Edit:
Jim Shockey's Gold FFFg 30 grains by volume is 24 grains by weight.
Goex FFFg; 30 grains by volume 28 grains by weight.

[Outpost75]

The Pietta brass frame revolvers have bottle-shaped chambers which limit the amount of powder they hold to about 20 grains in the .44 and 15 grains in the .36s. The cylinders for steel frames are straight cylindrical and will hold about 40 grains in the .44 and 25 grains in the .36 cal.

The brass frames when used with the larger capacity cylinders intended for the steel frames, will shoot loose in less than 500 rounds, if used with full charges.

[Mixxerd]

Thanks Outpost75 yeah mine is the stainless steel target model. Just trying to get to loading it consistently so I can adjust the sights a bit for my eyes.

[Idz]

My Pietta 1858 load is usually 24 grains (volume) Goex 3Fg, 1/8" x 0.470 dia lubed felt wad, 0.454 soft lead ball. I go for fun not breaking wrists and guns.

[Mixxerd]

Last time I went out I shot 2 cylinders of 140grain .454 round balls and they were so soft to shoot even with 30gr of powder. I have a single cavity mold for them and I thought I would leave them be but I think instead I will use them more. I guess I won't try heavier charges I would hate to have a bullet not seat all the into the cylinder and then be unable to cycle around because the nose of the conical won't get behind the barrel. That is another thing that makes me nervous about getting one of Kaido Ojamaa's 240 or 255 grain conicals but I hear that they have to be loaded off the gun because they don't fit under the loading press plunger.

[dromia]

I suspect that as that instruction is generic for all the plethora of guns they make that the loads are conservative to cover all the models including the brass frame jobs.

Personally I am not a fan of brass framed 44s but happily shoot my .36 Uberti Giswold with 15 gns of Swiss No.2 or No. 3. and a lubed felt wad 'tween powder and ball.

My standard 44 load is 24 gns by volume of either Swiss no. 3 or No. 2 under a felt wad soaked in melted beeswax and mutton tallow.

In steel framed revolvers I am happy to load up with BP till the ball is just level with the chamber mouth and the cylinder will turn.

[dromia]

A lot of conicals won't fit in the repro loading gap in the frame, even originals.

That is nothing that a dremel and grinding wheel won't cure, in fact I seem to recall that Kaido has a youtube film of how to do it including the re-blue.

[I'll Make Mine]

My Pietta '58 Remington (steel frame, economy model, that's the simple sights) is most accurate with 40 grains equivalent, at least with the Pyrodex that's all I've shot in it to date, and with .454 round balls. Far from breaking wrists, it has recoil very comparable to my Dan Wesson Model 15 with a full house .357 Magnum load -- and a grip shape that does a better job of redirecting the recoil. It's about as accurate, too. I plan to try it with conicals, once I can manage to get some that fit or get my casting set back up and cast them (I have the Lee 200 grain conical cap and ball mold), but I doubt I'll find a load it likes any better.

[Good Cheer]

Do not tightly compress replacement powders (the ones that are not black powder) when loading percussion revolvers.
With some of them, when compressing the granules you can alter the burn rate and jack up the pressures.
Been there, done that. Made it sound like a .357 loaded with Bluedot closer than a .44 loaded with black.
And the revolver suffered from unloading that one cylinder.

[dogmower]

I use 25 grains of 3f (or pyrodex equivalent) and a round ball in a brass gun. No problems, except that it seems to consistently hit high.