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Thread: Cap & Ball ball ballistics

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Cap & Ball ball ballistics

    Do any of you know a site that list Goex black powder ballistics in these revolvers?

    Fly

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    I used to have a list of velocities for the .36 Colt navy by charge weight and powder type.
    IIRC Goex full charges gave around 975 FPS with the round ball.

    Heres the Goex loading charts in PDF
    http://goexpowder.com/load-chart.html

    There info seems to be generalized.

    Cap&Ball revolvers often vary greatly in actual chamber capacity even among examples of the exact same model.

    Goex seems to give significantly less velocity than some other powders.
    When I was using Curtis and Harvey the velocity information for the same max loads gave over 1,000 fps with round ball.
    Last edited by Multigunner; 05-25-2010 at 12:45 PM.

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

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    C&B ballistics. The Lyman Black Powder Handbook & Loading Manual- 2nd Edition has all manner of data including some for the C&Bs. The C&B section includes both roundball and conical data.

  4. #4
    Boolit Master northmn's Avatar
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    A C&B 44 holster pistol like the Colt Army or Remington will give at best around 1000 fps or a little less with a roundball. The big ones like the Dragoons and Walkers make a lot of noise and may give up to about 1200 fps with a full cylinder. The little 32's are about as powerful as a 25ACP. The 36 Navy could give a slightly faster velocity than the 44's but is only slightly more powerful than a 380 ACP on paper. That being said, I shot a very nice little forkhorn buck with a 36 at very close range and was very impressed with the penetration.

    Northmn

  5. #5
    Boolit Master
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    The Lyman black powder manual has all sorts of data on cap and ball ballistics. That said the real results are that on paper a 44 cap and ball revolver loaded with a round ball is close to a 38 special in power if loaded with a conical it gets near a 44 special. A 36 cap and ball with a round ball is like a weak 380 load and with a conical will equal a 38 colt. On paper they are not impressive but as they shoot pure lead that flattens easily they are more effective than paper ballistics would lead you to beleave. The only animal other than small game that I have killed with one of them is a coyote that I shot with a 44 Remington that was loaded with a 451 RB and 30 gr of FFFG. The range was about 30 yards and the ball went through the chest and exited the far side. The animal ran 20 yards and fell dead.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check