Dragoon shooting....Flask failures!

[Ragnarok]

I got my work done before lunch today..got a dozen things to do..but nothing pressing...so I degreased the cylinder on my Dragoon revolver..gathered up some gear..and went and did nothing but shoot the big Dragoon revolver for about three hours this afternoon.

I scrounged up a 35gr..a 40gr..and a 50gr flask tubes..plus a powder measure. I also took three different powders..Pyrodex P..Triple 7 2F..and Goex 2F.

Things I learned....The big revolver will hold in excess of 50gr powder and still have plenty of room for a ball and lube....35gr is about the minimum charge without a wad under the ball(wads I do not have)...

Aim a foot low at normal pistol ranges and the gun will hit perfect...sights are about dead on at 80-100yards...hitting anything at 100 yards takes a rest but it can be done...Putting less powder in it doesn't make the big pistol shoot any closer to point of aim at short ranges..but it does at longer ranges(like 50yds)...40-45gr of Pyrodex P seems about optimum....

Couldn't tell much difference between the Pyrodex P and the 2F 777 except the Triple 7 made the gun tight quickly(thought this stuff fouled less?)...I think my Goex 2F has got weak..I didn't shoot much of it..the real BP went BOOM..smoked a bunch..was low powered I think it's gone stale....

Only dropped the loading lever once..and that was with full 50gr loads of Pyrodex P as I never loaded more than 45gr of 777

The springs on two of my powder flask cratered!! The first flask spring broke..and when I switched powder..the second flask's spring broke! I'm down to one powder flask.

[waksupi]

Try 3F BP, you should have better luck than the 2F.

[frontier gander]

t7 builds a thick crust very quick. In an inline muzzleloader you must swab between shots in order to get the next shot down the bore. I dont like t7 for anything!

Pyrodex P or Goex 3f are some good reliable powders for a pistol. I'd stick with the pyro p.

[Mk42gunner]

Real BP shouldn't go bad, unless it is wet.

I never had much luck with pyrodex in any of my revovlers that I tried it in. Like Ric said, try some 3F.

Robert

[Alan]

And just to show you how fickle they can be, Mine likes 2F better. 2F likes more ramming pressure than 3F, and .457" balls in my Uberti's. They SAY .454, but .451's drop almost halfway back in the cylinder, .454's can be thumb seated, and .457's shave the tiny ring of lead.

One thing I mean to try while my furnace is full of (almost) pure lead is casting some of Miha's #452423 HP's, running them through a .454 sizer, and lubing w/ SPG to see how they perform in the big guns and in my ROA.

[Dan Cash]

And just to show you how fickle they can be, Mine likes 2F better. 2F likes more ramming pressure than 3F, and .457" balls in my Uberti's. They SAY .454, but .451's drop almost halfway back in the cylinder, .454's can be thumb seated, and .457's shave the tiny ring of lead.

One thing I mean to try while my furnace is full of (almost) pure lead is casting some of Miha's #452423 HP's, running them through a .454 sizer, and lubing w/ SPG to see how they perform in the big guns and in my ROA.

I have done this with a Lyman 454190 fired as cast in my Old Army. Ramming the bullet to compress the 34 grain charge of 2 or 3 F swages the bullet to a tight fit in the chamber and produces excellent accuracy. My mould drops the bullet at .454-.455 from 20:1 aloy. I sure wish the Ruger had a Dragoon size cylinder.

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

y![smilie=s:

[Ragnarok]

Something happened to my Goex FFG for sure. However this particular can of powder is an old can from the 1980's..a partial can at that.

This can of powder had gone through a couple of moves and a decade in storage. I've used up at least two cans of Goex since..and stumbeled onto this old can not too long back.

I think it must have absorbed some moisture from the air...or otherwise deteriorated. It definately ain't as good as it should be.

About my broken spring flasks..I did some looking online..and seems 'Track of the Wolf' offers replacement springs...so hopefully I can repair my powder flasks.

[MBTcustom]

My cap and ball revolvers always liked 3f better than 2f but you have to be diligent with the crisco/bore butter. If you have to make replacement springs for your flasks, try using DeWalt reciprocating saw blades for a saws-all tool. It will make a good spring. Heat it red hot and dip in water, polish, use a torch to gently heat it till it turns a brown/blue color in bright light. Obviously, make sure to do this away from your powder supply.
Ditch the BP substitutes for C and B revolvers. You need quick ignition. Everything has to happen in 1/4 the time that a rifle has. Real BP ignites faster than Pyrodex and others (If you dont believe me, just try to use the substitutes in a flintlock frizzen.) Besides, real black is cheaper. Also, you need to see a ring of lead on top of the cylinder after you use the charge handle to seat the ball. If you dont, you will not get good pressure buildup.
The only other thing I would suggest is to learn to point shoot the thing. Congrats on getting one that has usable sights at all, but you dont really need them on that style pistol. I could hit copenhagen cans five out of five at 20 yards with mine just point-shooting it. They can be amazingly accurate guns.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

It is relatively simple to spot BLACK POWDER that has been wetted or dampened. When I skirmished a lot, I frequently saw shooters whose gun's discharge smoke was a bit browner than the usual BP smoke. I didn't know till much later that they were shooting powder that had been degraded.

Now it is hard to spot just shooting by yourself, but more guns going off at the same time close by let the browner smoke really stand out.

I often wondered about that smoke till one day reading of Admiral Lord Nelson's great naval victory over the French, the book's author credited Lord Nelson with stating after the battle that he was extra agressive in the attack of his ships upon the enemy when he saw that many of the French cannon's smoke discharges were brown and that it indicated poor wetted powder, thus less range and accuracy.

Every now and then we learn what our forefathers knew.

BvT