Belgian Frontier Revolver

[Steppenwolf]

Hello,

I have this old girl which I would like to shoot. It is in 44 wcf or 44-40. What would be the best bullet and bp charge for her? It is sa/da, about 30% original finish, hinged loading gate and bakelite grips.
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Thanks

[David LaPell]

That's a very interesting revolver, sure is something you don't see very often.

[Texas by God]

I would shoot it cautiously. Maybe a .433 round ball over 2 grs of Bullseye. Old Belgian Revolvers don't have the best reputation but it may be a good one- respect it's age for sure. Neat gun!

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[Wayne Smith]

You can start with a 200gr boolit and a case full of BP. That may very well be what it was built to fire? Not sure how old it is.

[KCSO]

Had one years ago and shot it with a 44-40 bullet over a light charge of Unique with no problems. Bore and chamber were not up to spec but it shot OK.

[Steppenwolf]

You can start with a 200gr boolit and a case full of BP. That may very well be what it was built to fire? Not sure how old it is.

It has the pre-1893 proof mark.
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[TMenezes]

If you go with black powder then it's however much fits under the bullet with light to moderate compression. You don't want an air pocket because that will cause erratic ignition/combustion.

I would lean more towards very light smokeless loads with Trail Boss, bullseye, or any other lite pistol powder. The lite cowboy load info should work great as well.

[texasnative46]

Steppenwolfe,

I believe that you'll find that that revolver is built in a very similar fashion to the .450 Adams British revolver, that was popular with British officers for years.

I believe (presuming that it is suitable condition to be fired at all) that a case full of BP behind a correctly sized PBCB of about 200 grains would be FINE.
(MANY a Western cowboy packed one of the Belgian "Frontier Models" for years & years. as SEARS & ROEBUCK sold them out of the "Big Book" well into the 20th Century. = S&W, Colt, M&H and other American marks were FAR from the only shooting irons of the working cowpokes.)

yours, tex

[Drm50]

I had basically the same pistol back in 70s. It looked the same only had birch, yellow looking grips
and lanyard ring in the butt. Gun was in fair shape. I loaded it with 200gr cast /4gr unique and
I cracked a cylinder on 1st round.

[texasnative46]

Drm50,

To my knowledge, Adams-patent revolvers were never designed for smokeless powder, but were quite serviceable for BP loads.

yours, tex

[Steppenwolf]

I think the 200 grain bullet with 35 grains of powder to start. Do you use a card wad between the powder and the filler with bullet? Thanks for all the replies.

[Wayne Smith]

I load mine with about 36gr Goex FFFG compressed, no card wad, and the Big Lube 200gr boolit. I shoot Uberti's but would use that load with yours.