Recent Posts

1

Handguns / Re: Smith & Wesson Model 1

« Last post by flintboomer on May 11, 2024, 06:45:35 PM »

Hanshi's info is good, but I'm sure the reason for the post was simply to post about a couple of cool little guns with some nice history behind them.

Hanshi is also right that nobody actually wants to be shot no matter what caliber it is.

Too bad Smith & Wesson didn't understand what they had with the Rollin White bored through patent.

One more thing: For anyone who looks at the pictures and notices that pointy thing under the barrel but wonders what it is for, that is the shell extractor.

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The Welcome Wagon / Re: Welcome Lance1

« Last post by flintboomer on May 11, 2024, 06:35:05 PM »

Welcome aboard.

3

The Welcome Wagon / Re: Welcome Lance1

« Last post by hotfxr on May 11, 2024, 03:41:16 PM »

Welcome to the forum Lance1!
It's great to have you here.

4

The Welcome Wagon / Welcome Lance1

« Last post by Red Badger on May 11, 2024, 01:53:11 PM »

Welcome Lance1,
There are a lot of good people here ready to answer any questions you have or to receive your constructive comments!
Please read the “FOR NEW MEMBERS” Must Read Posts then look around and feel free to join in any of the conversations!  We have been in existence for over 11 years so there is a lot of information here, please feel free to post in any unlocked topic and ignore the 120-day warning.
Please take a moment to visit the “About You” area and tell us a little about yourself and your BP interests.

Red Badger, Chief Factor

5

Handguns / Re: Smith & Wesson Model 1

« Last post by hotfxr on May 10, 2024, 12:59:10 PM »

Actually, I was not looking for any info, at all. However your tidbit about the grade of BP is both informative and appreciated. I was using good old 3fff and didn't have a clue about powders from that era. If in the foreseeable future I can load up some shells that are at least consistent, or come up with some CB caps in 22 short, I will chrono them.

Of course now I will be forced to research 1800's black powder. Thanks for the homework!

6

Handguns / Re: Smith & Wesson Model 1

« Last post by Hanshi on May 09, 2024, 02:47:15 PM »

If I understand this correctly both pistols are number "1" models.  Your restoration job looks good to me and must have tried your patience at some point.  As for the magnum (Ahem!) BP charge of 4 grains, I believe I may have some idea about the actual self defense expectations of that era. 

The powder used was likely a very high grade as the velocities from CW handguns exceeded what we usually get from our repros.  Maybe something like Swiss?  And no one wants to get shot, even just a little bit.  I'd be surprised if the usual target for these tiny pistols was anything other than somewhere around the head at handshake distance or less.  Another thing is that infection was a common result of nonfatal hits.

I would be very interested finding out the chronographed velocities of those cartridges.  The results "could" be surprising.  Years ago I took squirrels with CB caps that were powered only by the prime in the case.

Now that I've added nothing to this discussion remotely related to your post, I'll just ask to be sure, "what information exactly were you hoping for.  Also the fact that you know who this post comes from goes a long way to explaining the "WHY" of this response. 

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Handguns / Smith & Wesson Model 1

« Last post by hotfxr on May 09, 2024, 11:33:57 AM »

I know I am stretching the forum rules with this post, but this has been an interesting project a couple years in the making. These are a couple of Smith & Wesson Model 1 revolvers, 3rd version. Versions 1 and 2 were almost all sold to Union troops during the Civil War. Version 3 came out after. The model 1 was the first firearm S&W ever made. They have a long and interesting history. I won't go into that now. These two were made a few months apart in 1872. They are top break, .22 (short) caliber 7 shot revolvers. My justification for posting them here is they shoot BLACK POWDER cartridges. They shot a 29 grain bullet propelled by 4 whole grains of black powder. I was given one, without a hammer and a couple of springs and was instantly intrigued and set off to restore it. I finally found another on GunBroker that was cheap enough to buy for a parts gun. (This is "On the Cheap", remember.) The day the parts gun arrived I found a hammer on Numrich and bought it. After playing around with small parts and lots of work with small files and stuff, I finally have one fully restored. The other is operational, but needs a very weird spring that so far I have been unable to fabricate. Both of them have nice clean barrels with fairly sharp rifling and are just plain cool.
I managed to roughly reload a dozen or so bullets and have fired both of them. Reloading a 22 is a challenge all on it's own. I did come to the conclusion that with 4 grains of 3fff pushing that bullet out, they are not too intimidating. I mean, if you were to shoot me with one of these, you would really piss me off.











You might have noticed that they look loaded. I keep an empty shell in all my rimfire firearms. Why? Because most people cannot resist dry firing any time they have a gun in their hands.

8

Flintlock Rifles / Re: I really love everything about...

« Last post by flintboomer on May 08, 2024, 06:29:02 PM »

I used to have a Pedersoli 32 flintlock and due to the size of the powder pocket it would not go off consistantly with less than 35 gr. I never found a perfect load for it and finally got rid of it. I have owned a couple of percussion 32s and one would not group with more than 18 gr of 3f and 15 was better. The other one worked ok with everything I tried but a young lady needed a gun and I sold it to her at a loss because she needed it and I didn't and she didnt have much money.

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Flintlock Rifles / Re: I really love everything about...

« Last post by Hanshi on May 07, 2024, 02:58:06 PM »

My .40 liked 40 grns of 3F up to 60 grains.  40 grns was a perfect all around load in my "former" .40.  60 grains of 3F had around 2150 fps of push.  Odd but true 30 grns of 3F (but it could have been 2F) made one hole groups at 25 yds and was my choice for squirrels.

I killed lots of deer with 80 grains of 3F in my flint .45 and 60-65 grns in my .45 underhammer.  But I eventually toned down most of the higher loads to 60-70 grains.  I killed deer with 100 grns in my .50 Virginia rifle; my current .50 gets fed 60-70 grns just like the .45s.  Now that I don't hunt powder-puff loads suit my needs quite well.  Plus my .32 and .36 get the most attention nowadays.  With the .32 and .36 we're talking 20 to maybe 30 grains of 3F.  Might even like dropping a tad below 20 grns.

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Flintlock Rifles / Re: I really love everything about...

« Last post by flintboomer on May 03, 2024, 06:40:05 PM »

Back when I started everyone said start your load at bore size in grains and work up from there, but that old (It was new back then.) TC Renegade took me 2 years to find out that I needed to go DOWN not UP with the powder. It is .54 caliber and prefers 40 grains. My .50 prefered 35 grains. My .58 seems to like anything I have erver tried and my .40s like 40-65.