Calibre choice

[DaveJW]

Some advice please. If you were buying a percussion pistol for target shooting would you go for a .36 or .44/.45 given the choice for the same single shot gun.

[harricook]

There are people that loooooove the 36 cal - but my choice (after owning a few !) is the .45" Ruger Old Army - followed in second place by a .44" Remington New Model Army


Cheers

Roy

.

[DaveJW]

Sorry Harricook, I am new to this and did not make myself clear. I have a Ruger Old Army in .45, I was looking at a single shot duelling pistol, perhaps I should have said "front load" ?

[fcat]

Maybe try to handle (and ideally fire) a few different makes and find one that really fits your hand as the first criteria. That will be more important than calibre if you are into serious target shooting. Equally if serious target shooting is your aim (pun intended, sorry), it should be rifled and take note of the sights, some are adjustable, some are not, some offer a good sight picture, some less so. I had problems with some makes as I have odd shaped hands (shovels really) and the grip was too small. In my case I found the Pedersoli Le Page fitted well and conveniently it is also a well made, highly rated percussion target pistol. Since it is available in .36 and .44 I then had a choice of calibre. I went for the .36 on the basis that the lighter ball would use a smaller powder charge and produce less recoil which should help accuracy. There may also be an argument that for a given load, the lighter ball with have a higher velocity and will hence clear the barrel a little quicker which may reduce the effects of shake/twitch as the pistol fires...however I'm definitely out of my depth here!

[DaveJW]

Thanks for that fcat. Unless someone comes up with an alternative theory I will start looking at .36 calibre pistols.

[Jim McArthur]

.44's/.45's make bigger holes: this could increase your score for the "same" hit vs. a .36.

Jim

[lilguy43uk]

Sorry Harricook, I am new to this and did not make myself clear. I have a Ruger Old Army in .45, I was looking at a single shot duelling pistol, perhaps I should have said "front load" ?

Just tried out my LePage in .44 and it is the spherical objects on the canine's rear.

The set trigger seems to work by air pressure. You only have to move your finger NEAR it and it fires.