"How Good Was Black Powder?"

[tacfoley]

It certainly was that. I'd long suspected that the UK habit of shooting round ball didn't exploit the capabilities of the guns or the energy availability from the powder. MikB

Sir - not sure what you mean by this comment. The British were among the first to see the advantages of elongated bullets - back as far as 1842, IIRC - and actually went to the Crimean War with the Pattern 42 and 53 rifled musket - both of which shot a Minie bullet and not a round ball. True, they were rather slower to adopt metallic cartridge, bullet-firing handguns, but so was everybody else. Over the other side ofthe Atlantic Ocean, The War of Northern Agression was fought on both sides with ball-firing handguns.

tac

[Jim McArthur]

Sir - The War of Northern Agression

tac

Yep!

Jim

[MikB]

Sir - not sure what you mean by this comment. The British were among the first to see the advantages of elongated bullets - back as far as 1842, IIRC - and actually went to the Crimean War with the Pattern 42 and 53 rifled musket - both of which shot a Minie bullet and not a round ball. True, they were rather slower to adopt metallic cartridge, bullet-firing handguns, but so was everybody else. Over the other side ofthe Atlantic Ocean, The War of Northern Agression was fought on both sides with ball-firing handguns.

tac

Sorry, Tac, you're quite right historically. I meant in the modern BP shooting fraternity. I might be out of touch since it's 20 years since I shot a front-stuffer revolver, but all of the BP shooters in the pistol club I was in used round ball, and conical bullets were never to be seen.

(I got an impressive picture of a repro 1861 .44 going off around that time, but can't find it now... )

Regards,
MikB

[tacfoley]

Sorry, Tac, you're quite right historically. I meant in the modern BP shooting fraternity. I might be out of touch since it's 20 years since I shot a front-stuffer revolver, but all of the BP shooters in the pistol club I was in used round ball, and conical bullets were never to be seen.

(I got an impressive picture of a repro 1861 .44 going off around that time, but can't find it now... )

Regards,
MikB

Ah, right. You gots to remember that over the Great Water they are allowed to go handgun hunting with a BP handgun, and do. Hogs are favourite game with stocious loads in the likes of the ROA with ball or conical - I'm told that it IS possible to get over 45gr of FFg in behind a ball, but obviously I've never tried. My walker, however, easily takes 55gr of FFg and a ball, and shoots it very well, thanks.

tac