le page

[gtpkeeper]

I find the 354 quite a tight fit with a ten thou patch so you must have fun with a 360 and 12 thou. Next time down I'll chrono my pistol and see what I'm getting.

not too bad till i get around 7-9 shots then it needs more thump ,yeah it be interesting to see chrono results

[DesG]

not too bad till i get around 7-9 shots then it needs more thump ,yeah it be interesting to see chrono results

If the storm doesn't hit I'll do it tomorrow. I'll take my scales and have a play.

[gtpkeeper]

If the storm doesn't hit I'll do it tomorrow. I'll take my scales and have a play.

that would be good, des

[DesG]

Well I forgot my semolina today so I just whacked a few shots off over the chrono with 8.9gn of swiss #1, ten thou patch and a 354 ball. The average velocity was 1058fps with a few going over 100fps above or below. When I later weighed my remaining vials I found that my powder thrower is not as accurate as I thought with a full grain (by weight) difference from the mean which explains some of the flyers I've been getting lately. (my excuses book is now in the seventh volume).

What I thought was interesting was how close to the speed of sound this light charge is pushing the ball. I would suggest that 12gns would certainly be supersonic and anything in-between in the transonic region which can not be good for accuracy.

I will investigate this further and report back.

[gtpkeeper]

Well I forgot my semolina today so I just whacked a few shots off over the chrono with 8.9gn of swiss #1, ten thou patch and a 345 ball. The average velocity was 1058fps with a few going over 100fps above or below. When I later weighed my remaining vials I found that my powder thrower is not as accurate as I thought with a full grain (by weight) difference from the mean which explains some of the flyers I've been getting lately. (my excuses book is now in the seventh volume).

What I thought was interesting was how close to the speed of sound this light charge is pushing the ball. I would suggest that 12gns would certainly be supersonic and anything in-between in the transonic region which can not be good for accuracy.

I will investigate this further and report back.

interesting finds, will order 354 mould and some 10 thou patches for mine,

[DesG]

As far as I'm aware the only place to get one is from Jeff Tanner. Excellent moulds but very slow to use with no sprue cutter and single cavity. That said, I prefer it to the Lee 350.

[gtpkeeper]

yup jeff tanner where i get my patches from, 350 ball with a 10 patch would you use a 1"dia or smaller

[1066]

In the 1980's I spent a fair bit of time with a Ransom machine rest and chrono testing competition pistols (Walther, Pardini, FAS, Hammerli etc.) for accuracy/reliability, mainly in .32 S&W Long, in full wad cutter form. Some of these pistols/loads shot remarkably well at 25 yards, especially when you think that there's only about 4 inches of barrel.

I've had a .36 LePage for many years but never shot it seriously and never tried to see just how accurate it could be. I think with the correct load it could be very accurate. The problem is, without any sort of systematic testing, it's all guess work.

Shooting from a sandbag rest is a starting point and the set trigger helps, but the sighting system is poor for reliable results. Is our chosen pistol/load capable of keeping them all well within the ten ring?

I no longer have access to a Ransom rest but I think I could make a mount to temporarily attach a scope to the LePage - might be interesting.

[1066]

You think?

I guess that having world champion muzzle-loading shooters using similar pistols, and counting 10x and inners kind of answers your question?

tac

I know they're accurate and competitive Tac - What I'm saying is, it would be nice to have some figures/facts/results to base it on. When looking for the best accuracy for a rifle/load you can, to a great degree, eliminate the shooter and end up with measurable results. Once you have been through the load development process you, in general, know errors on the target that are out of the expected group size are down to the shooter.

In this thread we've seen a wide variety of ball/patch/loads for the same pistol - which one is working well? If the pistol/load is only capable of grouping in the 8 ring and you are keeping them all in the black, that's very good shooting. If the pistol/load is capable of keeping them within the 10 but you are only keeping them in the 8 ring, may be not so good.

What I'm saying is - where's the load development?

[DesG]

In the 1980's I spent a fair bit of time with a Ransom machine rest and chrono testing competition pistols (Walther, Pardini, FAS, Hammerli etc.) for accuracy/reliability, mainly in .32 S&W Long, in full wad cutter form. Some of these pistols/loads shot remarkably well at 25 yards, especially when you think that there's only about 4 inches of barrel.

I've had a .36 LePage for many years but never shot it seriously and never tried to see just how accurate it could be. I think with the correct load it could be very accurate. The problem is, without any sort of systematic testing, it's all guess work.

Shooting from a sandbag rest is a starting point and the set trigger helps, but the sighting system is poor for reliable results. Is our chosen pistol/load capable of keeping them all well within the ten ring?

I no longer have access to a Ransom rest but I think I could make a mount to temporarily attach a scope to the LePage - might be interesting.

Funny you should say that, I'm in the process of making a laser mount for my le Page to do just what you suggest. I'm also weighing ten of each charges up to 13gn in half grain intervals to see what it takes to get it to 1126fps or so which is the speed of sound in a standard atmosphere. There are really too many variables BP shooting to make it really worthwhile but it's keeping me amused. I probably still have a lot to learn compared to some as I didn't start BP shooting till the early seventies!

[DesG]

yup jeff tanner where i get my patches from, 350 ball with a 10 patch would you use a 1"dia or smaller

The patches I'm using are cut with a 19mm button stamp. They're almost exactly the same size as the outer diameter of the muzzle and wrap the sides of the ball with no overlap at the top.

[gtpkeeper]

a scope the LePage ,
a lazer
the LePage ,
- might be very interesting.

[DesG]

a scope the LePage ,
a lazer
the LePage ,
- might be very interesting.

And fully authentic for the era!