Biggest black-powder load you're comfortable with...?

[AJMD429]

.

I've used up to 120 grains in my muzzleloader....

This muzzleloader used 3,150,000 grains....

https://youtu.be/aKmi0PN7LxM

I wouldn't even want to be around 450 lbs of black powder...

[gamekeeper]

I live near Fort Nelson, it is a museum of Artillery with live firing of cannons, I used to exterminate the rodents there before it was turned into a museum.
Good place to go if you need a fix for BP smoke..

ftnelsn2.jpg

[gamekeeper]

I can't remember what the powder load was but it was a lot more than I could stuff down my muzzle loader...

74177839.jpg

[piller]

That had to be a gigantic fireball at the muzzle when fired.

[piller]

I didn't pay close attention. Did the number of pounds of powder used as primer get mentioned?

[JimT]

I use anywhere from 1500 grains to near 4000 grains in my Thunder Mug.

[Bill in Oregon]

We need a video, Jim!
I used 150 grains of FFg under a 700-grain Fosbury-style conical in the Pedersoli Kodiak .72 double rifle. The weight in those barrels kept the recoil from getting beyond the "robust" descriptor. Miss that rifle.

[marlinman93]

It really depends upon the caliber, ball or bullet weight, and weight of the gun also. What's comfortable in a 10 lb. rifle will hurt in a 7.5 lb. rifle. So I can't say it's this or that amount without prefacing it on which old gun I'm shooting.
I have been told by friends who shoot a lot of ML rifles that it's impossible to damage the guns from too much, as the ball exits the bore at some point and the excess just makes a big flash of fire. They're always telling me how safe BP is, and how I should use it in my old cartridge rifles. I've got one muzzleloader, a Vincent Half Stock in .38 caliber that's gorgeous, and extremely accurate. It only gets the real BP, and none of that substitute BP stuff. But I rarely ever even take it out to shoot, so my two lbs. of BP have been here for years.

[Shasta]

Biggest black powder load I'm comfortable with? In a shoulder-fired gun, my standard load for my custom made .62 caliber Hawken flintlock is 120 gr. FFg under a 342 gr. round ball. It's the top gun in this photo:



As for uncomfortable, that would have been the 300 gr. of Fg that I touched off in my late brother's rifled 2 bore flintlock. Here is a link to a thread I posted about it:

https://www.levergunscommunity.org/view ... hilit=bore

Shasta

[Blaine]

.54 RB with 120gr of Pyrodex P.....Stout, but ok. Book said I was getting 2000fps.

[piller]

I have an inline ML that is capable of using 150 grains. I use 95 grains of Pyrodex for best accuracy. 105 or more starts giving patterns instead of groups.

[Griff]

I live near Fort Nelson, it is a museum of Artillery with live firing of cannons, I used to exterminate the rodents there before it was turned into a museum.
Good place to go if you need a fix for BP smoke..
ftnelsn2.jpg

Wait... now that it's a museum, they don't need their rodent exterminated???

[hondo1892]

The big guns on navel ships used black and still may. I know a guy that used to work for Hogden powder company and he told me that the U.S. military is the biggest black powder customer they had.

[Ray]

Here's a bizarre fact. Look to your old Lyman loading data books that shows beginning and maximum loads with ten grain increments between and both muzzle and 100 yard velocities. No matter how fast you drive the round ball of any caliber (some 2000 fps.) they show a 100 yard velocity of only 100 to 150 fps. above the starting load.

A .526" round ball of 219 grains launched at 1900 fps. slows all the way down to barely over a 1000 fps. by 100 yards. The same ball at 900 fps only slows to 800 fps.

Could be errors and typos and may not actually be true but look at the data/charts yourself. Eye opening.

[Sixgun]

My cement soup can mortar takes 400 gr. of black and sends that baby so far up it goes outta sight and in the groove.

[gamekeeper]

I live near Fort Nelson, it is a museum of Artillery with live firing of cannons, I used to exterminate the rodents there before it was turned into a museum.
Good place to go if you need a fix for BP smoke..
ftnelsn2.jpg

Wait... now that it's a museum, they don't need their rodent exterminated???

When I exterminate something they stay exterminated.....
No once they became part of a national museum chain they all use a national pest control company, we in the trade call " Rent a Rat ".....

[Ray]

According to the expert on this subject, Ned H. Roberts, Jacob and Samuel Hawken preferred the half-ounce rifle....what we might call a .54 caliber today. The target or working load for up to 150 yds. that they recommend was half of the weight of the ball or 108 grs...... 164, 180, 200, and 210 gr. for 200 to 250 yds. or when extra striking power was needed.

The use of these heavy charges did not tax the strength of the weapon but were hard on cones, eroding them in not too many firings. Such heavy charges often proved hazardous as the only thing between the shooter and the explosion was the cone held in place only by often cross-threaded and much corroded soft iron plus the weight of the hammer.

[GunnyMack]

Used to use 3 or 4 ounces of cannon grade BP in my buddies dads cannon, tennis balls fit the bore nicely, as did beer cans frozen ( with water) . The tennis balls were like tracers, the fuzz burned off leaving a trail.

[Oldncrusty]

The biggest BP cartridge I wanted to try was the .45-120 Sharps. It was a Win 1885 High Wall that I was trying to trade for in the 80's. First 1885 I had ever seen. I couldnt come up with enough boot, and I'm still dreaming about it.