Pyrodex loads in the 1860 Army 44

[reno]

Have any of you out there ever used 30 gr. Pyrodex pellets behind a .454 ball in a 1860 Army? A friend gave me 2 cans of 100 each yesterday. They  say they are for 44 and 45 cal. percussion revolvers. I have loaded 20 grains but never 30.
Thanks

Reno

[Pettifogger]

I bought a couple of cans to try out to see if they might be useful when I am on the road and want everything as simple as possible.  Easy to drop one in the chamber and seat the ball, BUT they had a lot of recoil.  Felt more like 40 or 50 grains.  I still have a can and one-half that has been under the counter for four or five years.  On the road I use APP.  Mild recoil, you do not need any lube, and simple water clean-up.

[Good Troy]

Reno,

I've used them in my Pietta Remington copies.  In fact, that is all I've used....but only about 25 shots so far.
I used them only because I didn't own a flask at the time, got invited to the range at the last minute, and I was anxious to shoot the newly purchased revolvers.

I was shooting a ball with a wonderwad on top of the pellet.  I didn't find the recoil too bad.  I did have a couple of times were there was a delay after dropping the hammer until the shot.  Just had a brief fizzling sound and then the boom.

I plan a trip to the range this weekend, and will go to loose powder now that I have a flask.  I don't believe the convenience of the pellets out weighs the added cost.  Plus, using loose powder simplifies my powder inventory...I can use the same loose powder as I use on my cartridges.

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[reno]

Thanks for your replys, as I have never used the pellets before. Iam going to shoot them up as they are to pricey to put on the shelf and forget.
Thanks again,
Reno

[pony express]

I tried them once in a couple pistols I owned, an 1860 and a Euroarms Remington .44, I don't remember much success with them. One pistol had hangfires, and the other wouldn't ignite them at all, unless you seated the ball deep enough to crunch them up some. I think it was the Remington that wouldn't light them, the cap had just enough force to push the ball into the forcing cone, where I had to use a rod to push it back so the cylinder would rotate. I think I've still got most of 2 cans of them, that someone else gave me.

[Navy Six]

A friend has a pair of Pietta 51 Navies in .44 that he also has R&D cylinders for. We tried the Pyrodex pellets in both the percussion cylinders and the .45 Colt cartridge R&D's. No ignition problems, accurate at CAS distances. But, the things had noticable recoil that seemed greater than the claimed 30 grains.

[robtlah]

When I was shooting.44  percussion in Cowboy action, I used the pellets (in Pietta Rem clones, and occasionally 1860 Army.) I found them to be a more powerful load than I desired. I usually load 25 grains of loose BP substitute when I shoot percussion and find that adequate for cowboy action and target shooting, and less annoying in terms of recoil, noise, and fouling. I still have a few cans of the pellets, but only use them occasionally in target shooting. As to regular match shooting, I switched to Howell conversion cylinders in .45 Colt for my Civil War era pistols and haven't looked back since! For target practice, or for the occasional Civil War life-fire competition event, I prefer 25 gr Hogdon 777 ffg
Lawdog Bob

[Grapeshot]

I used them in my .44 Colt Chambered 1875 Remingtons.  Definitely not for the faint of heart.