Adams 54 bore percussion

[Micheal Doyne]

Would any one be able to point me in the direction of some load data for a 54bore Adams pattern percussion revolver. I have proper black powder. Casting isn’t an issue although I have no moulds for it. I would love to find an appropriate conical bullet withy the spike for its lubed wad.

Edited for better clarity.

Information

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[oldpaul]

This is usually called the .442 Webley in America. From Wikipedia "A black powder round, the .442 originally used a 15–19 grain (gr) (0.972–1.23 g) charge behind a 200–220 gr (13–14.3 g) bullet." I have no personal experience with this cartridge load but the charges shown seem pretty safe in an Adams revolver. Tom

[Micheal Doyne]

Cheers Tom,
I have no experience with muzzle loading revolvers, I had seen the wiki post but was hoping for something a little more concrete. Out of interest what do you base the assessment of that loading on? As I say I really have no experience in this area.

[oldpaul]

These loads are from original paper cartridges from the American Civil War that were disassembled and the powder and conical lead bullets were weighed and measured. The powder charges with similar weight bullets are somewhat larger than those from Wiki for your revolver. I guess the Adams could be a weaker design than the colt .44 but I doubt it. In any case, black powder is far more forgiving than smokeless but caution is still warranted.

This is from an article in The American Rifleman magazine, Feb 1975.
COLT ARMY .44
Hazard Powder Co. - 211 gr. conical / 36 grs. powder
Bartholow's - 260 gr. conical / 19 grs. powder
Johnston & Dow - 242 gr. conical / 35 grs. powder
Unknown - 257 gr. conical / 17 grs. powder
Unknown - 207 gr. conical / 22 grs. powder
Hotchkiss - 207 gr. conical / 22 grs. powder

[Daan Kemp]

There is a difference between black powder revolvers and 'muzzle loading' revolvers.

Revolvers using black powder cartridges aren't the same as cap and ball revolvers. Are we talking black powder cartridges for an Adams or cap and ball?

Interesting YouTube video of shooting an Adams.

[green]

Service charge for the 54 bore Adams was 15 gr BP and 214 gr bt from May 1864 list in Roads book.

[Micheal Doyne]

We are talking a muzzle loading purvis soon cap Addams pattern revolver, not a later metallic cartridge type.

---------- Post added at 11:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 PM ----------

These loads are from original paper cartridges from the American Civil War that were disassembled and the powder and conical lead bullets were weighed and measured. The powder charges with similar weight bullets are somewhat larger than those from Wiki for your revolver. I guess the Adams could be a weaker design than the colt .44 but I doubt it. In any case, black powder is far more forgiving than smokeless but caution is still warranted.

This is from an article in The American Rifleman magazine, Feb 1975.
COLT ARMY .44
Hazard Powder Co. - 211 gr. conical / 36 grs. powder
Bartholow's - 260 gr. conical / 19 grs. powder
Johnston & Dow - 242 gr. conical / 35 grs. powder
Unknown - 257 gr. conical / 17 grs. powder
Unknown - 207 gr. conical / 22 grs. powder
Hotchkiss - 207 gr. conical / 22 grs. powder

Thanks, I think this is closer to my expectation, the Johnston and Dow seems a trifle sporting! I was expecting something around 210grn conical bullet and 20grn of FFF

[Patrick Chadwick]

For ancient British handguns I recommmend that you go here:

British Military Handguns - Page 2 - British Militaria Forums

for a lot of practical expertise.


BTW. My personal experience is that something like 20gn of Swiss No. 2 (FFFg) is quite enough for accurate target shooting with a percussion revolver. And kinder to the mechanism! You want a hole-puncher, not a man-stopper.

[Micheal Doyne]

Hi Patrick,

Thank you for both the link and the advise.

All the best