On a Percussion Revolver Kick Again

Lately I've been on a percussion revolver kick again, and chronographing several different loads. With the Garmin Xero C1 chronograph I got last year it's very easy to measure the velocity of your loads. Among other things, this tells you the relative strength of different powders. I've put my results into a spreadsheet hosted on my Google Drive here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DUpnrvYi4rrXWYR4gLM9YhW5mkkv1WjWNZwE3c2W0sM/edit?usp=drive_link

I'll update the spreadsheet as I get more data, but as you can see, from least to most energetic are Scheutzen 3Fg, Goex 3Fg, Swiss 3Fg, and Hodgdon Triple 7 3Fg.

Incidentally, I've read in several places that Triple 7 begins to lose power once you open the bottle, due to it absorbing atmospheric moisture. If that's true then it must've really been energetic because this is from a bottle I bought at least 10 years ago. Up until a couple months ago the T7 powder had remained in the bottle with the lid screwed on tightly, inside my house with central air conditioning. A few months ago I put the remaining T7 into a powder flask, which doesn't seal nearly as well as the factory bottle.

For the most part, I use loose powder and ball, but have experimented with combustible paper cartridges. The cartridges can be handy but many modern replica revolvers have loading ports which make using them difficult, unless you grind away some excess metal.

A good compromise between the convenience of cartridges and loose powder and ball are the Quick Load tubes sold by Dixie Gun Works. I've seen them in the Dixie catalog for years (really, decades) and more recently on Blackie Thomas's YouTube channel. I finally bought a couple bags, one each for .36 and .44 caliber.

Dixie tubes: https://www.dixiegunworks.com/index/page/search?FullText=dixie+tubes

I got the target tubes. In .44 caliber the maximum charge they'll hold and securely hold a roundball is 40 grains of black powder. Likewise, Dixie lists 25 grains as the maximum charge for the .36 tubes but I found 20 grains to be the most it can hold with a .380 ball. It's possible the batch I got are shorter than older batches.

(Yeah, my workbench is a mess.)

Compared with combustible cartridges in a properly setup revolver they're a bit slower to use but they are much quicker to load at home, and also more robust. That "properly setup" part is important. While the 19th Century revolvers were setup with the proper dimensions around the loading port to accept cartridges, many modern revolvers won't without some grinding. If you don't want to modify the loading port on your gun, the Dixie tubes are a nice alternative.

The Dixie tubes should also be more water resistant than combustible cartridges.

The .36 caliber tubes will fit into an MTM flip top cartridge box for .38 Special or .357 Magnum cartridges. The .44 tubes are a little too fat to fit into the MTM .44 Mag boxes but fit well in the MTM box for .500 S&W.

Another good option for field carry of pre-measured black powder charges are flip-top centrifuge tubes. I've been using them for several years to carry reloads for my rifle during the muzzleloader deer season. Patches balls are carried in a loading block.

Meplat Comparison and Terminal Ballistics

Assuming proper shot placement, the terminal effectiveness of non-expanding bullets on game or in defensive applications is determined by (a) penetration and (b) the bullet's meplat, or nose. The best effect on living things is obtained by a wide, flat surface. This causes the maximum amount of damage and also allows the bullet to penetrate in a straight line rather than tumbling or glancing off bone. Here are a few bullets suitable for loading in .38 Special or .357 Magnum:

Left to right:

• Lyman 358429 SWC from Matt's Bullets. From his alloy it weighs in at 178 grains, is lubed with Carnauba Red, and is sized to .359". This is the bullet designed by Elmer Keith for use in his hot .38 Special loads that lead to the development of the .38/44 and the .357 Magnum.
• Lee TL358-158, nominally 158 grains and .358", cast by me from 16:1 lead:tin alloy. It's tumble lubed with Lee Liquid Alox. I load these unsized, then run the rounds through a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die, so even if they are a bit large, the outside of the case is swaged down to SAAMI spec.
• Speer 158 grain swaged SWC. Lube is some dry lube.
• Lyman 35891 148 grain wadcutter from Matt's Bullets. It's also sized to .359" and lubed with Carnauba Red.

Of the SWCs, the Lyman and Lee have wider meplats with sharp edges, while the Speer's meplat is both smaller and the edges are more rounded. The wadcutter has a short button nose but it's the full diameter shoulder that does the cutting.

On top of a suitable powder charge any of these bullets will offer plenty of penetration. However, the Speer would be my last choice for shooting anything larger than a groundhog due to the nose shape. I'd expect any of the others to perform well on game, with the edge in long range accuracy going to the Keith bullet.

C.E. "Ed" Harris has written about the use of "full charge wadcutters," for hunting and defense, although he favors a 146 grain double end wadcutter cast from a Saeco #348 mold on top of 3.5 grains of Bullseye, giving 850 - 870 FPS from a 4" .38 Special revolver.

He's also written about the penetration of the Keith bullet fired from a S&W .38/44 Heavy Duty during a test at the FBI's range at Quantico, in which it penetrated through two calibrated ordinance gelatin and then bounced off a thick plywood backer board. It was something like 30"+ of penetration. (This was in a forum post but I don't recall where.)

If used for defense against people, hollow points are probably a better choice at least from a 4" or longer barrel. Both the Lyman 358429 and Speer swaged bullet are available in such versions. The FBI Load, AKA .38 Special +P 158 grain lead SWC hollow point has been proven in defensive shootings for decades.