Talk to me about musket handguns

Ok, I got this crazy notion that I want to try hunting with a musket handgun. I don't know anything about them, brands etc. Are there any out there that are worth hunting with? How far could I expect to shoot with them, 20-30 yds? Thanks for the input

By "Musket", do you mean a traditional styled, sidelock, Flint or percussion pistol of large bore?

If so, there's tons of stuff out there. You could probably find a caplock CVA or TC pistol for a couple hundred bucks, or you could get a custom pistol that costs about as much as a nice mid level shotgun.

Check out North Star West they have some nice ones

Supercracker said:

By "Musket", do you mean a traditional styled, sidelock, Flint or percussion pistol of large bore?

If so, there's tons of stuff out there. You could probably find a caplock CVA or TC pistol for a couple hundred bucks, or you could get a custom pistol that costs about as much as a nice mid level shotgun.

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Yes, that's exactly what I meant. Thanks

I have a Lyman Great Plains pistol in 50 caliber percussion. I`ve never used it for deer hunting, but with 40 grains of DuPont FFFg blackpowder pushing a .490 patched round lead ball, I would not be a bit worried about its ability to take a deer out 25 yards. It`s plenty accurate.

This is also the maximum load for this particular pistol too.

IF you truly want a "hunting" handgun in a more traditional style "I" would look at the Pedersoli Bounty.

http://www.possibleshop.com/pistol-pedersoli.html

I have something similar I am working on in flintlock.

underpowered

I recently shot a .67 caliber flintlock pistol with a 9" smoothbore barrel. It didn't impress me as a powerful hunting weapon.

Although I used balls that were a little undersized at .62" with the thickest patches I could buy, and I'm sure that contributed to the problem.

But even with a good charge of 50 grains of powder, that ball flew with modest velocity. It had almost no penetration of even soft wood from 30 feet away.

I think black powder handguns lose a lot of velocity for having the barrels so short.

For hunting, I'd get one made very strong. A good design made out of top quality materials with good workmanship, so that you can put in a heavy powder charge (at least matching the grains of weight of powder to the caliber of the weapon, and working up from there).

A rifled barrel would also make a difference.

tv_racin_fan said:

IF you truly want a "hunting" handgun in a more traditional style "I" would look at the Pedersoli Bounty.

http://www.possibleshop.com/pistol-pedersoli.html

I have something similar I am working on in flintlock.

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I agree that the longer barrell on the bounty would be the way to go. Large charges in many of the shorter barrelled pistols only result in the ball exiting the barrel with a lot of smoke and fire, but not much increase in velocity.

You would think that 44gr of powder with a .45 ball would give you something similar to the old .44/.40 cartridge. I have never been able to get as good velocity out of a round ball as I can get out of a .44/.40 black powder cartidge, probably because the cartridge bullet is significantly heavier than a roundball.

My experience has also been that the most accurate loads for muzzleloading pistols is often well below the maximum charge.

I would suggest a lot of range time prior to trying to hunt deer with one of these. I also always suggest that a good way to get comfortable with how the pistol performs in the real world is to use it first on small game. Squirrel hunting with a muzzloading pistol is a lot of fun, and way more challenging than you might think.

Get an Optima by CVA if you decide to go the modern route. It's 14" barrel, and 100 grain max charge, makes for one heck of a hand cannon. Mine will shoot inside and inch at 50 yards.

I read an article where the guy wanted to shoot a deer with a black powder handgun. He looked around at different handguns and when he spotted the Bounty he decided that would be the handgun.

I dunno what the max recommended load is but he checked it out and the barrel is basically the same as on the rifle so he stepped up the charge pretty good. I think he was running 70 grains by the time he was satisfied with the load.

As you can imagine the recoil was pretty hefty. So he came up with an idea to tame that recoil. His idea was number one he would shoot from a rested position so weight wouldn't be an issue (that long barrel could be pretty tought to hold steady free hand) number two he would add weight to the gun out near the end of the barrel to tame that recoil. Well he didn't like the idea of messing up the look of the gun by just tacking on some weight so what he did was he made some as he called them saddle bags. I think it was a pound and a half but it may have been two and a half by the time he was happy.

After all that he took a nice doe with the thing.

I have this Deer Creek or whatever brand it is used to be CVA Hawken pistol which means it has the hooked breech. I also just happen to have a barrel from a rifle that has a breech plug that will in fact mate up with the pistol. Now it is a 1-48 twist barrel and I have been told that that is a bit slow for a handgun BUT I have also been told that it is fine for a handgun by a very reputable builder of quite fine muzzleloading firearms.. he says that is the twist he uses on the handguns he builds. The issue I have is the touch hole (actually this is a flintlock barrel and I have a flint lock but the gun was originally a cap lock and well the thing doesn't quite line up). I can't just cut off the barrel and recrown and drive on. I need to cut the barrel to the size I want actually cutting it twice to get off the screw holes that are there for the sights and such which I have no intention of using and the dovetail as well since it is in the wrong place and then I have to rethread the barrel for the breech and then drill and tap for the touch hole in the correct location. Had someone I thought I might get to do it BUT him and I didn't see eye to eye on exactly where that touch hole should be and a couple other guys don't want anything to do with it.. but one day I intend to have a flintlock TC Contenderish thing. AND I sure as the sun rises want to kill something with it. Wonder how it would look with a swamped barrel of about 17 inches??? I suppose I could do a half octagon and half round with a cannon muzzle and a wedding ring transition.. Oh the possibilities.

Thanks for the input guys, several that I will look into. Can't wait to put one down with em. Will it be strange when I bring my bow for the long shots and the musket pistol for the close ones?

oldenred said:

Thanks for the input guys, several that I will look into. Can't wait to put one down with em. Will it be strange when I bring my bow for the long shots and the musket pistol for the close ones?

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Only if you shoot a compound bow
Truth is I suspect that combo was used a good bit back when.

SASS249 said:

Only if you shoot a compound bow
Truth is I suspect that combo was used a good bit back when.

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Shoulder injury from my infantry days keeps me from doing that anymore. But no fears because crossbows are fun to shoot to. Besides if I was able to shoot a vert bow I would have to use a recurve so I didn't feel like I was cheating!