.36 and knockdown targets

[Texas John Critter]

I've got the hankering for a set of C&B pistolas.  I've had Remingtons and a Ruger in the past and they don't really trip my trigger.  I am in lust with a 51 at my local hangout gunshop. 
Will a 51, loaded properly, take down knockdowns?  I'm thinking conicals if need be with a stout load.  What's your experience with it?
The only place I know I'll see knockdowns is the regional, GOA, and I'll probably shoot FC or FCD there.  It might never be an issue but I would like to be prepared.

[Mason Stillwell]

I have shot my 61 's 8 inch barrels in .36 cal. and took down even the shotgun knockdowns. This was using a round ball. I just aim high toward the top of the target and fill the cylinder with FFFG and let er rip.

Hope this helps.

Mason

[Arcey]

Shoot with a club that uses a fallin' plate rack.  Knocked 'em over with my .36 Remington, a round ball o'er 16 grains of 2f, C&B.  Easy.

That's basically the same as my 'Heap Bad Medicine' cartridge loads but I ain't gonna mention those.  Might get the thread locked.

[hellgate]

I have shot conicals in my '61 Navy since day one. I even used to cast them inside the base of a 30-06 cut off cartridge case just to get anything but a ball. No accuracy but worked. I have  LEE conical molds. One is a SC hollowpoint mold and the other is a DC solid conical. I shoot the conicals over 15 grs fffg or 20grs Pyro-P. They will shoot higher than the ball. I have used conicals since I started SASS in 1992 when most pistol targets were big ol' silouettes we used to hunk up onto a metal stand and if hit hard enough dropped straight down the pole to the ground. The conicals did a better job than the roundies. However 99% of todays targets are ringers so it is not a problem EXCEPT for spotters with bad ears that don't know to get off to the side to look for hits rather than try to stare through the smoke. There is some "dead steel" out there that doesn't ring and the little 82gr pill may not make enough impression on the target for the spotters to give it to you.

[Dick Dastardly]

With the lil 36 yer at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to whollop.  But as already said, attention to detail and deadly hits will get the KDs.  Also, there's a Sheriff's model in 44 caliber that looks pretty good.  I think Cabelas stocks 'em.

Anyway, if you really like the gun, get it.  If nothing else it's a great gun to give to a new shooter that could be recoil sensitive.  I keep a brace of .357 RVs for just this reason.  Loaded with 38 Spl brass stuffed with FFFg under a Snakebite Greasewagon Big Lube™ boolit it's lite on recoil yet it kills the KDs.  That puts it 'em the same league with that 51 if you load it rite.

DD-DLoS

[Texas John Critter]

Well that answers my question.  I'm going to call down today when they open and have them set it back for me.  They also have a short barreled 60 with a navy grip in the case too.  I may talk to the owner and see if we can work out a package deal.  Then I'll have to srat looking for mates for them.
I ordered the parts to get my Lee pot back in working order last night, they should be here next week and then I can start casting some conicals and round balls to feed them with.

[rickk]

How easy or hard a plate will fall depends on how the plate is made.

I run steel plate matches at a local gun club. A light 38 special will take the plates down 100% of the time no matter where they are hit. We use the same plates in .22 class. If you hit center to high with a .22, they will go down as well. To be perfectly honest, if you use too much omph on our plates, they sometimes bounce back up. I have seen them reset themself. Even if they don't stay up, we have an electronic timer system and the clock doesn't stop untill all the plates are down (at the same time). So if the second to the last one bounces prior to hittnig the last plate, it may not be recorded as a complete run untill the secnd to the last one finishes it's bounce.

Plates come in all sorts of configurations... often made from what can be scrounged up for free. How they are set on a particular day matters as well. Depending on the levelness of the rack or table, they can lean forward or lean backward... hurting or helping you. Some are so easy a slight wind can drop them.  Some take Mastadon loads to get them down.

Maybe ask the other shooters what works. Ask the Range Officer too... he will know what works and what doesn't... he gets to stand there all day and see all sorts of comical things happen (or not happen) to the plates.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

TJ Critter, here's a bit of hysterical, er ... historical trivia.  During the (un)Civil War, MANY experienced veterans claimed that the 36 loads actually were more effective than the 44 loads!  It goes against our modern knowledge of ballistics and terminal effectiveness, but that's what many said.  Now, it's my understanding that the majority of the "factory" loadings (projectile, paper cartridge with pre-measured load) at least for 44 cal. used the conical projectile instead of the roundball.  That would INCREASE the apparent lethality because of the heavier projectile, it would seem, but I don't know.  I HEARD (don't know as fact) that the prepared loads were what was carried loaded in the pistol (6 not 5  ) and that loose ball, powder and caps were used for any needed reloads - which I suspect, didn't happen often.

What it seems to come to is that shot placement,  NOT caliber is more important - then and now.  And for steel targets, too!

[Paladin UK]

 Iffn 1851`s wuz good enuf fer ol Wild Bill, they`s good enuf fer me too!!



Paladin (What lurvs his .36`s  ) UK