speed of a Colt Walker

mrappe · September 30, 2010, 10:07 PM

Does anyone here know what kind of velosity you would get if it was maxed out powder wise?

zullo74 · September 30, 2010, 11:48 PM

I think you would get the FAST kind!

Rifleman1776 · October 1, 2010, 08:08 AM

It is probably in the old Lyman black powder manual.
I'll take an edukated guess at right about 1000 fps.

bamaranger · October 2, 2010, 01:26 AM

I have an OLD Guns & Ammo article in which they shot BP revolvers through a chrono, as well as into ballistic gelatin.

Not unexpectedly, the power house was the Walker/Dragoon family. I will search for the article in my den.

A .44 round ball, driven fast, was pretty serious medicine. Big edge on a .36.

bamaranger · October 2, 2010, 01:54 AM

It was not Guns & Ammo, but, ........Handguns, Feb '98.

Author Ed SANOW, who was doing a lot of velocity and expansion articles about that time, published an article entitled "BP Stopping Power".

A table therein shows a repro, Colt Walker, loaded all up w/ 60 gr of BP and a 141 Gr roundball, produced a muzzle velocity of 1287 fps w/ 519 foot lbs of energy. They did not shoot a Dragoon (which I mentioned earlier), but a dragoon w/ 50 grs bP would be in the same league.

The gelatin tests yielded damage which the author equated to .41 magnum full power 175 gr hollowpoints. SANOW states that "only recent developments in high performance hollowpoints allows some modern ctgs to equal or exceed" the Walker.

Pretty nifty article.

Noz · October 4, 2010, 09:22 AM

You must remember the Walker was designed to take the horses out of the battle mix. The 36 was plenty good for people but would not reliably kill the horses.
When you remove the mobility of the cavalry by removing the horses, they become infantry and are much easier to defeat.

September 30, 2010, 10:07 PM	#1
mrappe Senior Member Join Date: January 29, 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 255	speed of a Colt Walker Does anyone here know what kind of velosity you would get if it was maxed out powder wise?

October 2, 2010, 01:26 AM	#4
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,303	somewhere I have an OLD Guns & Ammo article in which they shot BP revolvers through a chrono, as well as into ballistic gelatin. Not unexpectedly, the power house was the Walker/Dragoon family. I will search for the article in my den. A .44 round ball, driven fast, was pretty serious medicine. Big edge on a .36.

October 2, 2010, 01:54 AM	#5
bamaranger Senior Member Join Date: October 9, 2009 Location: North Alabama Posts: 8,303	found it It was not Guns & Ammo, but, ........Handguns, Feb '98. Author Ed SANOW, who was doing a lot of velocity and expansion articles about that time, published an article entitled "BP Stopping Power". A table therein shows a repro, Colt Walker, loaded all up w/ 60 gr of BP and a 141 Gr roundball, produced a muzzle velocity of 1287 fps w/ 519 foot lbs of energy. They did not shoot a Dragoon (which I mentioned earlier), but a dragoon w/ 50 grs bP would be in the same league. The gelatin tests yielded damage which the author equated to .41 magnum full power 175 gr hollowpoints. SANOW states that "only recent developments in high performance hollowpoints allows some modern ctgs to equal or exceed" the Walker. Pretty nifty article.

September 30, 2010, 11:48 PM	#2
zullo74 Junior member Join Date: August 8, 2009 Posts: 374	I think you would get the FAST kind!

October 1, 2010, 08:08 AM	#3
Rifleman1776 Senior Member Join Date: April 25, 2010 Location: Arkansas Posts: 3,309	It is probably in the old Lyman black powder manual. I'll take an edukated guess at right about 1000 fps.

October 4, 2010, 09:22 AM	#6
Noz Senior Member Join Date: February 25, 2009 Posts: 643	You must remember the Walker was designed to take the horses out of the battle mix. The 36 was plenty good for people but would not reliably kill the horses. When you remove the mobility of the cavalry by removing the horses, they become infantry and are much easier to defeat.