Hello all,

I just got back from doing a little shooting in the nearby mountains. Everything went well except when shooting at some plastic bottles I found that my little Remington .31 Pocket Model would'nt penetrate both sides of a plastic GatorAide bottle! I was using a full charge of fff Goex which is about 12 grains black behind a .319 ball. Wondering about trying ffff Goex or Pyrodox P or maybe even Triple 7 to get a bit more power as I was planning on the .31 as my backpack gun. Any ideas? Suggestions? Prayers?

Ned

Well Ned,
777 would give more power, but I don't think I would use 12 grains of it. That is about what I use in the .36.
Uncle Lee

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777 wont work well in the .31 I had four .31 remingtons by two different makersand they perform better with ffffg black and that used to be what the makers of these little guns reccommended but now due to so many law suits they state 8 or 10 grains of fffg. the 4f will not harm you or your revolver and in fact due to slightly increased velocity they are a bit more accurate. I however sold all mine including my .31 uberti 1849 which also performed better with 4f because the .36's are more accurate at longer ranges and just a lot more fun for me. but i dont shoot the .36's anymore either because the 1858 44's by pietta take up all my time with bp revolvers now.

I was shooting my 1849 Uberti yesterday and I tried one chamber of 777 in it..........I used a 17 HMR case full (found laying at the range). That one chamber chrono'd at 950 fps. Too scared to try it anymore as I loosened up a Pietta 51 cylinder pin with 777..............12 grains of 3fg Goex with a "0" buckshot ball will penetrate a 20 oz bottle of soda pop thru and thru...........One thing that I found out is that the spout that comes on the little flasks for these guns only dump 7 or 8 grains......not the 12 that is adveritsed..........At least thats what I found with my small pocket flask..............I used a piece of 22 magnum case to lengthen it. I have a big old Numrich arms catalog soakin in water that I'm going to shoot the 31 and 36 into next time at the range..........................Bob

the problem with 777 in these 31's is that there is no way to put enough powder in for good velocity without crushing the powder which creates dangerous pressures with 777. thats why 4f works best in these small guns.

Bob Hatfield,

I used a full 12 grain charge of fff Goex by weight. I found out that the spouts that come with those litlte flasks only hold 9 grains as you said. The .319 ball really would'nt pass through both sides of a plastic GaterAid bottle at about 15 feet. So, whats the consensus - a full charge of ffff Goex or maybe Pyrodex P?

Ned

The 49 Uberti Colt will hold 2 of the little flasks spout fulls and barely, I mean barely seat a ball with no wad. So I guess its about 18 grains of 3fg . It chronos over 900 fps out of the 49's 4 inch tube. I think a Gatorade bottle is thicker than the standard "Pop" bottle.
I did shoot the '49 into a hard beech tree the other day with the 700 or so fps load and I could stick a pocket screwdriver into the hole an inch to feel the ball. Cant wait to get back to the range to shoot the 31 into the water soaked 3 inch thick catalog along with a 5-1/2 inch barreled 36 Colt replica.
With the shorter cylinder and solid frame of your Remington 31, if i were you , I'd try 4Fg for maximum oomph.........................Bob

Pyrodex P usually shows more velosity compared to blackpowder. Pyrodex seems fluffy and a "full" chamber of it would still let a ball sesat below the mouth of the chamber. Using 777 in the FFg grade probably wouldn't hurt the gun if the amount of powder was kept low. The FFg 777 is hotter than FFFg blackpowder. Anywhoooo......when shooting Gatoraid bottles it would be more economical. Use the bottle and since the balls wouldn't go out the back you could recover all your lead. ha ha ha ha If it were me I'd use FFFFg Holy Black. May as well keep it authentic. If they used the pocket guns "back in the day" the guns must have done enough damage to an antaganist at close range to at least make them think twice about gettin too bold.Two or three 31cal. belly or groin area would scare them off. A conical bullet may penetrate further. If one of those 31cal. balls would go an inch into a hard tree I'd guess it would go far enough into the human torso to cause a loud,"OUCH THAT HURT".