Black powder weapons for CTB

[regal20]

In many countries without a permit. In my opinion, it is an ideal tool for combined methods, e.g.: headshot + cyanide, headshot + hanging, etc. Would anyone be able to tell what would be the best model of such a weapon for CTB? What caliber? What length of barrel? Would a revolver with a 3 inch barrel easily penetrate the skull?(I would prefer to have a handier weapon to make it easier to conceal and pull out in case of an emergency) Is it better to use a conical bullet or a round ball? Or maybe a bullet made of steel instead of lead? Or with a nail driven into the center of the bullet?

 

[A485]

I have no experience with black powder weapons, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Generally speaking you will want a longer barrel. 6 inches is more ideal. The reason for this is that the powder, especially black powder, burns much slower than you would think. As a result short barrels like 3 inches and below don't give the bullet enough contact time with the pressure front caused by the detonation to reach full potential. With 3 inches a lot of the powder will not be burned yet by the time the bullet leaves the gun and the explosion can no longer impart any more power to the round. 6 or 7 inches is going to give a lot more speed to the bullet which is going to provide a lot more power when it hits its target. As for round types. I think cylinder is probably better. Ball may have lower aerodynamic cross section which may make it fly a bit further, but at close range it makes little difference. Choose whichever is heavier. As for material, lead 100% over steel. Lead will make a better seal with the barrel as it is softer, letting more of the energy affect it. Steel also does not deform much on impact, especially with a soft target. Steel is ideal if you have to punch through armor or hard objects, but on soft tissue lead is the best. You want the round to hit the tissue and effectively "splatter" and stop moving. If the bullet stops inside the target, it means that 100% of its kinetic energey has been dumped into that target. Driving a nail into the bullet before hand will have no discernible effect. Most of the damage to soft tissue is going to come from hydrostatic shock caused by the fast moving object moving through a fluid with causes a shock wave of sorts inside the target. Sorry if this is too wordy and too much info.

 

[jodes2]

Combining methods is counterproductive. Something will fail, it will always be half as effective as doing a good job the right way. Don't experiment, it'll just end in failure most likely. Don't mess around with bullet, either. Research what type of bullet does the most damage, they've been designed by extremely talented engineers, nothing you could do would come remotely close. You'll just hurt yourself and have a disaster on your hands.

 

[regal20]

6 inches is more ideal. The reason for this is that the powder, especially black powder, burns much slower than you would think. As a result short barrels like 3 inches and below don't give the bullet enough contact time with the pressure front caused by the detonation to reach full potential. With 3 inches a lot of the powder will not be burned yet by the time the bullet leaves the gun and the explosion can no longer impart any more power to the round. 6 or 7 inches is going to give a lot more speed to the bullet which is going to provide a lot more power when it hits its target.

I read about it. But with such a small distance, will it make a difference? It is enough to pierce the skull. The brain is jelly.

 

[Grav]

Probably not the best method until you get more info on it, just so you know what will and won't work. I "believe" that black powder rounds have less velocity. Anecdotes from the black powder era mention cases where someone gets shot while having a conversation and is like "oh my?" and then they drop vs a dramatic impact. Oddly though, I was thinking of this same thing Sunday! Not to ctb but get back into shooting (something that really calmed me and I was pretty good at). I wouldn't have used any of the firearms I owned to ctb just to not give the "oh look crazy gun guy used it to ctb" line to anyone.

 

[A485]

I read about it. But with such a small distance, will it make a difference? It is enough to pierce the skull. The brain is jelly.

Yeah 3 inches is probably fine. All things being equal 6 is better, but if you have other reasons why 3 is preferred it's not going to make a world of difference.