smoothbore pistol question

[adkmountainken]

i have a very nice 50 cal smoothbore pistol with a 5 inch barrel. shoots round ball very nice at around 10 yards lots of fun. thinking about taking it for squirrels when i am deer hunting and contemplating where to start for a load. thinking 15 grains FFF maybe wad of hornets nest and some #4 with hornets nest over top? i am thinking 5-10 yards max for the pesky buggers on a kamikaze mission to my frying pan. anyone have any ideas??

[bob in the woods]

I'd try 20 or 25 gr of powder. You need to test the load and get penetration/perforation  on a tin can if  you want a good killing load.

[smallpatch]

Besides that, if you can get between 15 and 30 ft, just smack them with you ramrod.

[Hungry Horse]

 I’d use 2F instead of 3F. The 2F doesn’t blow the pattern as badly, and the recoil is less. You may find you have to use 3F because of the barrel length, and burn rate.

Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

I'm with Bob on loads. You'll have to pattern it for sure. Single round ball or buck and ball might be better than shot. Again, patterning it will be mandatory.
1/2" felt wads might be MUCH better than wasp nest.

[Dphariss]

If shooting small shot you need to make sure that the load gives adequate penetration. So you will likely need to use 30-40 gr of powder and pretty good load of shot for a small bore.  So check the penetration. In a FL pistol 15 grains of powder is going to be low velocity. I used to have a 50 cal rifled pistol and with 45 gr of FFF and a PRB it made 800 fps. This BTW makes a good small game load. No meat damage at all. And its a decent backup for big game if needed.