Black Powder Cartridge Enthusiasts

[McLernon]

How many of you 45-70 and 38-55 enthusiasts use BP or a BP sub? What has been your experience?

Mc

[stimpylu32]

Mc

I shoot quite a bit of Pyrodex in my 45/70s just for the fun of the smoke , not as much as true Black but i still get some . The recoil is about what i get with 100 grain loads in my Huntsman 50 barrel with sabots .

One thing that i did notice was POI was lower than with smokeless loads using the same bullet .

stimpy

[jake2454]

for me the black powder and Pyrodex were close to smokeless at 50 yards, but seemed to degrade from there out. i had planned on testing some American pioneer today (i have read that its not very good ) , loaded up a few rounds but its snowing here and my oldest daughter wants to take me to dinner so it will probably have to wait until next week end. i have equal  quantities of black powder and Pyrodex loaded so i will be able to do a side by side comparison. accurracy not withstanding, black power and Pyrodex are fun to shoot.

[McLernon]

There is a new BP sub called Black Horn. It is non-corrosive. I don't know of anyone trying it yet.

Mc

[GregP42]

I shoot a lot of the Holy Black out of my BC and Rolling block, I have shot smokeless in the BC, but it isn't as much fun. All I have shot out of mine are cast bullets, both grease groove and paper patched. It is just so much fun to launch that huge old slug at a target 600 yards away and be able to watch it hit through your spotting scope!

Greg

[McLernon]

Sounds like fun P42. I haven't tried paper patching yet. Do you see any advantage to it?

Mc

[GregP42]

McLernon,

I haven't seen an advantage to it, but they shoot just as good as the others if I load them right. I started doing PP bullets because it was different and people said they wouldn't shoot as good. Well they shoot fine, and I figure if they could make them work back in the late 1800s I should be able to get them to work too!

Greg

[McLernon]

Hi Greg

One concern I have about PP is gas-cutting of the throat due to blow-by. What can be done when PP'g to make sure this is not happening?

I understand the old buffalo hunters claimed that the fouling is less, allowing more shots between cleanings. What is your experience regarding better control of fouling? I am doing some target work with an 1866 Remington rolling block and I am considering trying it.  PP'g seems to have its die-hard followers.

Thanks

Mc

[GregP42]

Hi Greg

One concern I have about PP is gas-cutting of the throat due to blow-by. What can be done when PP'g to make sure this is not happening?

I understand the old buffalo hunters claimed that the fouling is less, allowing more shots between cleanings. What is your experience regarding better control of fouling? I am doing some target work with an 1866 Remington rolling block and I am considering trying it.  PP'g seems to have its die-hard followers.

Thanks

Mc

Mc,

The only way I can see of getting blow by is if the bullet is the wrong size. If you shoot it with Black powder you should patch it to bore diameter. If you are shooting smokeless they say you should patch to groove diameter. As far as less fouling, it seems the same to me, but is easier to clean due to the fouling being wetter from the grease cookie that is under the bullet, I also use a blow tube between shots. The most rounds I have put through it between patching the barrel has been 50, did the match and 10 sighter shots without cleaning, by the end of the match it looked like a sewer pipe, but it still shot great, there was no leading at all as I was patching to bore diameter, found several of the patches, they were sliced through the first layer and the second layer had impressions from the rifling.  It is a lot more work to make PP rounds, but they look so neat. There is a new book out on PP for sale, I haven't seen it yet, but it is on my list of books to get with tax refund, that and more powder and one new rifle for the year     

Greg

[McLernon]

Thanks Greg

Mc

[handirifle]

I shoot BP out of my 38-55 Target, but load development is on hold till the Dixie Scope project is complete, which is real soon now.