Hello everyone..this is my first post on this site. The last time I shot B.P. was around 1990, before this, I shot lots of the stuff, percussion M.L., flinter, C&B revolvers, and lastly..an original Winchester High-Wall in .38-55. I used this in local matches. Now this was before the BPCR craze..heck, no one even had heard of blow tubes yet! After awhile, it seemed to me that all we were doing was finding who could clean the most consistantly & not who was the best shot to win..50 & 100yd. match..very small bull. drill for me was fire fouler..go to record for three shots..now the guessing game began...shoot another & risk flier, or clean?
If cleaned, must fire 1 fouler & shoot three more..sometimes this cleaning had to be done in middle of string..hard to keep track. What really settled it for me was talking to historian/chemist. He said the black powders of late 19th century were worlds apart as far as fouling and caking from the then available Goex. Got tired of it all & quit..went to smokeless loads. Fast forward 20 years. I might get a chance to purchase original Remington rolling block Mid-Range in .40-70 Str. Now talking with Dave Higgenbotham, of Lone Star, has got me worried over using smokeless..In his opinion, there are NO safe smokeless loads...friend
of his used published smokeless loads & blew up original .44-90 roller. Said case looked to be cut in front of rim with saw & cut ran full length of case towards mouth. Top of case smashed flat INSIDE bottom of case! Looked to be a sidways detonation..theory is flash going over top of small charge of S.P. sometimes could overignite entire charge at once??? Anyway, I have made up my mind that if I do purchase rifle, I will only use genuine black..probably Swiss from all the good reports I have heard about it. I would hate to do any harm to a valuable original...And I am not just refering to the rifle! Would it be OK to ask some questions from time to time? I have been out of circulation concerning this propellant. Thanks guys!
