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Decided to change the pace today , leave the 76 rifles at home in exchange for the old 1873 28″Heavy Oct. barrel set trigger rifle in 44wcf. The load for today was a .427 Mav Dutchman bullet cast @ 192gr. Lube Bees Wax/Tallow 50/50, #300 CCI cap, 36gr. 2ff Swiss Bp. in a Stareline case , all seated in an old Ideal tong tool.The old 73 was set on sand bags @ 50yd. the set trigger was used for ten shots. No wipeing during the ten shot string. The Swiss burns very clean and that 36 gr. charge has quite the thunder clap! A pic. of the old girl and todays target,,,,,,,,,DT 
28 gauge said
Cool .Sounds like a fun shoot.
Thanks for the reply ! It was a very good day shooting! The load described gave a better group than I expected , I had sized the bullets @ .427 and this old rifles bore sluggs @ .425 with a groove of .432+. Six of the shots went into the ragged vertical hole before the fouling started to ruin the accuracy or my aim began to drift. I am loading more test rounds all with Bp. and bumping up the bullet dia. Waiting on mounting screws for the thick base Winchester long range tang sight. That will be a big + in testing this old rifle @ 100yd. Good Shooting .,,,,DT
My original ’73 slugs to a groove diameter of .432 as well. I size soft cast bullets to .430 and get excellent accuracy. I can’t go any higher, as the cartridge would start to get a bit tight to chamber.
Thank You for passing that along win38-55. I have just ordered a mold from Accurate Molds, for the 43-205C @ .433″ body Dia. Not having a test bullet of that Dia. makes the order of a .433″ a guess as to will it chamber? Would like to shoot these as cast , but may have to size them down until they will chamber. I have read your post in the past about that fine old 73 of yours , and You Bet it shoots accurate! ,,,,,DT
That sort of group ought to slow down a lot of hill country hogs if you aim about 2 inches below the ear canal!! Especially now that our nights are beginning to get cooler.
Michael
Model 1892 / Model 61 Collector, Research, Valuation
MY favorite place to aim for on the wild hog! And they may just get a taste of it! I received the longer mounting screws for the thick base tang . The sight fitted on the rifle sure helps me with sighting picture. Beagled up one of my 44wcf molds and after beagleing if thats a word. The mold body Dia. increased to just a bit over .435″ . I loaded a few as cast just to see how the chamber neck fit would be . Feeding chambering and ejecting without a hitch. Am waiting on a custom mold from Accurate Molds @ 43-205C with body Dia. of .433″ . Should be a good bullet for this old rifle as it was designed for Bp.. ,,,DT
I am surprised your rifle would chamber a cartridge with a .435 bullet installed. It would be interesting to compare the accuracy of a soft cast bullet at .435 and one at .433. Some say one should size their bullets according to what the neck/throat diameter is rather than the groove diameter. Done that way, you don’t get gasses blowing by the bullet before it re-forms to the bore.
The Accurate mold arrived. It is a very well made mold , the first bullets I cast from it were with WW material. The bullets dropped from the mold @210gr. and a body Dia, of .434″. Lube groove on this design is large as the bullet was designed for Bp. use . The added lube should help greatly in the 28″ old barrel. The bullets are loaded as cast , lube is the 50/50 Bees Wax/ Tallow mix with just a bit of ollive oil added. Note I use olive oil as a bore lubricant and to season the bore when shooting Bp. Bp. does not like petroleum oil when burning. The bullets were seated over 36gr. by weight of 2FF Swiss Bp. in a Starline case, useing a Winchester tong tool , and capped with a # 300 CCI cap.I loaded 30 of these loads to test in the old 1873 Winchester. The cartridges feed and eject slick as glass , Hope they shoot as good as they look. Waiting for the wknd. crowd to move out. Should be able to do some testing on Monday. Will report results ASAP .,,,,,,,DT
I will look forward to seeing your range results. I expect the bullet should do well.
Wow did not think ASAP would be over a yr. Guess I have been a bit away from the old Winchesters , spending time shooting my old Jaeger muzzleloaders. Did manage to try the loads mentioned a yr. ago . That load feeds and ejects perfectly in the old 73′. At the moment my picture posting ability is on the blink, but I will say the target at 50 yds. and 100 yds. were better than I would expect. One big ragged hole . The load with this new Accurate bullet fits the bore/groove perfect and the target shows it. The thick base long range tang sight, combined with the set trigger is a big plus also. Another big plus in the 28″ barrel is that the large grease groove in this bullet carries enough lube to make the trip down the barrel. That much lube combined with Swiss Bp. made fouling a none issue throughout the shooting session. Now that the weather is starting to get cool enough, for some enjoyable range time I hope to do more testing with the Old 73′ and this load , and report back a bit sooner than a yr! Keep your powder dry!,,,,DT
November 7, 2015
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My 38-40’s are big fans of an Accurate bullet as well. Tom makes a fine mould, glad it’s making your old 1873 happy.
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