Log In
August 14, 2021
Offline
Looks like many websites have Swiss in stock, but the price is way up. Goex seems to be tougher to find.
April 15, 2005
Offline
Zebulon said
Steve, I’m struggling with this editor for some reason. Thanks very much for your advice. I just got in Lyman’s cast bullet handbook and am going to order the black powder book you suggest.
I do have one question – where do you get black powder right now? Nobody local seems to have any?
I just inherited a boatload of various canisters of smokeless and bought 3 pounds of RL-7, so I’m probably going to use up some of all that before trying the black stuff. But, in time, I’ve got to experience it.
I have been purchasing my powder from this company, as they seem to have the best selection in stock – Shop – All Powder Shop
Bert
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
Bert H. said
Zebulon said
Steve, I’m struggling with this editor for some reason. Thanks very much for your advice. I just got in Lyman’s cast bullet handbook and am going to order the black powder book you suggest.
I do have one question – where do you get black powder right now? Nobody local seems to have any?
I just inherited a boatload of various canisters of smokeless and bought 3 pounds of RL-7, so I’m probably going to use up some of all that before trying the black stuff. But, in time, I’ve got to experience it.
I have been purchasing my powder from this company, as they seem to have the best selection in stock –
Shop – All Powder ShopBert
Wow, some good prices on All Powder! If they weren’t personally recommended by a trusted source, I might have worried they were not legit!
November 7, 2015
Offline
Zeb-
I used Powder Valley IIRC last time I purchased Holy Black. They generally sold in case quantities for shipping safety so a few orders has kept me well supplied for several years. BP doesn’t last long when loading 45-90 and the like.
Mike
November 7, 2015
Offline
TXGunNut said
Zeb-
I used Powder Valley IIRC last time I purchased Holy Black. They generally sold in case quantities for shipping safety so a few orders has kept me well supplied for several years. BP doesn’t last long when loading 45-90 and the like.
Mike
OOPS! Powder Valley is out of BP!
Mike
January 20, 2023
Offline
kevindpm61 said
Bill, I tried various sizings during load development. .460 was what my rifle liked best. In general, you should size your lead bullets .001 – .002 over the bore size. Have you slugged your barrel?
With Mike’s over-the-phone help, I upset a Speer .490 lead ball to get a flat, lubricated the bore with R.I.G., used a Brownell rawhide mallet to drive the ball flush with the crown, then tapped it through the bore with a 3/8″ oak dowel.
Across the grooves, I got .457 to .458 with a General Tool dial indicator. I can’t read the dial any closer than that and it’s a 7 groove rifling. I had earlier spoken with Winchester Guns customer service and they advise their specification for groove diameter is .458. Interestingly they recommend .458 cast lead projectile diameters and .456 for jacketed.
I miked Mike’s 330 grain hollow points he cast for me and the one I checked came out .458 and a blonde hair. He ran them through a .459 sizer die but doesn’t think the mold throws them that wide.
The rifle is a current production 45-90 Winchester Sporting Rifle, 24″ heavy octagon barrel with 1-in-20 twist. About 9.5 pounds unloaded. Rifle buttplate.
I’m going to load a ladder of these in new Starline brass with RL-7, starting with 38 grains and increasing a half-grain at a time, up to 44 or 45 grains. Once I get an accurate load of 1300-1400 fs, it will be Miller time.
My goal is something that will convince a large and ugly boar hog to “join his ancestors with commendable rapidity” as the late, great Jack O’Connor once wrote.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
November 7, 2015
Offline
Good job, Zeb! The horror stories of barrel slugging haven’t stopped me from slugging a few. I’ve used a 45-70 and a bit tougher bullet (at somewhat higher velocity) to cause some big piggies to transition to good piggies. A few were too big to provide decent table fare but some made the trip to my freezer. That Gould bullet should upset and transfer energy quite efficiently but I’ve always been a big meplat, hard alloy guy for the big bruisers.
Mike
October 14, 2024
Online
Way to go Bill! I would be glad to send you some of my plain based aluminum gas-checked 405 gr bullets for reloading if you would be interested. Do you have a case mouth expander?
I would love to go on a boar hunt and see how my bullets perform. My brother recently moved down to Alabama. Since I’m restoring his 1967 Barracuda coupe, I think that he should arrange a hunt for me. 
January 20, 2023
Offline
Thanks, Kevin. I am myself without a place to hunt and have been so for several years. As you probably know, there is almost no public land in Texas available for hunting. There are some exceptions in the form of management hunts on State parks and wildlife management areas but those are on a drawn lottery basis and reserved to Texas residents only. They are not a major source of opportunities.
For the most part, Texans have formed small groups and leased hunting rights for the year or the season. That is probably the main way Whitetail deer are hunted and year-long leases typically allow hunting wild turkey, hogs and doves, too.
It is not unusual for quail hunting rights to be leased separately and expensively.
Package hunts – usually guided – are increasingly common and unfortunately very costly. Particularly in areas like South Texas known for trophy animals.
I was priced out of the last all-year lease in the Rolling Plains region West of Ft Worth. The ranch owner originally wanted $1600 per hunter and I think there were eight of us. Then it stepped up each year to $2000, $2250, $2500, and then he asked for $3500. At which point I declined. Guests were allowed but it was a one-buck county, yours or his. Quail were excluded. It was excellent for doves, Rio Grande turkeys, hogs, and there were some big bodied Whitetails on the 2500 acres.
Hogs being the problem they are, some enterprising souls are offering weekend guided hog hunts for several hundred bucks. I may try one of those.
Bottom line is, I’m not sure what I’m going to do from now on, and at my age. I miss the camaraderie of my last lease partners and we still keep in touch. But Texas is fast becoming a place where middle-class hunting is disappearing.
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
October 14, 2024
Online
So sad.
October 4, 2011
Offline
I have been purchasing my powder from this company, as they seem to have the best selection in stock – Shop – All Powder Shop
I just ordered another 4-lb jug of IMR 4198 from them.
Bert
This place is legit? I ask because it has powders that have been out of production for years. Such has Buffalo Rifle, Universal. I got a cart full of powder to buy but hesitant on legitimacy. Also because it asks for chime, zelle, app things I don’t know what they are or use, not regular cc payments. That’s a huge red flag for me.
November 7, 2015
Offline
King Medallion said
I have been purchasing my powder from this company, as they seem to have the best selection in stock – Shop – All Powder Shop
I just ordered another 4-lb jug of IMR 4198 from them.
Bert
This place is legit? I ask because it has powders that have been out of production for years. Such has Buffalo Rifle, Universal. I got a cart full of powder to buy but hesitant on legitimacy. Also because it asks for chime, zelle, app things I don’t know what they are or use, not regular cc payments. That’s a huge red flag for me.
I have my concerns as well, prices are below what I expected and they have powders we haven’t seen in awhile. I will only use a credit card, no debit or Zelle. I think some of the powders we have been missing for awhile will be produced this year but that may be wishful thinking.
Mike
March 25, 2015
Online
I’ll throw in my $.02 on this one………..
- Check out the “Contact” page on their website. They spelled the word Address as “Adders”.
- Run a Google Maps street view on their published address.
- Check out this discussion on the Shotgun World forum:
Adds up to a scam in my view.
April 3, 2018
Offline
Bill:
I have some extra FFG black and just might trade for some smokeless like slower versions in the 4350 or RE-7, whatever you have.I have an original 1885 in 45-60, along with the 1878 and 1874 Shiloh Sharps, with an original half-magazine 1915 1886 in 45-70.
West of TX is an interesting place called NM. I have been successful there with antelope, ducks, and geese. You are closer than I am now. If you still need some BP toward Fall-I will be headed west. Used to shoot a .50 caliber Sharps there with 700 gr bullets until someone took it off my hands…
Ridge
January 20, 2023
Offline
Ridge,
Sounds like a possible win-win. I believe I have a surplus of 4350.
I hesitate to offer a room to a .Marriott but, if you should tire on your way West, our guest room is yours. And Barbara is a superb cook.
I’ll check my powder inventory.
Bill
- Bill
WACA # 65205; life member, NRA; member, TGCA; member, TSRA; amateur preservationist
"I have seen wicked men and fools, a great many of both, and I believe they both get paid in the end, but the fools first." -- David Balfour, narrator and protagonist of the novel, Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
October 4, 2011
Offline
Bert H. said
I have been purchasing my powder from this company, as they seem to have the best selection in stock – Shop – All Powder Shop
Bert
So did you get your powder from this place? Popular opinion is its a scam site.
April 15, 2005
Offline
King Medallion said
Bert H. said
I have been purchasing my powder from this company, as they seem to have the best selection in stock – Shop – All Powder Shop
Bert
So did you get your powder from this place? Popular opinion is its a scam site.
I did not, and canceled by CC order.
WACA Historian & Board of Director Member #6571L
1 Guest(s)
