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September 13, 2020
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That’s at 100 yards? I’d be happy with that group out of some of my scoped bolt action rifles!
BTW, I’m late to this conversation, so wanted to get in my 2 cents about slugging barrels. I believe it was in Wal-Mart I picked up some pure lead “bullet weights” that are, in fact fishing weights shaped like a truncated cone with a hole down the center that you can push monofilament through if you’re using it for fishing weights, but obviously not useful for our application. They come in small plastic bags hanging with the other fishing weights, so you can get whatever diameter you need to push through the barrel of your rifle. I used them for slugging the barrel of a bolt-action benchrest rifle I was building, and they worked quite well. That was .30 caliber, and I don’t recall if they had large enough sizes to slug a .45, but they probably do.
WACA member 11821, NRA Endowment member, OGCA member
particularly interested in John M. Browning-designed Winchester lever-actions
October 14, 2024
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I wish that was 100 yards. With open sights, I usually do my load development at 50 yards. I loaded up a bunch of of BP cartridges earlier in the week. I hope to hit the range tomorrow.
October 14, 2024
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I’ve been happy with my black powder sessions with the 1885. Last weekend, I cobbled together a drop tube. It really does make a difference in being able to fill the case with more powder. Hopefully, I will be able to make it to the range tomorrow and have some fun shooting.
November 7, 2015
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Good job on the drop tube! Looks somewhat sturdier (and steadier!) than my store-bought version. I understand you may gain some consistency as well as capacity but I’ve never documented it.
Mike
October 14, 2024
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Thanks Mike. It’s a little ( a lot ) overkill. I just didn’t want it collapsing under the weight of 65+ grains of powder.
November 19, 2006
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Very interesting thread. As usual, the knowledge and experience shared here is top-rate. I’ve never loaded black powder in any cartridge. The closest I’ve come is using Pyrodex CTG (long discontinued) in many cartridges, including the .45-70. Once I used up the couple pounds I had, that was that.
November 7, 2015
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steve004 said
Very interesting thread. As usual, the knowledge and experience shared here is top-rate. I’ve never loaded black powder in any cartridge. The closest I’ve come is using Pyrodex CTG (long discontinued) in many cartridges, including the .45-70. Once I used up the couple pounds I had, that was that.
With all due apologies to Hodgdon, Pyrodex is nasty! It has driven many thousands of shooters and reloaders away from loading Holy Black into the cartridges that were made for it. At least Triple 7 is water soluble, but still a poor substitute for BP. I sometimes wonder why some folks make it seem like cleaning a firearm after firing Holy Black is such a chore. I’ll chalk it up to scaring the tourists.
Mike
October 14, 2024
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A falling block like the Winchester 1885 is so easy to clean after shooting black powder. For my flintlock, I altered a C-clamp with a fitting placed over the touch hole to draw soapy water from a milk jug using the cleaning rod as a piston. Easy peasy.
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