This is a sort of follow up post I suppose to my recent smokeless vs black powder post for which I would like to thank those who contributed… I loaded up some rounds for my 38 40 rifles, I settled on 8 grs of unique with a 180 FN cast bullet from Meister. I safely and very much enjoyed putting several dozen rounds through both a 24" 1892 rifle and an 1873. The bore on the 92 is not the best and accuracy was poor but the 1873 was great. Now with regard to the bullets, what are some general rules or thoughts on what type of bullets to load for these old rifles. I went with the cast lead as that was what was used back in the day. There was some leading I removed upon cleaning which I though and would imagine is normal. Have any of you folks used jacketed bullets in these old rifles, or perhaps the copper coated bullets that are available. Are there any advantages, disadvantages or concerns using anything other that the lead bullets that was all these rifles had all those years ago.
Cast bullets are great in a nice bore but in a pitted bore I would shoot jacketed to keep from leading.
Bob
WACA Life Member--- NRA Life Member---- Cody Firearms member since 1991 Researching the Winchester 1873's
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Nice that the 73 was working with the cast . For the 92 try some Win Factory 38 WCF Jacketed ammo if available , and you may find it to be quite accurate . Is is hard to match in handloading. If the bore is already rough , you have nothing to lose. If it has potential , there is a wide variety of cheap jacketed Handgun 10 /mm , 40 cal ,.400 – .401, 180 gr Bullets available that I have found to be great with 8 gr Unique. I shoot 4 38 92 ‘s that all impress me with their accuracy, . They all like the Unique as well as anything tried. I havent noticed any wear from using mild loads with jacketed in antiques. Its nice when the lead bullets work , but when they dont , jacketed are often impressive
Phil
I have used the Midway .40 cal. store brand and also cast 180’s from an old Winch. mold. Both shoot about the same. The bore in my 92 is really bad. I cleaned on it for two weeks and it still is rough. I was amazed when it went into nice round groups at fifty yards of an inch or less. It does lead some, but it still shoots well.
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