Been reading here for several years, chipping in once in a while when I felt I had something to offer of value but in general just trying to learn as much as possible about loading BP. Trying to get my ducks in a row to give BPCR silly-wette a go this summer, really looking forward to it. Recently been starting threads about my upcoming 1877 build (caliber) and various equipment issues. Talk is talk until you actually put lead down range and I'm finally doing that!
As stated above I've got my 1877 looming on the horizon, hopefully get The Letter sometime this summer. Cannot wait on that so have to get the ball rolling with what I have.
Since I have a Shiloh on order I don't feel toooooo bad showing my other rifle. It's a custom Roller, made by a friend and originally owned by another friend who passed on. I was lucky enough to purchase it from his estate. It's a 45-70 with a 30" half octagon/round barrel. Originally had a very slow twist, 28" or 32" inches if I remember correctly. After purchasing it I had had builder rebarrel it with a Douglas Premium 1-18" twist. I also installed MVA rear tang sight and had it drilled and tapped for MVA 24" 6x scope as seen in the photos below.
So finally got off the dime and started building loads. Read an article in the Black Powder Cartridge News re developing loads for a specific rifle and it sounded like a good place to start.
Essentially it said to make up dummy round to seat bullet out till it touched rifling measure it then subtract 0.010" - 0.015" to ensure loading with a fouled chamber. Since I plan to shoot greasers (at least initially) this made sense. Then you determine how far the bullet is seated in the case and this will determine the size of the boilerroom you have to work with. Drop tube enough powder to allow you to reach this height with wad of choice and no compression. Shoot and see how it does, keep adding powder and compress to the same column height until you hit the spot the rifle likes.
Simplified instructions but you get the idea.
With the above I came up with this load:
- New annealed Star Line brass, BP ignorance came into play with this brass, when I bought it (couple years ago) I had my modern CF hat on and read the reloading manual to see what the minimum trim length was and proceeded to trim them all to 2.095", only later reading to get the best results you need to fit the brass to the chamber length. Crap..., 500 cases too short! Looks like I'll be adding a stretcher of some sort to the tool list. Already read the article by Texas Mac on the options.
- FL sized brass, then used .456" expander plug, which allows me to just be able to push the bullets in with fingers if necessary but seat them with the press to save fingers.
- Bullet is the Saeco 61881 500gr Govt copy bullet, alloy 20-1, SPG lube applied with RCBS lubrasizor. They drop from mold at .458 and I run them through the .459 die just to get lube on.
- CCI BR2 primers
- Walters .030" fiber wad card
- Swiss 3F powder, as that is what I had on hand from my .54 Flinter.
- With no compression I was able to fit 62.4gr of 3F in the virgin cases.
- Then loaded second batch with 64.4gr of 3F and compressed to fit to same height. Didn't worry about measuring compression dimension for now.
Here are the initial result at 100 yards benched, front and rear bags with barrel resting on front bag just in front of the forearm.
This was the first group after about 4-5 sighter shots to get the scope on paper. Conditions were late afternoon, about 40 degrees, 5 mph wind from 1 o'clock. 3 slooow breaths between each shot.
62.4 gr load, Width 1.048", Height 1.124", of course the last one slipped out to the right on me.
This is the second group with 64.4gr. Width 0.822", Height 1.261". The fifth shot is circled in ink, the bullets blew the paper out and I taped it back flat and folded a piece the wrong way but did not realize it until tape was in place. But you can see the lead smear around the upper left side of the ink circle.
Not a bad start but two groups do not a load make, but enough for the day as was getting dark and hands cold!
Shot again the next day, conditions almost identical.
This was first group with the 62.4gr load, shot it just after readjusting my focus on the MVA scope to sharpen it up a bit, new prescription! So the POI was not where I expected.
5 shot group, would have been great except for the one I let get away again out to the right. Measuring all 5 shots Width 1.878", Height 0.700". Measuring only 4 shots and dropping the one to the right, Width 0.747", Height 0.065".
Second group with same load, only 4 shots, Width 1.264", Height 1.635"
Third group is the 64.4gr load, again only 4 rounds. Width 1.619", Height 1.658".
Rifle cleaned up really well with windex with vinegar and then swabbed with patch and balistoil. Scoped the bore with my hawkeye unit, only a very small amount lead just in the lead area just before rifling. I'm sure there was some there in the bottom corners of the lands here and there but no accumulations easily visible.
Never was the best off the bench as it always seems like I end up fighting the bags. Need to work on that a bit. Wish I had a longer range to test the loads at but 100 yards is all I will have available until match time. Will load up some more of both loads and then start running them over the ohler to see what kind of numbers it is generating.
The rifle is only a little over 9 lbs so the recoil is fairly stout, making the 40-65 look a little more appealing for the 1877!
Any thoughts or suggestions for improvements on my loads?
1. Was surprised that the case did not hold more powder. I was expecting around 65 grains with no compression but I know that Winchester has best capacity, S-L probably the lowest. With method described above the bullet is seated about 0.384" into the case mouth.
2. Will new cases gain much (any) capacities after being fired? I plan to neck size after initial firing.
2. One improvement I would like to try is to add a newspaper wad between the walters wad and the base of the bullet to ensure they are not sticking. Need to get a punch first.
3. What am I forgetting?
Sorry for the long post, hard to put it all down without being a bit long winded. Really appreciate everyone's willingness to share their knowledge and experience!
Cheers!
Wade
