Black Powder Cartridge

[.38 Special]

The world record target array is farther away than targets at most SASS matches; pistol at 7 yards, rifle at 18 yards, shotgun at 10 yards. Ruger Old Model Vaqueros using .38 Special ammo, case full of 2F powder, Uberti 1873 with same loads, SKB 12 gauge double with 40 grains of 2F under 1 ounce of shot.

He was lucky there was a breeze that day!

 

[.38 Special]

Shooting Josey Wales.

And here I had been happy with just the one Walker. Enabler!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

You folks who mention loading .30-30 with black powder...,

You guys do know that the .30-30 Winchester nee .30 WCF was introduced being loaded with 30 grains of smokeless? The .30-30 Winchester Smokeless was the first of two smokeless cartridges introduced in the United States in 1895, the other being the .25-35 Winchester.

I mean there's nothing wrong with loading that cartridge with 30 grains of black powder, but historically it was not loaded as such. The confusion comes from it being one of two cartridges introduced that year and as they were the new powder the old powder designation was still being used. Hence .30-30 and .25-35.

LD

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

The world record target array is farther away than targets at most SASS matches; pistol at 7 yards, rifle at 18 yards, shotgun at 10 yards. Ruger Old Model Vaqueros using .38 Special ammo, case full of 2F powder, Uberti 1873 with same loads, SKB 12 gauge double with 40 grains of 2F under 1 ounce of shot.

Pretty quick j-bar pretty quick

 

[J-Bar]

Pretty quick j-bar pretty quick

Yeah, it was good enough for the record until Missouri Lefty borrowed my guns and ammo a couple of years after I shot that video and set the new record of 19.03 seconds!

Kids!

 

[Blackpowderwarrior]

@J-Bar
I appreciate you guys keeping renewed interest in old sixguns n rifles. Tinkering with these old smokepoles and revolvers have really made a positive impact on my life although not so Much on my wallet ;-)

 

[Cowhide Cliff]

About all I shoot is black powder cartridge of some sort

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

When I shoot Cowboy, I don't much care about how fast I shoot.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I load and shoot black powder in .32 S&W, .38 WCF, .44 WCF, 20 gauge and 12 gauge. Today I loaded up some light 12 gauge rounds in Magtech brass cases. These are 7/8 oz. loads so roughly equivalent to a 20 gauge.

I measured both powder and shot for this batch using a Lee 4.3cc dipper. I checked it against a powder measure and it works out to ~65 grains of powder or 7/8 oz. shot.



Loading BP shotgun shells is fun and easy with minimal tools. I do not use a press, just the loading block, Lee powder scoops, a punch to decap, and a dowel to seat the wads/cards, and press the case down over the primer on a hard surface. The cases are not crimped because I hold the over shot card in place with glue.

After shooting them I rinse them in soapy water and after they are dry I tumble them.

I use them for informal clay busting at a friend's property in north central PA. They work well, I hit more than I miss, and it's a lot of fun. I shoot the 12 gauge shells in my Baikal O/U which had chromed bores which helps cleanup. For 20 gauge I have a Swedish Remington Rolling Block that's really nice to carry when upland hunting and is also fun to shoot at clays.

I use the same cases for hunting loads with No.5 shot, or patched round balls. Once I work up the right PRB load I'll use them for deer hunting in the SE PA archery, muzzleloader, or shotgun only area.

 

[whughett]

Before this shortage hit I was buying Walmart cheap 12 gage rounds. I’d salvage the shot and shell with its primer and reload with black powder. The reloads were “square” loads. Equally by volume shot and powder. The shot was “wax” incapsulated to create a slug. Frowned on by some but a lot more interesting to shoot a 25 yard targets over just the shot.
These are shot thru a Remington 1894 Double with both Damascus and fluid steel barrels. Even bought a roll crimper.

 

[paul harm]

I now shoot five different 44 cal 1858 Remingtons, one I cut the barrel to 3" and rounded the grip. Two have 8" barrels and two 12" barrels. Also one in 36 cal. Then there's the Remington revolving rifle. That one is lots of fun to shoot. I also have a 1875 Remington in 45 LC. My 43 Spanish rolling block hasn't been shot much because of the heavy trigger. Gonna have to work on it. I also have a original rifle barrel liner that goes in my 1882 Remington SxS. All it said on it was 10ga- 40 2 1/2. That's the Sharps 40/70 straight walled cartridge. I don't have the original sights and the sh!!y one I made needs something different. Someday I'll make a better one some day. I shot on the NMLA range for 20 years, now I don't go down any more and just shoot at my home club for fun.

Driftwood, I now use a Mec Jr for BP in plastic shells, but use the bottles and charge bar. A 43 bushing will give 72gr charge, one cut half way off about 82grs, and no bushing [ with inspection hole plugged ] just over a 100grs. At one time when I shot SASS with brass shells, I had the dies made up by a friend so I could prime and deprime on my 9000H. Did it all except the crimping. It went pretty fast. But alas, I sold the shells and tooling to a fellow SASS shooter. Don't do that anymore. Nice set up and photos.

 

[paul harm]

Dave, those cases are much too clean. Ya gotta let get some " patina " on em. At first I was gonna say you're from a different generation than me because you gave your load in CCs, but then I saw you were referring to the size Lee powder Dipper. I use them for my BP cartridge loads, but don't remember the CC size. I just write in the cardboard box they come in which one's for what and with what powder. If ever you try to shoot smokeless in the brass cases make sure you use enough hot glue to build up enough resistance so the powder has a good burn. Through a lot of trial and error a 444 marlin in a .410 I needed about close to a 1/4" of shell surface for the glue to grab a hold of. Less meant bloopers.

 

[Navy Six 2]

I've loaded black powder in 45 Colt, 45 S&W, 44-40, 41 mag, 38-40, 38 Spl, 38 LC, 32 S&W Short, 12 & 10 Ga. All but the 41 and 32 have been used at Cowboy matches.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

Dave, those cases are much too clean. Ya gotta let get some " patina " on em. At first I was gonna say you're from a different generation than me because you gave your load in CCs, but then I saw you were referring to the size Lee powder Dipper. I use them for my BP cartridge loads, but don't remember the CC size. I just write in the cardboard box they come in which one's for what and with what powder. If ever you try to shoot smokeless in the brass cases make sure you use enough hot glue to build up enough resistance so the powder has a good burn. Through a lot of trial and error a 444 marlin in a .410 I needed about close to a 1/4" of shell surface for the glue to grab a hold of. Less meant bloopers.

I tumble the cases after I soak them to remove most of the fouling. At over $1 each I want to keep them as long as possible so I don't want them to develop any verdigris.

I have no desire to load smokeless in the Magtech hulls, to be honest. I mostly use Duco cement to hold in the over-shot card, but on some of these I used some cheap superglue from Harbor Freight.

As for metric, I'm 52 so Generation X. I recall learning the metric system in elementary school in the 70s because the USA was going to change over to metric. LOL. I pretty much only use CCs when referring to the Lee dippers.

 

[paul harm]

I don't even know what they call my generation - maybe Z. In the 70s I was out of the service, going to Friendship, and the wife and I built our house without electricity. Used a hand saw. The last day at Friendship going through commercial row I could buy a 1000 caps for 10$ and powder was 2/3 bucks a pound. Those were the days.

We at the club call verdigris patina. Most the guys wouldn't know the meaning of verdigris [ me included till now - we're from farm country ]. I once had a couple hundred Magtechs for SASS shooting. I took a fifty of them and drilled out the primer pocket to accept 209 shotgun primers. What a mistake. The primers stuck up through the brass and got fouling stuck on them and wouldn't come off. I had to throw them away.

 

[Dave T]

"I once had a couple hundred Magtechs for SASS shooting. I took a fifty of them and drilled out the primer pocket to accept 209 shotgun primers. What a mistake. The primers stuck up through the brass and got fouling stuck on them and wouldn't come off. I had to throw them away."

Paul, that is a sad, sad story.

Dave