Looking for loads for 1887

[jlmwrite]

I recently purchased an original Winchester 1887, manufactured in late 1887. It's in incredibly good shape -- but it ain't a wall-hanger just yet. I had a respected professional gunsmith pronounce it safe to shoot, and I intend to shoot it!

However, finding 12 gauge blackpowder 2.5" shells is proving to be difficult. Buffalo Arms is the only ones I can find but I don't want to sacrifice a kidney just to buy a single box of shells if I don't have to.

No amount of "oh, you can shoot modern low pressure shells in her" advice is going to convince me it's ok. And I am NOT interested in investing in the equipment and supplies to load my own. I will probably never put more than 50 rounds thru it.

So... Does anyone have any leads on where I can find those 12 gauge BP loads, other than Buffalo Arms?

 

[troy fairweather]

There very easy to load, you don't need much.

 

[DocRock]

If you don't want to pay for Buffalo Arms loaded shells, you need to load yourself.

Ballistic Products is your friend.

You need:

A box of two of Magtech brass 2.5" shells
Large pistol primers
A pound or so of Ffg black powder or one of those nasty substitutes
10 ga overpwder cards, 10 ga fiber wads, 10 ga overshot cards.
A bag of shot.
Some glue

The only thing that really costs any money is a 12 ga shell holder for your press. If there's another way to seat primers, you can skip that.

Ballistic Products also sells a guide to reloading the Magtech shells with recipes.

 

[nortwoods1]

i have a remington model 1873, mine was made in 1874. gunsmith said it was safe to shoot modern target loads, done it many times. wary at first but it's fine. anyway, loading black powder shells yourself is very easy and you really dont need hardly anything to do it. take an unfired shell, unfold or cut off the end, dump shot and wad into tray/dish, remove over powder card, dump smokeless powder out, tap shell on table to knock out any of the stubborn powder grains left, pour in your measured amount of black powder, replace over powder card, replace wad, replace shot, put an over shot card on top, lastly seal over shot card in place. it may seem redneck but it's worked for me.