New with BP rifle shooting (HELP)

[beng]

This is my first thread with THR. I do have a .44 Ruger Old Army and .44 Walker, that is all I know about black powder shooting. We have guys here at our club with 45-70; 45-90; 38-40 etc. We all shoot with smoke less powder. I have ask questions about BP shooting, loads etc, no one knows for sure, so I thought I would join THR. It's when you need a answer, go to the guys who know. I have a H&R Buffalo Classic, 45-70, 32" barrel, 1:20 twist, I use H4198 for all my shooting. (100 yds to 300 yds target and silhouette only) I would like to get into the fun of black powder shooting with this cartridge. "What books can I get, what loads to use, I even want to try PP bullets. All the help I can get would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time

 

[BullRunBear]

Beng,

Welcome to the Forum. Check out the stickys at the top of this section of The High Road. Also, do a search on the Ruger and Walker. There's a lot of information here. There is a Walker Club in this section with hundreds of entires. If you want to try loading black powder, check here and on the Goex black powder website.

Hope this gives you a starting point.

Jeff

 

[TomADC]

Pick up a copy of Lyman's Black Powder Handbook. Good reading for all types of BP shooting.

 

[Ken Smith]

Hi Beng,
Welcome to the flavor of the 19th century. I shoot an original 1884 Springfield Infantry rifle in .45/70/500, reproducing the original Arsenal loadings. The bullet is a 500 grainer cast in 20-1 lead/tin, and lubed with 50/50 olive oil/beeswax. I use Swiss FFg with a full 70 grain charge in Winchester brass with the flasholes enlarged to .096(#41 bit), and Winchester large rifle magnum primers. We generally shoot from 100 to 600 yards. This type of shooting is lots of fun.
There is only one thing to remember about loading blackpowder that can be potentially destructive, and that is seating the bullet onto the powder charge. Do not leave an air space between the two. Careful adjustment of the powder compression die to compress the charge to bullet seating depth, or just slightly above will take care of this. With a 1-20 twist rate, your rifle should be able to stabilize a 450 to 525 grain bullet easily. My Springfield has a 1-22 twist, and was designed for the 500 grainer. Stick with a soft lead, as a bullet needs to slug-up into the riflings on ignition. The Saeco #881 is a good reproduction of the 500 grain Government bullet. Rapine made one too,#460500, but I don't know what the status of Rapine Molds is anymore.
It takes a little more work to load and shoot blackpowder. You have to de-cap and clean your cases within a short time after shooting, otherwise they corrode. And you have to thoroughly clean your bore the same. Season your bore with Thompsons Bore Butter after cleaning, and swab it again before shooting. This will make cleaning a lot easier. But Swiss powder burns cleaner than Goex, in my experience, and leaves less fouling.
But it is all worth it if you enjoy nostalgia.
Regards,
Ken Smith

 

[arcticap]

Rapine made one too,#460500, but I don't know what the status of Rapine Molds is anymore.

In reference to Rapine Molds closing down and going out of business, it was recently mentioned on the ALR forum that:

I heard he just changed his phone no. Worth a try 215-679-6442

Just called, He is still in business, just making molds to order. Making them at a slower pace. But making them.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=11887.0

For $2 you can get a catalog from the Rapine Bullet Mould Mfg. Co, 9503 Landis Lane, East Greenville, Pennsylvania 18041, phone 215-679-6442. No more credit cards, "...add $8.50 SHI per item. Add .50 per item ther after...overage...will refund..." I don't precisely follow this either, so what he has a good variety of moulds available.

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=12050.0

 

[StrawHat]

Enlarging the flash hole is no longer recommended but if it works for you just keep those cases seperate from the ones you use for smokeless.

Spence Wolf wrote the book on replicating the Springfield load and much of what he wrote is adaptable to all black powder cartridges.

http://www.the45-70book.com/pat

If you decide to go with black powder, it would probably be a good idea to forget much of what you know about smokeless reloading. BPCR is a fun time but it is also a learning process. I have simplified things tremendously since going to black powder. I am no longer a competitior so I do not try to wring out the last .000001" from my rifles. It can be done but not by me anymore.

This is an oversimplification of how I determine the first load in a new cartridge or rifle. Lay the bullet of your choice along side the cartridge and note where the base of the bullet would be in the case when seated properly. This is where you want your powder column to be. I fill the case with powder to that point. Weigh that amount of powder and dump that charge into a small vial. Slowly pour the powder back into the case though a drop tube. This settles the powder in the case and allows you to insert a wad or two to fill the void and protect the base of the bullet. If all goes well, weigh out another charge and proceed. I usually load five or maybe ten cartridges this way and test the load. If this load works for me, I make a measure to repeat the amount of powder. Some of my measures fit the powder can, others a flask and some I use to dip powder from a box. Regardless, I always drop tube the powder into the case to settle it.

Once you get into it, bullet alloy, bullet lube, wad material, lube wads, seating depth, paper patching, patching material aned etc all make interesting areas to explore. Reams of paper and gigabytes of information have been used in the detailing of experiments. As I get older, I try to keep things simple but it was fun to experiment.

Start simple, use a good black powder lube and have fun.