Trapdoor Advice Needed

[tark]

The old saying that "every rifle is different" certainly seems to hold true with your rifle!! My home made ( I mean that literally. I took a block of 1050 steel and carved it into a rolling block rifle. I didn't make the barrel, the springs or the screws. Everything was professionally heat treated to RC40. ) rolling block likes the heavier bullets as well. The little ones are no fun anyway.

Now I'll pass on to you a sneaky little trick when loading black. Measure your charge, charge the case using your drop tube and then do this: Set your I-phone on the table on top of a towel or napkin and put it on vibrate. set your charged case standing upright on the phone and call the phone. The powder in your case will usually settle even further. When seating the bullet, use slightly less compression than normal.

Of course, anything that vibrates will work, but you get the idea. The first time I tried this, my phone vibrated so hard the case tipped over. Hence the towel . I stopped using a drop tube years ago.

Good shooting to you and stay safe.

 

[Remington1911]

Custer's personal rifle was a 50-70 rolling block carbine.

Smokeless is easier to clean and does not rust bores. It is also easier to load accurate rounds because of the many details that must be adhered to when loading B/P rounds. I have found that most of my B/P accuracy problems came down to using the right bullet with lots of grease grooves and using a soft lube. SPG works fine for me. I have found little difference in accuracy between the two powders. My home made rolling block has shot near M.O.A. groups out to 200 yards, with both black powder and smokeless loads.

I find that cleaning up after black is just as easy it is with smokeless and no more time consuming. But with black, it is mandatory. Black is more of a pain when it comes to the fired cases. After firing they should be dropped in a water/ favorite cleaner solution. Everybody has their favorite recipe. They are pretty grungy when they come out of the water.

If the OP isn't experienced in loading black powder rounds, there are books out there that will help you learn. Mike Venturino wrote a good one. If you don't learn the proper way to load black, you will be doomed to disappointment.

I agree with you, BP is mandatory and smokeless it basically not. Part of my "shyness" from BP is I am a lazy bastage. If I don't feel like cleaning it I don't. You really don't need to clean it to a point.

I see BP a little like surplus corrosive ammo, you MUST clean that after an outing, if you delay, even a few hours I found out (with corrosive) you will see the "damage".