Last Chance

[yonderin]

For anybody to keep me from destroying a gun (mortal sin for which I'll smoke a t*rd in hell) or chlorinate the gene pool. Actually I'm fairly confident but would appreciate any last minute suggestions before I make up the loads and try things out.

I'm using a modern repro of an 1873 Trapdoor carbine. I've done a bit of reading including Matthews' "Paper Jacket" and "Forty Years With the .45-70".

I've sized and PP'ed 405gr bullets (Bullet Barn) to .458. Initial load is 55 gr Fg (volume) with a grease cookie of 50/50 beeswax and Bore Butter. Virgin Winchester brass and Fed LR primers.

Trouble establishing the space within the case. Don't have a drop tube yet but it appears to settle quite a bit with some shaking. By calculations, I'm going to have a bit of compression with a grease cookie in place but it appears to be quite important if using black with a PP.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[DaveF]

You need to establish the height of the black-powder within the cartridge case.
Settle the powder by shaking or whatever, then use a fired .223 case or something similar, with masking tape around it, and placed gently on top of the powder inside the 45-70 case without compressing it further.
Mark the tape at the point where it protrudes above the 45-70 case, then remove the .223 case and measure from that mark down to the bottom of the .223 case. That's your available depth.
From the crimping groove or some other reference point on the bullet, measure it's height while it's sitting on top of a grease cookie. That's how much bullet/cookie will be in the 45-70.
You don't want any air space left between the powder and bullet/cookie, and should compress by at least 0.125" by my experience.
You may need more than 55gr. of powder to ensure that you are compressing sufficiently.
A drop tube is an excellent accessory, and I always used to use .45 card wads cut from 0.025" waxed milk cartons on top of the powder to avoid bullet lube contamination of the powder.
You don't indicate where you are, but if you are in the Airdrie area I have a drop tube and some .45 card wads you can have.

 

[yonderin]

Thanks very much for the advice and offer. Very convenient way to measure powder height. From what I calculated, minimal compression but at least no air gap.

Used parchment paper between cookie and powder, figured if it didn't burn it would at least have minimal impact on chain of events. Will have to experiment and see if lube migrates through it in case of long term storage.

Things went well, a lot less recoil than 300 gr commercial loads I fired when I first got the rifle. Didn't try for accuracy, just looking to see if something like the original cavalry load would spare my shoulder a bit as a start point. Will have to work up to full blown loads, if recoil stays manageable.

Any advice on BP cases? Soon as I got home, dumped them in a bucket of water to try and minimize any effects of residue. Maybe not neccessary or even wrong thing to do? Should have thought of that point before, guess I could just clean them up right away.

 

[DaveF]

I used to decap, then dump my brass into a gallon jug of soapy water, tighten the screw cap lid, shake the sh*t out of it, then dump the water and brass into the kitchen sink (which really impressed the wife as it's stinky). I would then rinse off the brass with clean water, and dry them on an old pizza pan in the oven at a very low heat setting.
The brass ends up stained and dull, but tumbles clean although about half of the flash holes would end up plugged with tumbling media which needed picking out. I would also use an RCBS wire-brush type primer pocket cleaner
There are likely other methods you can use, but definitely clean the brass as I've see BP cases that were corroded right through from being left neglected.