I have an old Winchester Model 1876 in .45-60, made in 1882, that I figured would be a good candidate for my very first venture into black powder shooting. Up to now, I've been shooting only smokeless loads in this old classic. At lunch hour yesterday, I loaded 5 original 45-60 cases with 4.3 cc of FFg, a polywad, and then a 300 grain cast bullet. After dumping the black powder in the case, using the biggest Lee scoop I had, I tapped the case on the reloading bench for a while to settle the powder. I then shoved a polywad down on the powder and pressed down a bit. Then I installed the bullet (lubed with Ox-Yoke, 'premium, all-natural lube') and crimped the bullet in against the polywad.
First, I decided to shoot at a 50 yard target, because I had no idea how the black powder loads would group, and wanted to make sure they were on the paper. I dropped the rear sight two notches and then fired off 5 smokeless rounds just to see where they were hitting on the target. I was a little hasty here since I was excited to shoot my black powder loads, so my group might have been a little tighter had I sighted more carefully, but I got a 5-shot group of 1 & 7/16" and four of the shots grouped at 7/8", center to center. I was holding the forearm of the old '76 with my hand and forearm resting on a sandbag. The load was 22 grains of IMR SR4759 under a 321 grain cast bullet with gas check, giving me an average velocity of 1,337 fps with an E.S. of 58 (original black powder factory rounds had a published velocity of 1,315 fps). A photo of this smokeless group is shown below.
Then it was time to shoot my 5 black powder loads. I got a horizontal spread of only 3/4" but a vertical spread of 2 & 9/16". I am thinking that this vertical spread is due to inconsistency in my loading (it was pretty crude and fast). I think this is born out by the Chronograph results. Keeping in mind that the original .45-60 cartridge had a muzzle velocity of 1,315 fps. My loads gave the following:
1,346
1,305
1,320
1,295
1,268
That is an E.S. of 78 fps, quite a spread compared to some fellows who have an E.S. in the single digits.
There were only 4 holes in the target. so there was a serious flyer in the bunch, but this target was taped to an even larger piece of cardboard that was about 20" x 24", and there was no hole in that either. I took another look at the hole in the bulls eye, as it looks a bit different from the rest ... a bit more torn up and one side of the hole looks like it might have the grey smudge of a second bullet. It is possible that the 'flyer' went into almost the same hole as the bulls eye. Hard to believe, but it is also very difficult to believe a flyer could be bad enough to miss a 20" x 24" paper (with no sign of the bullet hole in the surrounding plywood either). I know for a fact that bead was on the bulls eye when the gun went off ... I'd have to be hanging upside down by one toe, swinging in a gale force wind, with someone whacking me with a rolled up newspaper, before I'd miss a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper at 50 yards.
I'm thinking the vertical spread is largely due to the E.S. in velocity, which in turn is due to inconsistent loading practice. For my next loads, I will make sure I got exactly the same amount of powder in each case, and exactly the same amount of compression (so far as I am able). I expect the group to be tighter.
Below is the photo of the black powder group. Both groups were at 50 yards. Unfortunately, I will be on the road for the next two weeks, so it will be a while before I can get back to the range.[
] (Note: I accidentally wrote the measurements on upside down, so the group actually is slightly to the left of the center just like the smokeless group.)
First, I decided to shoot at a 50 yard target, because I had no idea how the black powder loads would group, and wanted to make sure they were on the paper. I dropped the rear sight two notches and then fired off 5 smokeless rounds just to see where they were hitting on the target. I was a little hasty here since I was excited to shoot my black powder loads, so my group might have been a little tighter had I sighted more carefully, but I got a 5-shot group of 1 & 7/16" and four of the shots grouped at 7/8", center to center. I was holding the forearm of the old '76 with my hand and forearm resting on a sandbag. The load was 22 grains of IMR SR4759 under a 321 grain cast bullet with gas check, giving me an average velocity of 1,337 fps with an E.S. of 58 (original black powder factory rounds had a published velocity of 1,315 fps). A photo of this smokeless group is shown below.
Then it was time to shoot my 5 black powder loads. I got a horizontal spread of only 3/4" but a vertical spread of 2 & 9/16". I am thinking that this vertical spread is due to inconsistency in my loading (it was pretty crude and fast). I think this is born out by the Chronograph results. Keeping in mind that the original .45-60 cartridge had a muzzle velocity of 1,315 fps. My loads gave the following:
1,346
1,305
1,320
1,295
1,268
That is an E.S. of 78 fps, quite a spread compared to some fellows who have an E.S. in the single digits.
There were only 4 holes in the target. so there was a serious flyer in the bunch, but this target was taped to an even larger piece of cardboard that was about 20" x 24", and there was no hole in that either. I took another look at the hole in the bulls eye, as it looks a bit different from the rest ... a bit more torn up and one side of the hole looks like it might have the grey smudge of a second bullet. It is possible that the 'flyer' went into almost the same hole as the bulls eye. Hard to believe, but it is also very difficult to believe a flyer could be bad enough to miss a 20" x 24" paper (with no sign of the bullet hole in the surrounding plywood either). I know for a fact that bead was on the bulls eye when the gun went off ... I'd have to be hanging upside down by one toe, swinging in a gale force wind, with someone whacking me with a rolled up newspaper, before I'd miss a 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper at 50 yards.
I'm thinking the vertical spread is largely due to the E.S. in velocity, which in turn is due to inconsistent loading practice. For my next loads, I will make sure I got exactly the same amount of powder in each case, and exactly the same amount of compression (so far as I am able). I expect the group to be tighter.
Below is the photo of the black powder group. Both groups were at 50 yards. Unfortunately, I will be on the road for the next two weeks, so it will be a while before I can get back to the range.[
] (Note: I accidentally wrote the measurements on upside down, so the group actually is slightly to the left of the center just like the smokeless group.)
