Starter load for a 360 2.25" BP express?

[tokguy]

Also known as 9.3 X 57 R.
I'm loading them for a Cape rifle. The bullets are 250 grain + ... but I'm obviously going to be using Black Powder ; I'm thinking FFg.
If someone has experience with this load I'd appriecate any input.
Thanks
tokguy

 

[Goldenlakepete]

Don't have any personal experience with the 9.3x57R but in Cartridges of the World Frank Barnes says to treat it as a if it were a .38-55 and I've had lots of experience with that.
Basically a full case of FF Black powder or Pyrodex.
Smokeless loads: 20 grs of 4198, 28 grs of 4895.

The Handloader's Manual of Cartridge Conversions recommends 22 grs of 3031 with a 190 gr bullet for the 9.3x57R.

 

[H Wally]

Bumping this back up to top - to follow up on tokguy's post, anyone know a decent starter load for the 360 2.25 with a 270gr boolit? Gun is a pre-1898 top break, quite solid though. I'm thinking it'd be a light smokeless load of something like 15gr IMR 3031 with filler to take up the rest of the case - opinions?

 

[ER243]

That is just amazing, se my thread here:

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=715371

To add I got some 9.3X72R brass from Epps and The Bullet Barn slugs arrived yesterday.
So I trimmed and loaded 5 pieces, so far I been using 2F, slightly compressed. The bullets I think are 270 grains, little on a heave side, I hope they stabilize. Brass they send me is Norma, it is quite heavy and I ended up with a bit of a bulge, this might require a bit of a neck reaming, I won't know till I get to buddy's who owns the gun, and see if they chamber.
I will keep my original thread updated when I know more.

 

[H Wally]

Haha - thanks! I was looking at that thread but didn't see anything dealing with the heavier bullet weights or smokeless powders.

FYI all my brass is made from 30-40 krag. The rims are a bit thin for my liking though so I've also blown out some 30-30 since I'm too cheap to buy 38-55, which makes a slightly short cartridge, but fits better.

 

[ER243]

Let you know how the heavier bullets work out tomorrow, if it rains.
I'm too frightened playing with smokeless, specially in a gun
that don't belong to me and just sold for over 3K.

Just looked it up and 30-40 Krag and 30-30 might have rims that are
too thick to close the action, but you never know till you try cause
these things were created before any kind of standardization.

How did the 30-30 look after the blowout? Since the head diameter is on a small side.

 

[H Wally]

Fair enough - for my part I have largely switched to smokeless for cartridge guns because I don't like running anything corrosive through them. Either way there's a risk I suppose

I found that in my gun 30-40 was actually undersized for rim thickness, which is why I went with 30-30 as my federal brass has a thicker rim, but still could be thicker. It could just be that my gun has deeper rim recesses - it's not like it was produced in an era of extremely tight tolerances (at least not this one).

The 30-30 is pretty much fine - maybe a little taper around the base but nothing appreciable. It only needs to expand about .05 to get up to size and the same issue will come about with 38-55 as the 30-30 is descended from it (I've blown 3030 out to form 38-55 as well when I needed a couple). Yet again though, there's room for even slightly thicker rims.