What load for the trapdoor 45/70 1884 musket style

Most manuals show starting and max loads for trapdoor rifles. As for black powder I have no experience so can't answer.
 
delta1 said:
What is the original loading for the 1884 trapdoor long barrel musket style rifle? also will it handle 70 grains of Goex FFG and a 525 grain bullet if the rifle is in decent shape?
Any loads you are loading in your original trapdoor's would be appreciated.
Regards
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The original load was 70gr of black powder with a 500gr round nose bullet. The original brass was what they call balloon head, and held more powder than modern brass, so about 65gr of black is all your going to get into the case now with a 525gr bullet.
 
You will need a powder compression die, for me to load 70 grains of black powder under a 500 gr bullet I had to compress the powder 0.200" IIRC. Bullets for the rifle should be 20:1 lead to tin so they are soft enough to allow them to fill the bore when the powder charge ignites and gives them the initial push. I size mine to 0.460 and lube them with SPG blackpowder lube.
 
Delta 1, if you go into the Blackpowder and Antiques section, scroll down a page or two you will find a thread started by Ol' Smokey regarding loads for the Trapdoor.
In that thread are some really informative posts by Alonzo, well worth the read concerning feeding the Trapdoor...
 
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