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morning, im researching a cast boolit load for a hr om trapdoor. lyman button mold at 145gr, unique 5 to 10 gr. the boolits are cast powder coated and sized to .460. (i have a lee push thru sizer coming at .462 ) the question is....does the boolit get pushed down on to the powder or sit at the mouth and crimped ? thanks for any reply. irishtoo
Loading the button over Unique, it should be lightly crimped in the case mouth. If the button will actually slide down into a fired but unsized case, reduce the load as this will affect pressure/velocity. Trail Boss might be better as it will leave less air-space in the case. The original load was 35-40 grains of FFFg black powder and some paste-board wads. The button bullet's substantial lube groove was filled with soft lubricant. Without this lube groove filled, I found accuracy pretty much disappeared much beyond 600 fps with Unique. Recovered slugs showed the bases were collapsing non-uniformly. I was using pure lead. perhaps a harder alloy would have prevented this. At one time I did quite a bit of shooting and experimenting with this boolit in my Trapdoor Springfield with both black powder and smokeless (mostly Unique and Bulls Eye) and found black powder loads to be the most accurate but a PITA with case and bore cleaning. Raising the muzzle prior to taking the shot improved accuracy with light smokeless loads as powder position was important with this huge cartridge case. YMMV
If you are shooting an original Trapdoor your .460" bullet may be too small in diameter for best results.
Most originals I have measured run .462-.465"
I've shot a lot of RBs, "button" cast bullets and 210 gr "shuttlecock" Rapine bullets in my H&R carbine and Officer's Model TDs. I found Bullseye to be a much better powder than Unique for such bullets.
I loaded 15 this morning. That was a pia. They woud enter the mouth and go crooked. Unless the shoot great i wont be making alot of these
And i have to find a new source of supplies. My guy retired. He was also my gunsmith.