Proper Black Powder Lever Gun Management.

[Guy La Pourque]

Well I took 'er out with a box of 350 gr. cast boolits, stoked with 3031 in 32~35 grains in one grain increments. Velocities ran around 980~1100 FPS. I am trying to duplicate black powder performance in my Uberti 1876 repro in .45-75. I'm not sure of my velocities though - I have one of those magnetospeed chronies and it wouldn't pick up the shot if I fired it in the conventional position - so I moved it from 6 oclock to 12 oclock - and it seemed to work. I'm told I need to be around 1380FPS and at least now I have a starting point.

After that I flogged 10 rounds stoked with FFg down the range just to make myself feel better about the whole thing. My question is - how many rounds can you send down the pipe before cleaning when you are shooting the manly propellant?

The reason I asked was that I fired two sub-3" groups off the bench (my gun has a wonderful Lee Shaver Vernier tang on it). Was I just lucky or can these guns actually shoot that good...? I didn't have enough ammo to spoil my streak...so maybe that is a good thing...? How do you guys manage your guns? Do you mop bores and do the blow tube thing like the BPCR guys...?

[curator]

The key to successful Black Powder Cartridge shooting appears to be a combination of keeping the powder fouling to minimum and also keeping that fouling soft enough and preventing it from affecting subsequent shots. Many BPCR competitors resort to "blow-tubes" to provide moisture in the bore, others count on secret formula lubes that do the same thing. SPG is known as the "best" BP lube, but many shooters simply resort to a 50/50 mix of lard and bee's wax. There are as many formulas as there are shooters. Card wad under the boolit, deep lube grooves, and a good BP like Olde Eynsford or Swiss makes a big difference.

[country gent]

With true black powder fouling management takes several forms.
1) a good BP rated lube that's meant for BP. These are normally vegetable and or animal by products. SPG is good and meant for BP. Emmerts improved is good and can be made at home with a double boiler. A good lube in the amount needed for barrel length and amount of propellant. Some times a grease cookie may be required to reach this.

2) A blow tube adds moisture from your breath softening the fouling. Taking a swallow of water before blowing adds even more moisture. This is easier to do on the single shots than lever guns. But a tube can be made to use on levers.

3) Wiping between shots with a damp patch and then dry again works well with single shots more so than levers.

4) A proper sized thickness wad may help control fouling acting as a scraper removing fouling from the previous shot.

In my Hepburn 45-90 I have fired 20 rounds with out loss of accuracy. but I was using SPG lube in a 3 groove 550 grn bullet and a .060 Napa rubber fiber wad cut to .465 dia.and 2 tracing paper wads. I also blow tube 3-4 breaths between shots.

[country gent]

Also finding the right compression for the powder used helps reduce fouling

[veeman]

Do you have the older Uberti chamber or the correct chamber? Just curious, mine has the larger uberti chamber, which takes a few extra grains of bp.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
BP opens the old world door of re-education. We find it a fun way to unlearn shooting habits and establish new ones.

You did not write what brand of 2F. When we use Goex we use 3F in rifles as it burns cleaner and does seem to duplicate what velocities were possible back 120 years ago.
Remember our modern cases are not balloon heads therefore hold about 5 grains less powder.

Using 3F in our 50-95 and 45-60's we expect to fire 10-15 rounds before needing to wipe the barrel. We use a water wet patch pushed through the barrel with the rifle turned up side down. Your barrel will let you know how often you need to wipe.
After three shots look to see it there is a well marked "lube star" om the muzzle exterior. With some shallow groove bullets we dip the noses in a batch of heated lube to get that extra in the bore. Those we load direct into the chamber.
Hunting is not an issue unless you have a lot of shooting (popping numerous groundhogs) in a fine afternoon.
Mike in Peru

[Guy La Pourque]

My black powder rounds were cooked up awhile back, so I am going from memory: I know they have 63 gr. of FFg Goex (I wasn't able to find other powders for the longest time up here) - and it was compressed with a special die that I bought from Buffalo Arms 100 years ago. I put a card under the boolit - but dispensed with 'cookies' because they didn't seem to help anything. I made my lube from (if I recall correctly) 50/50 beeswax and Vaseline. I am not sure my home-cooked lube is the best but it seems to work. I am not out to beat you snipers here or win gold medals - I just want to be able to make the most accurate cartridges I can with what I have available. My lead is often scavenged and my tin/lead mix is alloyed by guess and by golly... do you guys recommend a card, or a wad over the powder...?

[indian joe]

My black powder rounds were cooked up awhile back, so I am going from memory: I know they have 63 gr. of FFg Goex (I wasn't able to find other powders for the longest time up here) - and it was compressed with a special die that I bought from Buffalo Arms 100 years ago. I put a card under the boolit - but dispensed with 'cookies' because they didn't seem to help anything. I made my lube from (if I recall correctly) 50/50 beeswax and Vaseline. I am not sure my home-cooked lube is the best but it seems to work. I am not out to beat you snipers here or win gold medals - I just want to be able to make the most accurate cartridges I can with what I have available. My lead is often scavenged and my tin/lead mix is alloyed by guess and by golly... do you guys recommend a card, or a wad over the powder...?

I like to be different - so I dont use a wad over the powder - dont see the need for it (that should get a few replies!!!) - have tried it numerous times in the past - its one more step in the process and I have not been able to get an advantage from it - I like relatively soft boolits - I am very picky with boolit quality - all my boolits for blackpowder rounds have plenty big lube grooves - and I make sure said grooves are full of the best lube I can brew - (beeswax and neatsfoot oil at present) I like to keep things simple. If you wanting the best accuracy - firstly go for consistency at every stage of the process - boolit alloy - case preparation - boolit weight - powder charge.
Scavenged lead ? join the club - just premelt it I use a big old cast iron pot for the first melt - and make a big batch of ingots - I cast mine in an old muffin tray - lead muffin weighs right on a kilo - easy then to make a consistent batch of boolits once you get the right mix figured. You figure most of this by shooting - paper targets off a rest!