You're welcome....
You're welcome....
Larry Gibson
“Deficient observation is merely a form of ignorance and responsible for the many morbid notions and foolish ideas prevailing.”
― Nikola Tesla
I use the same technique as Larry in my Springfield 1881 trapdoor. 5gr 4759 and enough FFG or CTG to require SLIGHT compression. I do use a compression die. I use the Lyman 457483 and 457125. I use a card wad under the bullet. Also 5744 seems to work as well as 4759. I can shoot all day without cleaning. The technique IS period correct and popular from 1890 to 1920 or so. Everyone just didn't sell all there BP rifles after smokeless came out. Col Whelen was using a 40-72 Winchester long after smokeless rifles were available.
I don't shoot black but had a shooting partner that was nuts over it. Ignition's the thing. He used a very small charge of Red Dot in some, moved up to slower burners like 4759, tried three "strike anywhere" match heads under the black, tried a magnum rifle primer under the black and all shot safely. His biggest concern was powder migration and he carefully carried them base down in a plastic cartridge box. His most interesting experiment was to take a quantity of black and desiccant bags and suck that lot of powder down to 20% humidity by changing and recycling the bags daily. Saturday night, he loaded his ammo and stored it in an ammo can. Sunday he tested it. He was able to attain almost 20% more velocity. An initial burst of white smoke was first out of the barrel followed by a grayer cloud. He wrote it up on the old Shooter's site and if anyone has the archives, they might be able to retrieve his test results. His handle was Petey. He's left the range now and his wife let his journals get away./beagle
diplomacy is being able to say, "nice doggie" until you find a big rock.....
Reloader 7 is a very good powder for duplexing black. Stick with 10% smokeless to black.
Todd
Greg:
I used to have a Marlin 1895 in .45-70 back in the 70's. I shot that gun with top end (for 1895) smokeless loads and lots of FFFg BP almost always under the Lyman 457124 385 gr. boolit. While it was somewhat messy, I loved shooting the BP. Load was as much FFFg BP as I could fit under that 457124 and I do not recall exactly what that charge was but maybe 70 grs. What I did notice is that shooting steel plates at 100 yards, the .45-70 made them jump much more than a .58 muzzleloader with a heavier minie in it. Less sparks, more complete ignition and seemingly noticeable more impact on those plates.
Lots of fire and smoke, not a lot of recoil, lots of fun! It was worth the fun to do the cleaning. Never bothered me.
Didn't try duplex loading but certainly would if I had the gun now. With just that little kicker and the rest BP I cannot see why there would ever be a problem in a strong(ish) gun like the Marlin. As mentioned above it should keep things cleaner but still give the pleasure of shooting real BP.
Have at 'er and enjoy the gun!
Longbow
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |