BP paper patched bullets in .45-70 lever gun

[indian joe]

[QUOTE=BrentD;4952670]ij,
I'm crimping a little behind that along the taper from .448 to .453, but remember this is a taper crimp, not a roll crimp, so it happens along a substantial length of the neck of the case.

Gotcha ! thanks - can see that - it makes sense

[BrentD]

Ahhh I think I was infected with the W bug at birth, too late to change now. Six ways ??? nah ............cleaning not an issue (lots of blokes make a big issue out of breech cleaning - I never understood that - its a non issue if you use a decent muzzle protector on the cleaning rod) , scope ruins the look of any lever gun, and the carryability, I like the sound of empty brass rolling off me hatbrim, .........................all that said that old girl of yours could nearly swing me............

ij, Like me, you watched too many Westerns and got the Winchester indoctrination. I have only once seen a Marlin in a western (Mexican bandito extra in the background). But once you dip into the Marlin pool, you find out what you were missing. You can clean from the muzzle if you want, but with blackpowder, pushing all that fouling back into the action is not lovely. Yes, you can tilt the gun, but it's far from ideal. And you have to avoid the ejector too.

They are darn sturdy rifles with that breech block that slides up around the bolt. Very Winchester 92/86ish. But simpler. And, if you ever have to tune a trigger set, you will be darn happy if it is a Marlin. Just take it out and tune it, assembled in your hand. Piece of cake. Winchester not so much.

Cheaper by a buck or two too. Though folks are catching on.

But to each his own. I think I have 4 of them, now, not counting the one that also says Ballard on it.

[BrentD]

That is funny! And true too.
Sorry for the OT detour.
By the way, I have been following your progress. Looking like you are on to making this work.
One question. Maybe I missed it in the past posts. Is there any chance that the PP rounds you have today can hook a leading edge and be pulled off or injured on the way from the mag tube, up the carrier and into the chamber?

I guess I wont be seeing you in a few weeks. Rough year for all of us. Stay safe.

CW,
I don't think the patch can catch, or at least it doesn't. Not yet anyway. I have had one patch badly messed up, but it was on a bullet that insisted on climbing onto the carrier where another was already waiting. I'm not sure what happened, but there are some minor and occasional glitches. However, if I cycle the action briskly, barring a double entry from magazine to carrier, all goes well.

28 rounds loaded for more testing. Tomorrow or at least soon. Maybe early next week.

[BrentD]

Well, as I feared, repeating the test did not repeat the results. This is why we need to use statistics, btw.

Here are three targets from today directly below three identical loads from the day before. (Note, the second photo has two groups circled on the top target. The point of comparison is the lower, circled group.)

Also, the mystery powder that gave such a nice group in the first test and the best of the bad in the second test turns out to be 1.5 Swiss. Lot is unknown, but these loads were for my Ballard .45-70 and are almost certainly left over from my 2015 moose hunt. This was great powder back then, but it is long gone now. Anyway, it is shiny and very irregular 1.5 Fg which would be Swiss, as that is the only 1.5 fg that has ever been in my basement.







I had some cartridge cycling problems which manifest themselves with 2 case trying to crowd onto the carrier at one time. Anyone here experienced with vintage Marlins?