BP and Load Suggestion

[Dixiejack]

I had my TC Renegade barrel relined to .38 cal. with 1:14 twist and will be shooting a 300 gr. grease groove boolit using pure lead for casting. I am now waiting on my Accurate Mold to be shipped. I would like some suggestions on what grade, charge weight, and brand black powder I should use for target shooting. I use OE FFg for my BPCR's with great results.

[Vann]

3 f would be better, but 2 f will work. With that weight bullet I'd probably start out at around 35 grains. I'm thinking best accuracy would come in somewhere between 45 to 50 grains, but that's just a guess.

[johnson1942]

ill make every body mad but suggest this. put a magspark nipple on it and use blackhorn 209 powder. never have to wipe and is just as accurate as real black. thats what ive done to every one of my side locks and they are all fast twist paperpatched guns. remember the powder is 15 percent stronger than real black with equal volumes.

[Beerd]

won't make everyone mad, but it will make some add you to their "ignore" list
..

[451 Pete]

One of my rifles is a 38 cal. schuetzen rifle that was made with a Green Mtn. bbl. in a 1-14 twist rate. I have had the best performance with it using a grease groove 310 gr. bullet of pure lead and a powder charge of 40 gr. of 3 fg. Olde Eynsford powder.

Pete

[Dixiejack]

One of my rifles is a 38 cal. schuetzen rifle that was made with a Green Mtn. bbl. in a 1-14 twist rate. I have had the best performance with it using a grease groove 310 gr. bullet of pure lead and a powder charge of 40 gr. of 3 fg. Olde Eynsford powder.

Pete

Thanks for everyone's opinion. Pete, my thoughts have been basically the same as what you are shooting. What design boolit are you using? The mould I have ordered cast a tapered 300 gr. grease groove boolit. The 2 bottom bands are .366 and the top band is .375. I have had very good performance with OE in my .40-65 and .45-90 BPCR's, both Remington RB's.

[451 Pete]

Dixiejack ,

The mold that casts those grease groove bullets is one listed on Mountain Molds web site as a 38 cal. muzzle loading bullet mold. ( A very interesting web site by the way that has a free bullet design program you can use to set up or check a design you may have. ) I have found the quality of their molds to be very good.

I have yet to try the Olde Eynsford in my 40-65 ( still have a half a case of Swiss to shoot up ) but know a few folks that have had the same good results that you have found using it. I have switched over to using OE instead of the Swiss in my Schuetzen 38 and in a 32 cal. Dixie Squirrel Rifle. One of the things I like about OE is that the fouling is a lot softer residue that is left in the bore than with the Swiss. In that squirrel rifle with its 42 inch long barrel and using Swiss, I could get 3-4 shots off and fouling would get to where it was getting hard to seat the ball down on the powder charge ... using OE in the same volume charge that changed it to getting 10 - 11 shots before any loading difficulty.

Pete