38-40 reloads , Results ,surprised

[brudford]

New to BP cartridge reloading . Been reloading smokeless rifle and pistols for 30 years . Did alot of research and asked questions on forums like ASSRA and BPCR . Started to reload for an Uberti Low Wall in 38-40.
Using Goex 2F powder and casting a 20:1 Lyman 175 Gr. bullet . About 35 grs. of powder . First tried different thickness of cork wads compression just with bullets . Cronographed around 1250 FPS . Group size 2-3" @ 100yrds . Pan lube my bullets was worried that wad would stick to base of bullet and travel down range . Tried a waxed orange juice cartoon, Used a piece of wax paper over the wad and under the base of bullet . Result no difference in accuracy or velocitiy . Last week tried loading powder to base of bullet with no wad , tried wiping lube off base to avoid powder contamination and also left lube on base of bullet . Loads with no wads results , 2-3 " group size and no changes in FPS because of powder contamination . Recovered a bullet with no wads shot into wet phone books and newspapers . No melting or distortion of base of bullets . Conclusions I will not be using wads any longer . Also there was still alot of lube left in the grease grooves . My lube formula
is 50 % beeswax and 50 % crisco some olive oil and a little lanolin .
Next trial will be with lube free bullets . Conclusions , no leading of barrel , no changes in FPS and consistance in accuracy of 2-3 " group size at 100 yrds . At this link a very interesting article by Jim Taylor . Fits in with my experiments . http://www.lasc.us/TaylorLeadingDefined.htm

[WARD O]

I don't think that a over powder card is necessary for the 38-40 but shooting bullets without lube may not work well for any serious number of shots. Your fouling will likely catch up with you and accuracy will suffer.

Over powder wads become more important when your ranges increase with bigger calibers. I don't think you need to worry about minor amounts of lube on the base of your bullet either. But wiping the base can't hurt anything.

I use a Hornady black powder measure with a long drop tube and usually use just enough black powder that the boolit slightly compresses the powder when seated without deforming the boolit - they shoot very well for me. You don't need to worry too much about getting XX number of grains of powder in the case but rather be concerned that your charge is consistent from shot to shot (and of course it must fill your case.)

I like the 38-40 and would be very happy to see us get a good group buy for a mould going here on Cast Boolits.

Ward

[Tammany42]

Have you tried using 3F? It might give better results.

[brudford]

Few years back Graft and Sons was having a sale on BP . I bought 4lbs of 2F and 4 lbs of Goex 3F . I did try the 3F at first . I was surprised of how much recoil there was with the metal cresent shaped butt plate . I went to Goex's website tables and they recomended 1F for rifle BP loadings in 38-40 . I emailed one of their techs and he stated yep that is what we recommend . I would say that the 3F burned alot cleaner and less barrel fouling . The 2F is just plain dirty but more of a push on recoil than a wrap like the 3F . The 2F gave better accuracy but not much . I will not use the 1F . If I were loading for Cowboy action revolver I would use the 3F for 38-40 pistol bp loadings .

[WARD O]

3F will likely allow a little more powder in the case before any compression. More powder coupled with a faster burn (more surface area to ignite on 3F) will likely give a little more velocity.

Compression ususally results in a cleaner burn with the larger powder granulations. This is one reason to compress the powder.

Ward