oldracer
09-30-2011, 03:28 PM
I was at the range yesterday and another shooter came and asked me a bout shooting a 50-140 that had been his great grandfathers and passed down over the years. He had bought some brass several years ago and had a couple dozen 600gr cast bullets and was curious as to how the cases should be loaded. He had never shot it but did have years of flintlock and percussion black powder experience. He said the gun had a huge barrel and weight was around 15 pounds or so? He also has a set of dies and other items needed to load the cases. I was amazed he thought I could help him as I have only been shooting BPCR for a bit over a year but my targets seem to be looking pretty good?!
I was sure he would NOT want to do a full 140gr load, at least not to start so I recommended the following course of action.
- Do not try to size the cases and he said a couple of years ago he did try that and even with lube he ruined two so he stopped. I said to try the case in the chamber after giving the barrel internals a very good cleaning. If they fit then proceed.
- Slug the barrel to make sure the bullets are the right size.
- If the bought bullets are dried out then relube them with new lube.
- Load the case with some foam and put in a bullet and seat the case to see where the OAL will be just off the lands.
- Hand install some standard primers.
- Load about 80gr of FFG and use a juice or similar wad on top and compress the powder slightly. I figured that load would be enough to make the 600gr bullet go reasonably accurate to 100yds at least and not knock him over.
- Load the remainder of the case with filler such as Cream of Wheat and compress it slightly with another wad on top.
- Seat the bullet by finger pressure if at all possible to the OAL measured above and making sure the base of the bullet is on the wad that is on top.
If the first shot fires off okay, wipe the barrel and try several others cleaning between each shot. I suggested using a leadsled or something similar just in case.
If all works well I suggested he work up to higher powder loads and it would be up to him to see if he wanted to go with a full 140gr load?!!!
Does my plan of action look okay and I imagine he could use a different grade of powder but since his loads are pretty light the FFG would work okay.
I was sure he would NOT want to do a full 140gr load, at least not to start so I recommended the following course of action.
- Do not try to size the cases and he said a couple of years ago he did try that and even with lube he ruined two so he stopped. I said to try the case in the chamber after giving the barrel internals a very good cleaning. If they fit then proceed.
- Slug the barrel to make sure the bullets are the right size.
- If the bought bullets are dried out then relube them with new lube.
- Load the case with some foam and put in a bullet and seat the case to see where the OAL will be just off the lands.
- Hand install some standard primers.
- Load about 80gr of FFG and use a juice or similar wad on top and compress the powder slightly. I figured that load would be enough to make the 600gr bullet go reasonably accurate to 100yds at least and not knock him over.
- Load the remainder of the case with filler such as Cream of Wheat and compress it slightly with another wad on top.
- Seat the bullet by finger pressure if at all possible to the OAL measured above and making sure the base of the bullet is on the wad that is on top.
If the first shot fires off okay, wipe the barrel and try several others cleaning between each shot. I suggested using a leadsled or something similar just in case.
If all works well I suggested he work up to higher powder loads and it would be up to him to see if he wanted to go with a full 140gr load?!!!
Does my plan of action look okay and I imagine he could use a different grade of powder but since his loads are pretty light the FFG would work okay.