BP rifles Question

[Beekeeper]

First off let me explain why I am asking this question!
I have and shoot several BP rifles.I have and shoot several smokeless rifles.
I know someone that shoots 45/70 BP and shoots 22LR BP.

Now the question: Is it possible to shoot for instance an 8MM Mauser with BP?
Reason for asking, if it comes down to the possibality of not being able to get smokeless powder I would like to continue shooting and BP might be the answer.
Don't get me wrong I like my BP rifles but the Big boolits and a lot of powder use up the supplies fast , therefore the question asked.

beekeeper

[fouronesix]

I'd imagine the answer is yes to the 8mm and "most" all bottleneck cartridges. If the 577-450 is a BP round then why not most other bottlenecks. The only question I'd have-- and no I haven't tried it and not going to because I have no use for the really really extreme over-bores like the 22/243 SSMs. With them the use of a base wad below the shoulder junction might become problematic if not the BP itself- just don't know about that.

[nhrifle]

BP can be used in any case in production. The pressures are much lower than smokeless so it won't stress the receiver. I don't know if it will reliably cycle gas guns, but I'm not sure I would want to run corrosive BP gasses through that type of action anyway. Any pump, lever, or bolt gun should run fine with it tho. There are some special techniques required to load good BP ammo, so be sure to do your research before trying.

[Don McDowell]

Sure you can shoot bp in the Mauser, but the real question is will your bullet carry enough lube to keep the bore from getting fouled out after the first round?
This would be something you'll want to work on while you can still get smokeless powder, so that if it don't work with bp you can lay in enough supply of smokeless to last.

[nhrifle]

Maybe we need to provoke the creative geniuses here to try and come up with a smokeless powder substitute that can be made at home? Something that might not perform quite as well as commercial smokeless but does the job well enough and doesn't foul as bad as BP.

[Chicken Thief]

Both the 303 Brit and the Danish 8x58RD was born BP with jackted (@70grains heavily compressed to a @215gr J-word, way over 2000bar~29000psi).

With BP and cast i have come to the conclusion that powder weight needs to be boolit weight devided by a factor of 6-7, in order to burn clean. You dont need to cast hard, fouling is way harder than bolits anyway!

As caliber declines rifling gets thinner/shallower and fouling builds up fast.
In my 25 and 32 cals i really need to baby the rifle with a blow tube to be able to shoot more than 3-4 shots before groups start to open.

You can shoot J-words with as much BP as you can fill in the case but expect a speed reduction in the order of 35-50%. Oh and you still have to clean afterwards[smilie=1:

So go as heavy as possible with either type to harness some foot pounds.

[Jon K]

PP the boolits...then lube is not an issue.

Jon

[Chicken Thief]

PP the boolits...then lube is not an issue.

Jon
But fouling will still tear the paper, sooo?
There is no such thing as a free meal in BPhttp://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Blandet/Smilere/cry.gif

[littlejack]

Paper patch, shoot, and wipe. Paper patch , shoot, and wipe. And so on, and so on.

[Don McDowell]

Paper patch won't gain anything in a bolt gun. Either a person uses a lube cooky or lubed wad or you wipe between shots with bp and patched bullets, lube still matters. Fouling still needs to be dealt with for anything resembling accuracy to be maintained.

[Mike Brooks]

Just go out and buy a couple 8lb cans of smokeless and don't worry about your supply, that's how I do it.

[bob208]

yes you can use bp. i did it once in a low number springfield in .30-06. you use normal bp loading pratices. drop tube gresse cookie bp lube. the bullet i used had a gascheck. so i did not need the hard card wad. it shot quite well even got a few groundhogs with it.

[bigted]

ha!!! bp in a bottleneck indeed...tear it up man...those bottleneck cases will like any kinda powder you wanna stuff in them but with blackpowder you will wanna have the case clear full so as to compress the powder with yer boolit as long as you dont have to overdo the compression...then you will wanna use a compression tool of some sort.

my .375 H&H does well with a few grains...[85 grains].. of blackpowder but it chokes up fast with no fouling control...i use a lube cookie to soften the fouling but that is tricky as the cookie needs to be contained in the neck and then the boolit is far outta the case but it all comes together when the rite combo is used.

press on and report your findings...the fun never stops:drinks:

[MT Chambers]

Long ago, when BP was all there was, shooters found that some cartridges with "shoulders" fouled more and would make subsequent chambering difficult, alot stayed away from them. cartridges like the 40/90 Sharps, etc. had quite small shoulders and were not as popular. Once smokeless powders came, cases with shoulders became kinda std.

[cajun shooter]

It has been tried fo many years and I'm a 100% BP shooter but I also know the limits of it's use.
If you are trying to come up with a rifle to shoot if the smokeless powder becomes hard to buy, then just buy a 45-70 or another straight walled case rifle.
They will shoot all day long and be very accurate at it. It is much easier to go to the mountain than try to bring it to you. Later David

[Beekeeper]

Have several BP rifles but have always wondered about BP in a smaller caliber rifle.
Told you that thinking during the winter cold was wrong for me.
It also was a question as to what to do if there was no more smokeless.
Have plenty now but with the goings on now What will happen in the future is all up in the air.

It still makes a good question for conversation tho.


beekeeper

[cajun shooter]

Beekeeper, If we had such a thing called a third term, then the idiots of this USA would make your question a very legit one for sure.
If I'm careful with my shots running out of BP will not be a problem. Take care David
PS He is by far the best gun and reloading equipment and component salesman that ever walked this earth.
In only two terms he has created the largest shortage of these items than anything else in our history!!

[Ed in North Texas]

SNIP
There is no such thing as a free meal in BPhttp://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm153/Chickenthief/Blandet/Smilere/cry.gif

No free lunch anywhere else either.

Ed