jonk
10-01-2013, 10:59 AM
Picked up a case colored iron framed Uberti in excellent condition for $965 the other day. As I will be shooting it in North South Skirmish Association competition, I was mainly interested in black powder.
Looking at my current stock of molds, the one I selected was the Lee REAL .45 mold, usually used for front stuffers. For BPC however, it offers several nice features; namely wide, generous lube grooves, a flat nose for use in tubular mags, long bearing surface, and ideal weight (250 gr) for a .45 Colt cartridge.
I tried 10 rounds each of 3F and 2F G Goex at 27 and 26 gr respectively (filled to the base of the bullet, with the bullet seated deeply enough to go through the action), and the same with a .030" fiber wad but with 2 gr less powder.
I'm pleased to say that all rounds shot quite well, though the gun prefers no over powder wad. The only down side was that the brass suffered some blow by, meaning I had to take a very complex gun apart to clean the guts of it (what fun). I've been told that annealing the .45 brass and only neck sizing will eliminate this. Also, the bullet worked out great, with no leading and no appreciable fouling using 45/45/10 lube (beeswax, crisco, olive oil). I ran one patch through it halfway through, but it wasn't even necessary.
I'm going to shoot it in the national matches this weekend in Winchester, VA, and will get some pics up. What a fun gun!
Looking at my current stock of molds, the one I selected was the Lee REAL .45 mold, usually used for front stuffers. For BPC however, it offers several nice features; namely wide, generous lube grooves, a flat nose for use in tubular mags, long bearing surface, and ideal weight (250 gr) for a .45 Colt cartridge.
I tried 10 rounds each of 3F and 2F G Goex at 27 and 26 gr respectively (filled to the base of the bullet, with the bullet seated deeply enough to go through the action), and the same with a .030" fiber wad but with 2 gr less powder.
I'm pleased to say that all rounds shot quite well, though the gun prefers no over powder wad. The only down side was that the brass suffered some blow by, meaning I had to take a very complex gun apart to clean the guts of it (what fun). I've been told that annealing the .45 brass and only neck sizing will eliminate this. Also, the bullet worked out great, with no leading and no appreciable fouling using 45/45/10 lube (beeswax, crisco, olive oil). I ran one patch through it halfway through, but it wasn't even necessary.
I'm going to shoot it in the national matches this weekend in Winchester, VA, and will get some pics up. What a fun gun!