The Minimum Charge...

[BCB]

Any thoughts on what the minimum charge of a fast burner might be to get a .454 round ball to exit the barrel of my Blackhawk 45 Colt? I have a 45-foot long basement and it is snowy and wintry and miserable out-of-doors—am I getting my point across?????!!!!! Maybe make a little smokeless smoke indoors…BCB

[Reloader06]

IIRC I used 2-3 grns of bullseye. let me check my old records and I'll post again. What barrel length?

Matt

[BCB]

5.5 incher...BCB

[357maximum]

Lube your balls with LLA[smilie=1:and then stuff one down atop a mag primer and see if it exits, if it do not exit go up with red dot or such from there...worse case scenario you get a nice bore slug when you are done driving it out with a brass rod.

[dubber123]

Not to be the guy that ruins the party, but theres alot of evidence it's the lead styphnate in primers that cause high lead levels in blood, maybe more than the lead boolits themselves. Sucking in a bunch of primer smoke in your basement might not be good.

[BCB]

dubber123,
Yes, I agree about the confined smoke. I will shoot a few in the basement, but most will be shot in my garage with the door or windows open most likely. Some even might be used to scare crows from my bird feeding station. Regardless, there won't be dozens and dozens shot in the basement at one sitting. Thanks for your info...BCB

[lathesmith]

I think BCB will get far less lead exposure occasionally plinking a few rounds in the garage that he would going to the local indoor range. My own personal experiences convices me this is the case--come home from the indoor range, blow black gunk out of your nose, and your clothing stinks like burnt powder. Half a dozen guys blazing away all at once puts much more concentrated lead in the air than plinking a few at home. And I also agree, this air-borne lead is from the priming mix--banning "exposed lead" bullets does nothing to reduce lead exposure, it only drasically increases the cost of shooting.
That being said, however, a few precautions are worth taking. Be sure your trap is designed to catch as much as possible. It is possible to design a plate trap and seal it well enough to catch probably 99 percent or better. Next, be sure and suck the smoke out with a fan when you are done. And finally, the basement may be OK for a few trial rounds, but I would feel much better about using the garage for this, especially a detached one. This way you can suck the smoke out, and then use your leaf blower and blow the floor every now and then to really keep 'er clean. Have fun!
lathesmith

[Jim]

BCB,
If ya' wanna have a little fun, do a search for "gluelits" and make .45 caliber glue bullets. It's hysterical!

[mroliver77]

Bulls Eye is about the easiest powder to light and is traditionally used for "cats sneeze" loads. I gr BE and load the ball deep in the case. These will be a blast! Some guys load two or three balls and a light charge of BE. It is best to drill out the flash hole to help light the lighter loads and keep primer where it belongs. You MUST mark these cases so they will never be mixed in with cases for full loads. Stain them, paint them or file a notch across the casehead and then keep them in a baggie when not using. It would not be hard to set up an exhaust fan in the basement, even a temporary one.
J

[AZ-Stew]

You might also want to try parafin wax bullets. Cheap, easily remelted into a block that can be re-used. Can be fired using primers only.

The cartridges must be modified. The flash hole must be drilled larger to prevent the primer from backing out and locking up the revolver. These modified cases can no longer be used for normal loads and must be clearly marked as such.

Loading is as easy as pushing the case into a block of parafin. The "bullet" will be cut out of the block, cookie-cutter fashion and will stay in the case when it's taken out of the wax block.

Due to the lack of recoil, these bullets will shoot very low. Don't be fooled, though. These things will dent 2x4 lumber at 30 feet, so are quite dangerous. All usual safety rules must be observed.

They're hard to beat for cheap, indoor gallery shooting.

Regards,

Stew