Intro to reloading BPCR

[GregP42]

I found this on the net and thought it might help

Introduction to BPCR Loading By Chuck Raithel

A drop tube can be made as simple or elaborate as you’d like or they can also be purchased complete. It’s nothing more than a piece of brass tubing or an aluminum arrow shaft about 3/8ths diameter, 24-30” long, that is used to settle your powder in the case prior to compressing it or seating your bullet. You can make a wooden stand and use two brass eye screws to hold your tube. I use rubber “O” rings on the tube to hold the tube in place and adjust the height, I add
another one at the bottom that fits over the case mouth. Add a funnel on top and you now have a drop tube!

b. Bullet Molds: You’ll need to purchase a suitable mold for your caliber and rifle. Usually heavier is better in BPCR. Do not try to save money here. IMHO molds made by Lyman, SAECO, and RCBS are good starting points for an “off the shelf” mold. You can buy commercially cast bullets, but to get the consistency required you’ll have to cast your own. Books have been written on this subject alone so I’ll defer to the “experts”. I will say that I do not know anyone that is having any success with Lee molds.

c. Lead melting Pot: This piece of equipment really depends on how you intend to cast your bullets. If you intend on using the ladle method you can even get away with using a Coleman Camp Stove and an old cast iron pot. Some casters even use a propane fish cooker. If you’re going to bottom pour as I do you’ll need an electric furnace such as the RCBS Pro-Melt. Regardless of method selected your heat source must maintain your alloy at a constant temp. Use a thermometer! Temperature variations will result in variations in bullet diameter and weight.

d. Lube Sizer: Once you get into casting, you’ll probably need a sizer. I say probably, because some shooters “pan lube” and don’t use a sizer at all. I do, it makes lubricating your bullets a breeze and when sizing .001 or less it doesn’t distort your bullet. I.E. using a .460” sizer on a .459” bullet doesn’t distort or size the bullet, but does apply the lube quickly. (see notes on Indexing) You’ll also need a top punch for your lubesizer that fits your bullet, these should be
available from your mold manufacturer.

e. Compression Plug: this is a nifty little tool that allows you to compress your powder prior to seating your bullet. Many shooters like to compress their powder to different degrees. For some powders, compression allows for increased velocity and a cleaner burn. Since fouling is one of the principle concerns of the BPCR shooter the right amount of compression, is extremely important. I’ve found that newer lots of GOEX Cartridge grade powder seem to like around .300” compression to burn cleanly, while Swiss powder seems to like considerably less
compression. A compression plug is a threaded plug that is slightly undersized for the inside your case. It screws into your expander die or you can buy a separate die body for it. It’s available from Buffalo Arms at (208) 263-6953, or http://buffaloarms.com/ and costs about $16.00 as of this writing. Another method is to make a compression bullet made of a harder alloy or turned out of
brass or steel. This takes the ability to use a lathe and access to one. The “bullet” will have to be of smaller diameter, exact length, and close to exact shape as the bullet you’re shooting. Whatever method you prefer, be wary of compressing powder with your bullet. Due to the relatively soft bullets used in BPCRs, compressing with your bullet can deform it and lead to accuracy problems.

[GregP42]

f. Scale(s): Many other shooters, myself included make use of an electronic scale for weighing bullets. Bullets are weighed as an indicator of consistency. When dealing with a batch of 100-200 bullets it’s nearly impossible to weigh them using an older balance beam scale and retain your sanity and have time left for anything else. The electronic scale makes weighing bullets fast and painless. You won’t need one right away, but I guarantee you, you’ll get one sooner or later. For weighing powder I prefer the old balance beam style. I weigh my charges,
and a balance beam scale shows gradual increases in weight better.

g. Blow Tube: This is probably your simplest piece of equipment and your most important! I’m willing to bet that improper use or lack of Blow Tube use has caused more problems to new BPCR shooters than anything else has. Black Powder fouling needs moisture to stay soft. Without moisture and a good BP lube you will get hard fouling. This will ruin accuracy very, very, quickly and can result in a leaded barrel. A blow Tube is a tool to get moist air from your lungs into your barrel. Notice, I said barrel not chamber! It can be made of plastic tubing that fits into the chamber, but stops at your rifling. It can also be made from a modified case with tubing attached. I like a short tube to keep condensation in my barrel. However, make sure that the tube is long enough for you to use while
adjusting your sights. This will save you time on the firing line and keep you from having to adjust your position and roll out from under your gun. Use clear plastic, and if you see condensation building up, shorten the tube. You want that moisture in your barrel, not your blow tube! You can buy one or you can make it yourself.

Section 3
Components
a. Brass: Brass preparation is often overlooked, but can be a substantial contributor to good or poor accuracy. First off, buy as much of one lot or batch as you can of your brass. It is not uncommon to need up to 300 rounds for some of the larger matches. Do the math, with some of the larger caliber’s this can get expensive! Once I get my brass I:

(1) Full length size it for the 1st firing, subsequent firings I only neck size about .5”. Some shooters do not size at all. You’ll have to figure out what degree of neck tension your rifle likes.

(2) Trim it to a couple .001” under size and smooth case mouths

(3) Clean-up and re-cut primer pockets

(4) De-burr the flash holes. (I do not enlarge them)

(5) I then weigh brass and segregate it into 50 rd lots by weight. Reasoning: If brass has different weights and the outside diameter is the same, than the internal diameter must be different. This leads to varying internal volume and subsequent pressure variations. Won’t matter at the closer ranges, but when shooting at distance….. It’s then indexed, by filing a small notch into the case rim. A Dremel tool with a cutting wheel attached works great! This helps in
orientating your brass when loading/firing and when indexed in different places on the rim, helps in keeping brass lots separate. (I’ll cover indexing later).

(6) Your brass then needs to run through your expander die. This expands the case back up to a few thousandths under your bullet diameter and bells the case to allow you to seat your bullet. I like to limit my belling to the minimum that will allow the bullet to enter the case cleanly. This limits my chances of overworking my brass. It is commonly held belief that a slight bell left in your case helps center your bullet in the barrel. I have one rifle that prefers a bell left in the case, my other rifle prefers it removed during bullet seating. Buffalo Arms offers custom
diameter expanders that can fit your needs.

(7) After firing be sure and clean your brass promptly. This is probably the worst cleaning chore involved with BPCR shooting, and this isn’t really that bad! At the range I use a DAT Decapping Tool sold by Buffalo Arms to de-cap my brass after firing. Other shooters I know use a Lee hand press and a universal de-capping die, whatever works for you. I then soak my brass in a mixture of Mr. Clean and water. If you do this as soon after coming off the line as possible, cleaning is no big deal. Once I’m home I again wash my brass in a mixture of hot soapy water,
rinse and dry them. Be sue to clean the insides too, BP residue can and will build up causing case capacity and neck tension problems. If you’re using LDPE wads pay special attention to the inside of your case necks, keep them clean! A .50 bore brush in a variable speed drill or screwdriver works well for this. After my brass is dry, a couple hours in a vibratory cleaner is all it takes.

After completing the above steps I now have brass that’s fire formed for my chamber. Most of the serious shooters won’t start working up a load until they have a quantity of formed brass. Once you have a good quantity of formed brass your load development can begin in earnest.

b. Wads: the function of the wad is to protect the bullets base, assist in sealing the bore, and also prevent lube from migrating into your powder. BPCR wads can be simple or pretty complex it’s up to you. On the simple side you can use punched out milk carton or tablet backing. When using milk carton wads be sure to place a newspaper wad between the milk carton and the bullet.

The wax in the carton may cause the wad to stick to your bullet resulting in a possible flyer. I prefer veggie wads, these are made out of a gasket type material that Buffalo Arms sells. Some shooters use a low density plastic called LDPE, which is similar to the material used in coffee can lids, again this is available through Buffalo Arms. Wads also come in different thickness, two of the most common are; .030’, and .060”. Only testing in your rifle will tell which is best. You can
buy precut wads or wad material and punch them yourself. A change in wad thickness or materials can have a dramatic effect on accuracy. There are a couple of different punches you can buy.

The first and most primitive is the kind you hit with a hammer. It may well be the way the old buff hunters and Creedmore shooters did it, but if you cherish your hearing and spousal bliss, you’ll buy the second kind. This is the press-mounted punch as made by Fred Cornell. It is a 1st class, piece of machinery, and is a joy to use. You can literally punch out hundreds of wads in minutes, and it’s actually enjoyable! The Cornell punch is also sold by Buffalo Arms. By now you should be catching on that these guys are a major source for BPCR equipment and materials.
Buy one, and you can then wander around your house looking for materials to create wads out of.

[GregP42]

c. Primers: When I first started BPCR shooting the Federal 215 magnum primer was believed to be the “Standard” in BP primers. The SPG book recommended a hot primer and also went on to recommend the FED 215. These days shooters are experimenting with different primers to include Large Pistol primers with varying success. In my 45 2.1” the FED 215 works extremely well. I get a good SD (Standard deviation) and ES (Extreme Spread) with them. My fouling is
also light, which tells me that in this cartridge, with this lot of GOEX, with this amount of compression, Federal 215’s are working. This last sentence will give you a small idea of the variables involved.

I believe that a couple variables come to play in primer selection. First off, I’ve made the observation that a lot of the shooters advocating pistol or softer primers seem to be shooting light bullets, in smaller cases, with light neck tension. I firmly believe that when a primer ignites it can and sometimes does cause a bullet to “jump” prior to initiating a burn and building pressure. With light bullets and limited neck tension this “jump” is aggravated and can cause accuracy problems. I also believe that the larger calibers using more powder, need a hotter primer to get a
clean, efficient burn. Generally, primers won’t make or break your accuracy. What I mean to say is, a change in type or manufacturer won’t cause 6” groups at 100 yards go to 2” groups. They may very well cause 4” groups at 200 yards shrink to 2 or 2.5” groups. They may also cause your SD to drop from 8 Fps to 5 Fps in a ten shot string. At 100-300 yards no big deal, at 1000 could be 10 inches! The right primer might also be responsible for a much cleaner burn and decrease your
fouling significantly. This becomes very important when you’re shooting a match in which sighters between targets aren’t allowed. Shooting dirty and accurately becomes essential. The right primer for your load just might enable you to do this. For starters I still go with a FED215, it is a very good primer and on average produces good results in the larger cases. Once I’ve gotten my basic load worked out, then I mess with primer experimentation. As with all load development, only change one component or variable at a time.

d. Powder: There are now four major makes of Black Powder available on the American Market: Goex, Elephant, KIK, and Swiss. I haven’t experimented with any of the BP substitutes, and I probably never will. In my mind they offer no ballistic advantage, cost more, and may even be inferior to straight BP as a propellant.
Some shooters are reporting excellent results with both elephant and Swiss. The newer Swiss powder is reported to be comparable to the fine old sporting grade powders of the last century. I’ve found it to give higher velocities, be more consistent lot to lot, and leave a softer fouling. It is however, much more expensive than either Elephant or Goex. In the larger cases this can be a
valid concern. I’ve recently worked up a load for my 45-2.6” SS using Swiss 1.5F. My new load shows accuracy on par with my best Goex Cartridge loads, velocity increased 30 Fps with 5 grains less powder, and fouling is reduced. Whether the benefits are worth the additional price remains to be seen. In my testing, Swiss did not like a lot of compression. As a matter of fact it pretty much hated it. As compression levels increased, accuracy and chronograph data suffered. I
finally settled on .140 compression. Elephant powder has also been given high marks lately. At first it was reported that it lacked the velocity of GOEX and also the consistency. Lately many shooters have been reporting that it’s much improved in the velocity department. In addition they also say that it leaves a softer fouling than GOEX. In the big caliber’s this becomes important when shooting long strings “Dirty”. I’m most familiar with Goex Back Powder so I‘ll limit my writing to this brand.

BP is broken down in grain size; FG, FFG, FFFG and Goex Cartridge Grade, each with a different burning rate. With Goex sizing the more Fs the smaller the grains and the faster burning the powder is. Goex Cartridge (my favorite) seems to be a mix of FFG and FFFG with graphite coating. Your burn rate is important as a means of controlling your muzzle velocity and therefore recoil. In the larger cases you can go with a larger grain size and slow things down a bit and get some relief for your shoulder at the same time. Also in the larger cases, too small a grain size can
lead to excessive hard fouling. Some shooters are using a mixed blend, that is they use a fine powder priming charge with a coarse powder main charge. This method works for them and enables a cleaner burn, and higher velocity without the concerns of hard fouling often associated with shooting too fine a grade powder for caliber.

Regardless of the powder used I like to sift it prior to loading. The purpose is to remove BP fines and dust from your powder. They both are usually found in the bottom of your powder container and can lead to an inconsistent burning rate. Cal Graf Design at http://www.mcn.net/~calgraf/ offers a neat tool to do this. Basically it’s a wooden box containing screened drums of different mesh size. You simply pour powder into the appropriate drum, rotate it in the box and you’ve removed the fines and dust or separated sizes. As with all Cal Graph products, it’s well made and will last a couple of lifetimes.

e. Bullets: First off let me say that for good BPCR bullets you’ll have to start casting your own. Most commercial casters are not set up to make bullets for the BPCR shooter. Their alloys are usually too hard and their lubricant is made for smokeless powder and is incompatible with BP. There are a few companies that do cast BPCR bullets, however usually their consistency isn’t up to par. With commercially cast bullets you’ll find your bullet weights varying, imperfect bullets and bullets with deformed/damaged bases. All of which can and usually are detrimental
to good accuracy. You can also buy match quality bullets, but be prepared to pay dearly for them. There are several companies now offering molds with good BPCR bullet designs. For entry level .45 caliber there’s the Lyman 457125 and 457132, RCBS BPRC, and SAECO 745. These mold usually cost around $40 and are also found in stock at most reloading mail order companies. If you want to get into the custom realm, NEI, Brooks, and Paul Jones also offer excellent molds. For the custom mold, be prepared to pay $100 or more and the wait could last up to six months for some. Just remember you are looking for a BPCR bullet mold, heavy for caliber with big wide grease grooves.

Once you’ve settled on a mold design, it’s time to choose your alloy. This is extremely important and can only be decided by testing. Most shooters are using an alloy of either 20-1 or 30-1, this should tell you something. By choosing a harder or softer alloy you can control your bullets diameter and weight to some degree. Harder alloys shrink less and yield a larger bullet. The opposite is true for softer alloys. In some rifles a softer alloy is needed do to compensate for an oversized bore. The softer bullet can “Bump Up” upon firing, sealing the bore and delivering good accuracy. With this same rifle a harder alloy might give dismal accuracy and result in leading. With some bullet designs a softer alloy can cause problems. On bullets with long bore riding noses, the nose can slump to one side upon firing. This can also lead to flyers and erratic accuracy. Most BPCR shooters prefer softer alloys of 20-1 or 30-1. These ratios are a pretty good starting point. How your bullet/alloy combination shoots in your rifle will be the deciding factor.

[GregP42]

You will have to either buy your alloy premixed or you can scrounge and make your own. Both methods have their pros and cons. Buying premixed alloy can get expensive; some go for as high as $1.00 per pound. At 1¼ oz per bullet this adds up very quickly. However to some it’s well worth the cost. With a known alloy from a reputable dealer, you know exactly what you’re getting. Unknown metals in your alloy can lead to casting problems. Also your alloy is repeatable, last month’s bullets are the same as this month’s bullets. When shooting large matches where you might be using bullets from several casting sessions, this becomes important.
Being cheap, I prefer to blend my own. Scrap lead can be bought for as little as 30-40 cents a pound, pure tin can be found for about $8.00 a pound. I use a propane fish cooker and a cast iron pot that holds 50 pounds of alloy. I mix up my alloy, clean it, and use an old muffin tin to make ingots. I separate the ingots in fifty-pound lots as they come from the pot and mark them with a magic marker. When casting, I use ingots from the same alloy lot to cast a batch of bullets. It
takes more effort than buying premixed alloy, but the savings can be substantial.

f. Indexing: Now’s as good time as any to discuss “indexing”. I like to index my cartridges from loading through shooting. Indexing insures that any imperfections in your cartridge are introduced into your rifle’s chamber the same way each time. It’s nothing more than orienting your case in your case sizing die, bullet in your bullet sizing die, sized bullet in your case, and your loaded cartridge in your chamber the same way each time. When casting bullets I scribe a small line on the base of my bullet one side of the bullet seam as I cut the sprue. I index my
bullets using the bullets “seam”, while keeping my scribe line always on the left side. When sizing my bullets I insure that this line is always on the same side of the sizing die and that my seam lines, line up. When seating the bullet in the case I make sure that the seam line, matches up with a notch I filed in my case rim, scribe line on the left. And lastly, when I shoot, I insure that my case notch is in the 12 “O” clock position in my chamber.

g. Bullet Lube; First off let me say that BP bullet lube is significantly different than the smokeless bullet lubes that you’re probably used to. Besides the normal function of helping to prevent leading, a good BP lube helps keep your powder fouling soft. Without accomplishing this, accuracy is impossible without cleaning between shots. This is another reason to insure that you pick a bullet design with large enough grease grooves to carry lube the length of your barrel.
Luckily there are some good lubes on the market and also a few homemade lubes that work very well. For commercial lubes, try SPG mad by Steve Garbe, or Lee Shavers Moly Lube. I’ve tried both and can recommend them highly. SPG is a little on the expensive side, but it is a solid performer, Steve Garbe has won several championships using it. Lee Shaver’s Moly Lube is newer, but it’s what I rely on now. It works extremely well and allows long shot strings in my 2.6”, even in hot dry weather.

A good homemade lube is Paul Mathew’s as described in his book. It’s simple to make, inexpensive and works quite well. For my first two years of shooting I used this lube exclusively with excellent results, won some matches and shot some very good groups.

To make Mathew’s lube:
(1) Melt 4oz by weight bees wax in a Pyrex dish in your microwave on high 12 minutes or until melted.
(2) Add 2oz of pure Neatsfoot oil by volume (use one of those little plastic measuring cups). Pure Neatsfoot oil can be found in most well-stocked Tac shops.
(3) Add in 2oz of Murphy’s oil Soap, pour slowly, and be careful! When you’re adding the soap it has a tendency to boil over. The soap causes spontification, which raises the melting temperature of the lube. Stir the mix until all the lumps are gone. Then either pour it into a suitable container or directly into your lubesizer.

Another good home made lube recipe offered by Jeff Sluder: “It goes by a bunch of names (dale53 aka Dale McGee, has some rather colorful names for these home brew things like Friendship Speed Juice for cleaning stuff, Ed's Red for a home brew solvent, etc.)”
5 parts bees wax
4 parts canola or olive oil (I use olive oil)
1 part Crisco brand shortening (tried other cheap stuff but Crisco works best - the fact that I work for the company that makes it has nothing to do with my preference either...).

(1) Melt the bees wax in a double boiler or on a burner set REAL LOW if you can watch it melt.
(2) Add the canola oil and stir until mixed. Add the Crisco and stir until well mixed.
(3) lube the bullets.

It works in both hot and cold weather. Add more oil to thin it up some and it makes a great patch lube for round-ball muzzleloaders.
It’s important to remember that fouling is controlled by a combination of; your lube, powder compression, and blow-tube use. Some “old hands” recommend changing your lube recipe based on expected temperature. This idea has a lot of merit with the homemade lubes. The consistency can be varied, simply by adding more or less bees wax. Often, increased use of your blow tube can compensate for increased temperatures.

Now is a good time to mention “Grease Cookies”. “Grease Cookies” are small wads of lubricant inserted between the powder and the bullet to make your powder fouling softer. They’re usually made in 1/8” or 1/4” thickness, inserted in the case between 2 wads, in between the powder and the bullet. A lot of shooters with big cartridges like the Sharps 45, 2 7/8ths (45-110) and the 3.25” (45-120) use these as they take up case capacity, reduce recoil (due to the lesser charge) and help soften the increased fouling that these cartridges produce. You can make
them by buying a lube extruder or using a rolling pin to flatten out your material to your desired thickness. For the rolling pin method, use two flat sticks the thickness of your desired cookie width as guides for your rolling pin. I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to “cookies” I don’t use them.

[GregP42]

I will post more later tonight if you guys want me to.

[Dale53]

GregP42;
You have an incorrect formula for my suggested bullet lube. It is actually Emmert's bullet lube, developed by Buck Emmert, a well known Schuetzen shooter. It consists of 50% Pure Natural Beeswax, 40% Crisco (the "lard like" vegetable shortening), and 10% Canola oil. You had the Canola oil and Crisco transposed.

I have recently reduced the Canola oil by 5% and replaced that volume with 5% Anhydrous Lanolin.

All measurements by melted volume. This is a great, proven, Black Powder Cartridge bullet lube.

Dale53

[montana_charlie]

I will post more later tonight if you guys want me to.
Instead of duplicating it on this site, folks can just go directly to the original document here...
http://www.ssbpcrc.co.uk/Resources/Introduction%20to%20BPCR%20Loading.pdf
CM

[GregP42]

Charlie,

Many thanks, I had the PDF file, but couldn't remember where I got it, that is why I did the cut and paste. Someone had asked for a primer to be posted in another thread and I remembered I had that file.

Greg

[GregP42]

GregP42;
You have an incorrect formula for my suggested bullet lube. It is actually Emmert's bullet lube, developed by Buck Emmert, a well known Schuetzen shooter. It consists of 50% Pure Natural Beeswax, 40% Crisco (the "lard like" vegetable shortening), and 10% Canola oil. You had the Canola oil and Crisco transposed.

I have recently reduced the Canola oil by 5% and replaced that volume with 5% Anhydrous Lanolin.

All measurements by melted volume. This is a great, proven, Black Powder Cartridge bullet lube.

Dale53

Dale,

Thanks, I will change it in my notes here at the house. I did not write that article, I found it on the web when I went looking for more information after we talked last. BTW, shot again a couple of weeks ago, blowtube really helped out on those long strings.

Greg