New Member and new 1886 45-90 help

[indian joe]

I think I've made some more progress!

Went to the range to test some homemade BP. So, I loaded 10 each of:

68gr OE 2f
405gr MBC w emmerts
0.022 HDPE wad
1350fps avg
Almost no leading, maybe a tiny bit just after the throat


68gr hm 1.5/2f
405gr MBC emmerts
0.022 HDPE wad
1210fps avg
A little leading right on the throat leade

The brass was sized and then expanded using my larger mandrel, so I think that has helped prevent damaging the bullet when seating and intern helped the leading issue a little

Good job !!!

[HighUintas]

Well it's been awhile since I've given any update here. It's been awhile since I've shot this gun since I've got a new baby and it's been hunting season.

I didn't have any boolits lubed or BP made up, so I decided to molest this beautiful rifle with smokeless and jacketed bullets. I also just wanted to see if I got much copper fouling after 20 rounds.

Here was the load:

300gr Hornady HP
50-51.8gr imr4198
Cci200

The accuracy was great! After using the first few to get sighted in (boy was it was off from my BP/cast load!) I had all rounds from 50.4-51.8gr in a <2" group at 50yd. Not bad for a 1.4gr charge spread! I'm not sure on velocities because I forgot my tripod adapter. Recoil was pretty similar to my BP 405gr loads

After getting home and cleaning with some hoppes 9, I got out the borescope and found a bunch of copper in the bore! Grr. It was not the heaviest I have seen, but it was in the grooves and on the lands for most of the bore. So even though the bore looks pretty good and it slugs well, it likes to accumulate metal. I certainly didn't enjoy cleaning the barrel. Cleaning after BP is much faster and enjoyable.

I'll continue to use up these bullets (150ct) until I get some more BP made and we'll see if it has smoothed out any and leads less when I get back to boooolits.

Also, I had a couple of squibs and dumped unburnt powder into my action. This being the third time I've completely disassembled this 1886, it's getting pretty easy!