carcanos also use cordite
carcanos also use cordite
Neat old video of 303 production including cordite being inserted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXNXUpOozDg
If the harpoon weighs as much as a pound, I would use a slow-burning rifle powder similar to 4895, RL15 or Varget. A fast-burning pistol or shotgun powder is going to blow the gun up with such a heavy projectile. A .30 M1 carbine grenade launching blank used a compressed charge of 4895.
The ENEMY is listening.
HE wants to know what YOU know.
Keep it to yourself.
I'm wondering what they planned to harpoon with a 1-pound dart. Not whales, that's for sure. Crocodiles?
Cognitive Dissident
From articles in Handloaders Digest and others IMR 3031 was used as replacement of cordite. Cordite was strands in rifles but chopped up in handguns.
Is this a line launching gun?
Photos would be cool.
And you might try contacting a place like Mystic Seaport in Connecticut, they might be able to point you in the right direction on it's origin and see if they fire any of their harpoons.
Last edited by 15meter; 10-24-2022 at 08:38 AM.
That may be a good starting point. .30 carbine to launch a grenade and a 38 special to launch a harpoon. The bore narrows to about .25 after the cartridge chamber. I have a bunch of 4895. I wouldn't think a trial without a harpoon would blow the gun up. A carbine barrel is about the same diameter as where the harpoon slides on.
[QUOTE=uscra112;5475839]Ignore that post about Red Dot. Fast powders produce high pressures when pushing a heavy load.
Double that! Red dot can turn really nasty really fast under heavy projectile
Do a web search for Ross Seyfried and Reloder 15 to Cordite.
99% sure it's cordite load times 1.19. It works like a charm on the big bores, with the recommendations to use a mid-range rifle powder it sounds like a place to start.
If I remember correctly, Seyfried had a quote along the lines of "cordite substitute powders start and end with RL-15", or words to that effect.
Pulled down a Kynoch 577-450 round and it was loaded with 45 grains of Cordite. The Red and Yellow boxes were cordite loaded, the blue and red boxes were loaded with black powder.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |