Took out the old Trapdoor to see what the 460420 GB boolit would do. I had taken the gun out only once before with Trail Boss and shot a nice 3-4" group on our steel gongs (with about a 10-15mph crosswind). Velocity was only 959 fps with the Lee 340gr boolit, but the gun seemed like it wanted to do real well considering the awful trigger pull.
Bought it at our last gun show. Been looking and thinking about one for years, but never saw one I really liked. Guy had it on consignment and he said that some old lady wanted him to sell it, was her deceased husbands, been in the family for decades, may have been his grandfathers, ect. (I have heard some wild tales before ,but you never know if there might be some truth there) In decent shape, some pitting on the outside of the barrel, where it meets the wood, and some finish on the wood and some bluing left. Bore is really nice, it cleaned up well
1884 Trapdoor (made in 1884 also)
Gong shot with 13.0 Trail Boss and the Lee 340 ww @.460" LBT soft. 10-15mph crosswind. Five shots
Last gong shot with the GB 460420 WW's 409gr .461" LBT blue soft. 3 shots -- 1,215fps
24.9gr 5744 w/small piece of kleenex tamped on top of powder then 24.5gr of grits dumped on top then boolit seated and crimped. 2.557"oal. Group size is on the order of 1 & 5/8" for three shots. Shot at paper and got 2 & 1/4" group, but target isn't as clear for my older eyes, as are the gongs. Shot too many silhouettes to enjoy paper shooting.
All at 100 yds. Need another front sight blade, as I had to show daylight at the bottom of the gong to get it to hit where it did.