reduced BP loads in 45-70

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Ross Smith posted this 2 weeks ago

The mantra for black powder has always been to seat the bullet onto the powder.In a straight wall case like the 45-70, can a bullet be seated all the way down on the powder of say a 30 grain charge? Or, just seat as usual at the case mouth. I have seated the bullet normally in the case with only 30gr FFg, but always wondered if it was dangerous. I'm shooting an original trapdoor.

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Bud Hyett posted this 2 weeks ago

The bullet jump will be horrendous, this jump will affect the accuracy. With the taper of the case, can you even get the base down that far without pinching the base and also affecting the accuracy? Compressing the black powder charge for uniform ignition becomes another question.

The 55 grain charge for the "Carbine" load uses extra wads to close the gap between powder and bullet base. The paradox of the Trapdoor is an oversize bore. Soft alloys that expand are recommended for accuracy. The Carbine load uses a hollow base 405 grain bullet to expand the base and engage the rifling.

What happens as the bullet slides down the case and then engages the rifling could be interesting. Seating the bullet down would be an interesting project, but I'd first do this in a modern rifle. A Trapdoor with good bore condition is becoming rare.

Farm boy from Illinois, living in the magical Pacific Northwest

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RidinLou posted this 2 weeks ago

Not even an amateur at BP Cartridge loading, but I would thin one would want an over powder wad, a filler and then seat the bullet.not unlike what is done with percussion revolver, but with the addition of an over powder wad,

One could probably do without the over powder wad IF they made sure there was good compaction with the filler.

The more knowledgeable folks can certainly correct my guestimations.