Can one and how does one go about using BP in regular CF cases?

P

Pond James Pond

New member
I understand that .45LC was once a BP cartridge, so it was a case with BP in it.

Can the same be done with regular cartridges?
Say if I wanted to make some .44SPl cases shoot with BP what would I need to change and how on earth does one go about establishing charge weights?

Finally what precautions should be taken once a completed case is made up?

Is any of this even possible?

Just curiosity, by the way.
 
Charge Weight?
We don' need no stinkeeeeng charge weight...

Fill the case to the bullet base (+ a schoch) with 3Fg black and seat the bullet.


"Pre-Cautions? Use blackpowder bullet lube (Lard &/or Crisco's fine), not smokeless lube.
The only"post" caution is to wash out the barrel with soapy water, wipe off the exterior w/ same, and lightly oil afterwards.
 
Yes, regular primers too.
Shooting black powder loads is really fun, but be sure and give your gun
a good cleaning sometime soon after with warm or warmer soapy water, than
oil it up.

As mentioned above me, you want to fill the cases completely but save
enough room for the bullet, you want to compress the powder about 1/16 th
of an inch, and use a drop tube for the powder too. Search on here or Google
(black powder drop tube) to see how easy it is to make, oh, and cheap to.
 
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Smokeless powder is a propellant, BP is an explosive.
Different rules and precautions.
That's not to say that light BP loads can't be made with less powder and deeper set bullets, similar to cap and ball pistols and revolvers.
 
Howdy

I load 45 Colt, 45 Schofield, 44-40, 44 Russian, and 38-40 with Black Powder all the time for CAS. Have not gotten around to 44 Special yet, but it would be no different. Just dump in enough powder so that when the bullet is seated it will compress the powder by about 1/16" - 1/8". That's all there is to it. Regular primers are fine, BP is easier to ignite than Smokeless. No, you do not need a drop tube, not for run of the mill Black Powder cartridges. Precision long range like 45-70 is a different story. And of course, use a bullet that has a Black Powder compatible bullet lube on it. I use SPG. I used to make up a mix of 50/50 Beeswax and Crisco.

45 Colt components:

completedroundandcomponents.jpg





45 Schofield components:

45ScofieldComponents_zps41fac52a.jpg




44 Russian components:

44RussianComponents.jpg



Note: these are the Big Lube bullets that carry a huge amount of BP compatible lube so they can be used in the barrel of a rifle as well as a revolver without running out of lube in the longer barrel.
 
You do want a slight compression of the powder, and never an air gap between powder and bullet. I like to put a wad between the powder and bullet and it helps to keep the powder from melting the bottom of the bullet and keeps down barrel leading. With some of the rifle cartridges I like to put a lube cookie between the wad and bullet to help keep down fouling.
No real magic to loading black powder in cartridges. A lot of guys like to use a drop tube, but I prefer to use a small vibrating table I have. You can watch the powder settle down in the case in just a few seconds.
 
When loading BP cartridges - use a good BP lube as you still want to keep the fouling soft just as you do in a C & B revolver or rifle/smoothbore.

As already stated . . on BP - a compressed load and no air space - but let's make it perfectly clear that we are talking "black powder" and not "smokeless powder". With most smokeless powders, if you loaded the case full you'd probably be missing your hand after you shot and would be looking for the fragments of the handgun spread all over.

There is no big "secret" to loading cartridges - either BP or smokeless. BUT, like anything else, study the process and learn the "dos and don'ts". There many good publications out there that explain the processes. And remember . . while there can be some good videos out there . . there can also be some bad ones as well. Don't go by the old saying that "it must be true, I saw it on the internet."

Loading BP and smokeless cartridges can be a lot of fun . . but study and know what you are doing. That's why there are loading manuals and loading data.

An excellent site to go to is the castboolit site - lots of good information on casting and reloading - both smokeless and BP. If you are going to reload . . please . . learn how to do it correctly and safely.
 
You can load BP in just about anything. There is even a guy on YouTube that loads 45ACP with holy black and it cycles his 1911 just fine. I have long wanted to load 303 British with BP and a cast bullet. Take my old Enfield back to her roots.
 
You can also use .451 round ball (cap and ball) lightly crimped bullets when you load .45 Colt or Schofield cartridge cases with black powder. I used about 30 grains of powder with a lubricating beeswax/Crisco combo wad (cut out with an empty .45 Colt case) on top of a .45 card and the powder before seating the ball.

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^^^now THATS cool. How does the SAA shoot a roundball. I'm figuring the rifling is faster than a cap and ball designed revolver, right???
 
That's a good question. I have only fired the round ball cartridge with my '58 Remington with a Kirst conversion cylinder. Very accurate.
 
Driftwood, what bullet are you using for your Schofield loads? Is this this the J/P 200? And what size dipper?

45ScofieldComponents_zps41fac52a.jpg
 
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^^^now THATS cool. How does the SAA shoot a roundball. I'm figuring the rifling is faster than a cap and ball designed revolver, right???
Click to expand...

It'll shoot just fine. Ruger uses the same barrels for the Ruger Old Army that they use for their .45 caliber cartridge revolvers, and ROAs are noted for accuracy.

The only issue with round balls in cartridge revolvers is if you have fixed sights that are regulated for bullets, the lighter round balls will shoot low because there is less muzzle jump while the bullet is in the barrel. Going from 220 grain bullets to round balls in my ROA requires 1 1/2 turns of the elevation screw to get the point of impact back to zero.
Going from 240 to 180 grain bullets in my old .44 magnum pistol required a similar sight adjustment.

.433 roundballs work great in .44mag/special/Russian cases.
 
Bishop Creek:

Yes, that is the J/P-200. The current molds sold by Dick Dastardly are slightly different than when I designed the bullet. He changed the ogive and meplat slightly and the bullet now weighs 210 grains. I put 1.9CC of FFg under this bullet in the 45 Schofield case.
 
loads

Sometime ago, I loaded up a bunch of .38 Spl cases with BP. Went to the range with my little lever gun. Tried shooting at a target 100 yards away, a target that is not a problem with smokeless loads.....nothing. No hits. I sat and benched the rifle. No hits. I moved closer...50 yards. No hits.
Out of ammo, I went home. I loaded more cartridges....same load BUT this time I put a fiber wad between the bullet and the powder.
Back at the range....Hits both at 50 and 100 yards. Just adding that wad made a big difference....at least with that gun.
Pete
 
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