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

so... I'm curious the reason for the accuracy difference do you think the bullets were deforming ( soft lead ) or the powder was melting the base of the bullet causing leading issues ???

perhaps with a full case compressed load the bullet had more velocity??? & was in your normal velocity range with the wad???
 
Win 1873: I ran 357 Mag cases filled w/ 3Fg black (compressed ~1/10") and with
my standard 158gr SAECO #398TC (cast 30:1-soft) on top.

I got exactly the same velocity/accuracy/impact as my "Cowboy" load of 5.0 gr W231.

NOTE: It's critical not to compress the powder w/ the bullet (which will deform).
Compress it instead in a separate step before seating the bullet.
 
Wad

so... I'm curious the reason for the accuracy difference do you think the bullets were deforming ( soft lead ) or the powder was melting the base of the bullet causing leading issues ???

perhaps with a full case compressed load the bullet had more velocity??? & was in your normal velocity range with the wad.
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Dunno. I do not think that it was velocity related. There were no hits....those bullets, for whatever reason, were going to Neverland. I suspect that the bullets were not stabilizing, going sideways shortly after leaving the muzzle.
Ever since, I have always inserted a fiber wad bewteen the bullet and the powder. With larger BP cartridge loads, of course, a grease cookie is common. That would take up a lot of space in a .38 case.
 
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In my rossi 92, and later my winchester 73, both in 45 lc, I just filled the case to the top, and seated the 250 gr bullet, compressing the powder about 3/16". Powder was goex, first 2f, later cowboy. Bullet was my cast, Lyman mold made for the old colt revolvers, has good sized grooves, lubed with my BP lube. Load was plenty accurate out of those and my revolvers shot out as far as maybe 50 yds, never tried further. The charge worked out to about 37-38 grs. I wanted as close as possible to the original 1873 load of a 255 gr bullet over 40 gr of 2f.
I did load 158gr re grooved bullets in 357, but I don't remember the powder charge, and they were only fired in revolvers. The case was full, they were accurate in the revolvers, but it was for my wife, she just used my rifle.
I made a custom groover, to open up the lube grooves. Used it on regular cast bullets.
Now, the 58 Berdan rounds were poured through a drop tube and pre compressed.
Shotgun, just "square load" it, equal volume powder and shot. You can use modern plastic shot cups, but they will leave stringers of plastic in the bore. I just used fiber wads. In 12 GA, using regular 2 3/4" plastic shells, it came out to 65 gr of 2f over 1 1/8 Oz of shot, with an over powder disc and one fiber wad, and the shell crimped.
 
I've done it in a .303 British. Nothing special it was originally a B/P load anyway.

Observations.
You can't get enough B/P in most cases to get an overload. Heck you're lucky to get enough in there to fire the darn thing!
For a gag we loaded a case with as much FFFg as we could get in the case. We used a 12" drop tube, vibrated the case & so on then seated a 215Gr bullet as shallow as possible, all in an attempt to get close to the original factory load weight.

We failed.:(

There was no way to replicate the wet-loaded solid slug the factory used we barely got 58.1 Gr in there instead of 70 & change.

It definitely got the shooters attention when he fired it though! You could almost imagine racing that huge, slow moving thing down to the paper to hear it thunk home!:D
 
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The later ones did but the real early 215 Gr stuff from the 1880's was a a single compressed black powder "slug".

The .303 British cartridge was designed by a Major Rubini, superintendent of the Swiss government arms laboratory. The cartridge fired a 215 grain .311” bullet over 70 grains of black powder for a muzzle velocity of 1850fps.
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Where would I be able to find 250gr soft lead cast 45 caliber bullets either with no lube or with BP compatable lube? I have searched high and low and I think I found one place that agreed to do it but wanted $100+ for 500 unlubed bullets. Too much for me.:eek: If anyone has a reliable source please let me know. In the meantime I just bought a couple of pounds of Trail Boss to keep me going. I really am not at all interested in casting my own bullets. City slicker ya know:cool:
 
I cast my own from a Lee mold and tumble lube with liquid alox, I use the same bullet for both black powder and smokeless loads.
 
" Where would I be able to find 250gr soft lead cast 45 caliber bullets either with no lube or with BP compatable lube? "

All lead bullets made by Desparado Bullets are soft lead. They believe only soft lead are the best for black powder shooting.

Prices look big until you realize that's for 500 !
They have 100 bullet sample packs.

http://www.cowboybullets.com/
 
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