black powder

[charlie cleveland]

i loaded up some black powder loads today in differant gauges thte hulls i used were remington plastic and winchester plastic.most of winchester hulls only reloaded about 4 times on average.the remington hulls lasted till i got tierd of loading them.the remington s were the black hulls.butwinchester hulls loaded easier. the crimp on remington hulls never lose there memory like the winch. hulls now if i good get the winchester hulls to be as tough as the rem. hulls i would be high cotton. the black powder loads gave better patterns than smokless loads.loaded a few of the old rem. long range plastic hulls they are good for about 2 times. just messen around it was a lot of fun espesially the smoke. charlie

[Harry Collins]

Charlie,

Are you using fiber wads?

Harry

[CFWs]

I have 100+ BP rounds loaded for this weekend. I used the Win. hulls as well. They load really well.
Once the hulls have been loaded w/smokeless a bunch of times, I throw them in a box for BP loading. I shoot them once, and throw them away....

[charlie cleveland]

harry ive been using the fiber wad and the plastic as well. i really like the fiber wad best. yes thats a great idea about saving thehulls and then using them for black powder. thanks charlie

[Paul Harm]

Graig,are you useing more than one 1/2" cushion wad ? I seem to get blown patterns in brass shells when useing two cushion wads. I now cut down the plastic or paper hulls so I don't have to use so many wads. Paul

[CFWs]

Paul,

My best patterns come from 1/2 of a fiber wad. I would like to have a little more lube than the 1/4" wad provides, but a full cushion will blow the pattern in my cylinder guns...

In brass, the load will come out well below the mouth of the case... But, no crimp, no problem...

In a 2 1/2" plastic, my best shooting combination is 2 3/4 drams/2F, 1 - .070" nitro, 1 - 1/2" cushion cut in half, a 14ga. o/shot, 1oz. shot. Crimps perfect in a STS hull...

In 2 3/4" STS, I will use a full cushion, BUT, I only shoot these thru a set of guns that have a good amount of choke to grab the wads...

Hope this helps. Good shooting!

[Paul Harm]

" A little more lube "- are you lubeing the wad? If so, with what? Is the lube necessary? Paul

[CFWs]

The lube is not necessary, but I always use lube on the fiber wad. It will keep the fouling soft, and reduce lead scrubbing/leading.
I carry a rod with a brush on it, and run it thru the bores every station or two, and the junk will fall right out, leaving the barrel roughly one shot dirty.

As for lube, most any wax based lube will work. Melt it just past melt point and dip the wad in quickly. Then let cool. This will keep the lube on the outside, and not soak the whole way thru.

Hope this helps.

[Ed Blake]

Have you ever used just pure melted beeswax to dip your wads in?

[CFWs]

Ed,

Beeswax makes a great "base" for the lube, but I would recommend adding olive oil/veg. oil for the actual lube. Some folks like to use "Fluid Film" in their lube as it has lanolin in it and makes for a great BP lube.

Adding an oil will make the beeswax softer as well. I like a fairly "soft" lube.