45 Colt black powder cartridges

[armoredman]

Anyone load them? My conversion cylinder should be here today, got the brass/dies/cast up some 255gr lead FP bullets. I have factory 3F and home made 2F. Just curious what you fellows have done. Thank you for your replies. 

[sharps4590]

30-35 grs. of Fffg through a drop tube will be about the charge weight limit, depending on the brand of brass. A .020 card wad between powder and bullet. Use a soft alloy, I've settled on 25-1, lead/tin, no antimony or arsenic. Use a bullet with a healthy lube groove and a black powder bullet lube. All should be well with the world. Deviate much from that and results will suffer.

[bula]

Have loaded BP in 357,44spec, 44mag and 480. I'll add, use a CCI350 primer. A magnum primer. Also, compression of powder is NEEDED. 

[sharps4590]

Apr 22, 2024 7:24:30 GMT -5 bula said:

Have loaded BP in 357,44spec, 44mag and 480. I'll add, use a CCI350 primer. A magnum primer. Also, compression of powder is NEEDED. 


Good points.  The argument for hot or mild primers has been going on since the 1870's.....and continues to this day.  I do believe a tube dropped charge and compression, 30-35 grs., depending on the case, will provide all the compression needed.  You don't want to crush the powder, simply give it a little compression.  Anyway, drop tubed, compression and Magnum primers do produce less fouling.  I've used Magnum primers in BP loads for 40 years, for rifles and revolvers.  I tried standard primers and they work fine, BP only requires about 430 degrees F. to ignite but, I still believe Magnum primers produce less fouling.  In revolvers I've loaded BP in only the 32-20, 44-40 and 45 Colt.  Rifles....ha, I don't have that much time nor that long a memory.  It would start at the 25-20 in a re-chambered Jeffrey Rook rifle that was originally 255 Jeffrey and end at an E.M. Reilley in 500 BPE and a slug in between, American, German and British cartridges and rifles, single shots, combination guns and double rifles.

[axman]

Not yet, but I've still got about 40 new balloon head that I might try it in eventually.
Should be able to get the 40 grains in.

[tentcamper]

For cowboy action I use Starline or Winchester brass, a 200 grain Missouri Bullet BP lubed RNFP and a Lee 2.2 cc dipper slightly heaped with Swiss or Grafs FFg. Good load.

[armoredman]

I have the Lee 255gr bullet, but no idea what a "drop tube" is. Only bullet lubes I have are powder coat or Lee Liquid Alox. I can start with a light load Cowboy style with smokeless, but black is where I want to go with this baby. I do have 200 Starline 45 Colt brass. I primed with standard Large Pistol Primers, Winchester, because it's what I have on hand, unfortunately. 
The conversion cylinder didn't come in today. hopefully tomorrow. 

[marlin35]

Apr 23, 2024 0:14:19 GMT -5 armoredman said:

I have the Lee 255gr bullet, but no idea what a "drop tube" is. Only bullet lubes I have are powder coat or Lee Liquid Alox. I can start with a light load Cowboy style with smokeless, but black is where I want to go with this baby. I do have 200 Starline 45 Colt brass. I primed with standard Large Pistol Primers, Winchester, because it's what I have on hand, unfortunately. 
The conversion cylinder didn't come in today. hopefully tomorrow. 

A drop tube is a long brass tube that allows the powder to settle in a way that is most efficient for the use of space. I recommend SPG for lube if you aren’t interested in making your own.

[sharps4590]

Black powder isn't smokeless. It plays by its own rules.

The best comparison I can give of a drop tube is loading firewood in a pick-up. Just throw it in there and you'll have a load of wood but, if you stack it in the bed neatly, you'll have a lot more firewood. My drop tube is a 24 inch, copper sink stem with a flare on one end that just fits inside a Lee, plastic funnel. I made a bracket for it. I've been using it for well over 30 years.

Fail to use a black powder lube and you won't need an explanation as to why you should.

BP is hot. Run 12 loads through your revolver quickly and you'll see. The card wad is to protect the base of the bullet.

If the Lee bullet is a tumble lube design I suspect it near useless for BP. You'll need a healthy lube groove.

Perhaps a reading of Venturino's, "SPG's Black Powder Loading Primer" is in order? Yes, it's for rifles but, the steps apply to revolvers as well.

www.trackofthewolf.com/Categories/PartDetail.aspx/225/1/BOOK-SPG

[bigbore5]

I used some black under bullets lubed with the NRA formula lube before. It was like cleaning out concrete.

[bearskinner]

Just curious if anyone has used powder coated bullets, with or without gas checks with black powder. I know with smokeless, it keeps things a lot cleaner

[sharps4590]

By all means try it. Afterward you will call it a learning experience. We pay for our education one way or another.

Or, you can learn from the mistakes of others. You're never going to live long enough to make them all yourself.

Forget what you know about lube and smokeless powder, it is not applicable to black powder. It will serve you zero good when shooting black powder. The purpose of lube with smokeless powder is to prevent and/or lessen leading. With black powder the purpose of lube is to keep fouling soft. YOU MUST HAVE A SOFT, ORGANIC LUBE. If you mix a petroleum based lube with black powder you will have created your own brand of asphalt. Heed what bigbore said.....or not.

[revolvercranker]

Any lubes that are petroleum based (hydrocarbons) don't react good with black powder and fowl the bore more. That SPG is a pretty decent BP lube. You might also try one of the Bore Butters that come in a kind of toothpaste tube, but they are soft and messy. I use to use that in my inline muzzle loader with Maxi Balls, but I made a little luber to put it in the lubes neaty.

I don't have fouling in any of my BP firearms anymore as I use Triple 777. If you decide to us that powder be aware that it's much more powerful then BP or Pyrodex.

[sharps4590]

If I didn't have a life time supply of Black Powder, I'd be using T-7. I'm convinced it's the best of all the fake BP's.

[revolvercranker]

Apr 23, 2024 14:43:01 GMT -5 sharps4590 said:

If I didn't have a life time supply of Black Powder, I'd be using T-7. I'm convinced it's the best of all the fake BP's.

You're my friend forever with that comment.  Triple 777 is great.  I think the worse stuff ever made is Pyrodex.  I have a Ruger ROA and Pyrodex flame cut my top strap and also burned a small pit in the hammer nose face. The stuff is highly corrosive too. I've done two test on BP revolvers, both stainless and blued with T-7, and no corrosion. The 1860 Colt is going on over a half a year without cleaning. No corrosion. If someone gets corrosion with T-7 it's because the burning of the powder burned all the lube off it and it rusts from humidity.