westerner wrote on Jan 26
th, 2007 at 2:30am:
Seems like we shoulda heard from Harry by now. The way you rattled his cage, JD. If he doesnt post something soon I'm gonna have to think up something to yank his chain with. Joe.
Hello Joe and JD.
You forget I am several hours ahead of you in time. When you wrote your posts I was already in bed. As I write this, you've both got several hours of sleep left to enjoy.
O/k, Perhaps I am being conservative, but I see no sense in using high pressure cartridges in weapons that weren't designed to take anything like the pressures developed by them. The 45/70, 45/90 or 45/110 black powder rounds have much lower breech pressures than the .25 Krag Imp or .300 mag. These latter rounds are very likely to generate twice the breech pressure than the old BP rounds.
Old steels, unlike many wines, do not improve with age. The metalurgical qualities of 1870's steel leaves a lot to be desired by modern standards. Even modern rifles blow up. Sako recently had to recall a large number of rifles because several had blown up with factory ammo.
No one would expect the Wright Brothers 'flyer' to break the sound barrier or a 1920's Model 'T' Ford to win this years Le Mans 24 hour race, common sense says they weren't designed to do so.
Now it may well be that both of you are lucky, in that nothing has happened so far to your rifles, but are you using light loads just to be on the safe side? If so, then consider what might happen in a few years time when these rifles belong to someone else and they load cartridges generating higher pressures than you are using.
The USA doesn't have 'Proof Houses' so testing of weapons is very much a hit or miss affair with no real standards to set a guide. On various other boards I have seen suggestions that people who build their own rifles should fire a couple of rounds using a 10% over maximum powder charge, preferably pulling the trigger from a distance by means of a string. Hardly a scientific method of testing. No one seems to recommend checking on dimensional changes that may have taken place after 'proof' firing. That is a standard practice in European Proof Houses, along with a lot of other checks involving computers and chronographs etc.
The cracking of actions under the stress of a high pressure load may not be noticed as they can be microscopic, the next couple of rounds may may blow the action apart.
The cardinal rule of shooting is SAFETY in all things pertaining to the sport. I have to ask, is shooting a high pressure cartridge in a 120+ year old BP action safe? I don't honestly think so.
Harry