I've put off breech seating, as I don't shoot competitively, and didn't think adding another step to my loading and shooting was necessary. But a purchase of a Ballard in .32-40 last fall made me rethink the idea. It had an odd chamber, and tight .316" groove, with 1:15" twist. The previous owner said he bought it and was told it was a breech seating rifle, so he continued to do so. 
I contemplated loading it cased, but was also interested in trying my hand at breech seating. So I made up a seater, and sized up some 170 grain bullets. I sized some .32-40 cases, and loaded them with my favorite Unique charge of 8.0 grs. It's a mild load that's about 1200 fps, but shoots extremely well in many of my other .32-40's.
I took the gun and my primed cases along on a week long shoot at a friend's place this last week. Great fun shoot, with no winners or losers, and the perfect place to try it out! I started out on his 150 yd. dinger, and it immediately hit; so I figured I must be in the ballpark. After a few hits, I swung over to the 300 yd. dinger and dialed in elevation on the Ballard tang sight. Must have been a good guess as it rang the 300 yd. dinger.
I soon realized that the process of breech seating/shooting bullets was not only fun, but even at a slower pace it was very enjoyable! I probably wont start shooting in schuetzen matches, but I'll definitely give this particular Ballard a lot more time breech seating!

Yeah, I did! Was pleased my homemade tool worked as designed, and pleased the Harrel powder measure made accurate charges. Shooting slower than cased ammo, but actually fun and interesting to go through the motions.

Thanks! I will surely give it a lot more attention than I previously did John! I am going to make up another case and rod to try it on my .38-55 Ballard, and .40-63 Ballard also! The old timers must have been pretty tough guys! Shooting the .40-63 Rigby Ballard was not comfortable with the factory Farrow Swiss buttplate! Maybe the breech seating will lower pressures. I may also try a round nose 300 grain bullet, vs. the 425 grain round nose I used.
I found the chamber pressures must be lower, from the appearance of blowby around the case mouth on my light loads. A half grain more made that go away. Groups at 300 yds., were better than I've gotten at 200 yds. previously. So I'm very pleased with the accuracy when breech seating!

Pentz wrote on Jul 17^th, 2016 at 7:58pm:


You're sure right on that Mike! I charged 10 cases, and after 5 realized I needed a bit more. So I dumped the other 5 back in my measure, and upped the charge .5 grains. Couldn't do that with a cased charge!

Sounds like you're well on your way down that slippery slope Vall!  Have fun!

Regards, Joe

jy3855 wrote on Jul 26^th, 2016 at 11:07pm:


I made an extra .38-55 rod and case, but I think I'm going to make up some more complete tools, so I don't need to change rods/plugged case each time. 
Hope you report on the .25-20 and how it works with the Weber breech seater!

SgtDog0311 wrote on Aug 10^th, 2016 at 9:56pm:


I think Brian posted a video of Ian breech seating my Ballard at H6 John. Might take a look at the last page or two of the H6 over on Scoundrels. Ian seemed to enjoy his first try at breech seating also. Several others tried it too, before I put the gun up.
But I surely wish you could have stayed longer too!