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Very Hot Topic (More than 25 Replies) Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder (Read 19429 times)
svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #15 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 11:30am
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MartiniBelgian wrote on Jul 20th, 2016 at 3:18am:
In order to shoot dirty successfully, IMO you'll need a combination of the following:
- a heavy bullet for the powder charge used (in order to up pressure and get a clean burn)
- a reduced quantity of powder
- a very good lube, and enough of it
- a bullet seated off the rifling, sub-groove diameter.
- a clean-burning powder (or should that be moist-burning?)
- a larger bore (the bigger the calibre the more room for fouling)


Thanks MartiniBelgium! 

Your list is much like my emerging one. The success many of us have (largely following John Kort's lead) shooting dirty and accurately for 50-100 shots with 44-40 BP loads, has for some of us, led to seeing how well we can do with one of the larger rifle cartridges, 40-65 in my case. So far, I am not dissappointed.

Some years back we toured the plains of Nebraska and South Dakota, specifically some of the earlier major ranches. A common caliber for their Sharps was 40-90 with paper patched ammo. Antelope was perhaps the most common larger game animal, buffalo being largely gone. Those hunters seemed to not have any problem firing "many" shots and still killing antelope. On hunting trips they also seemed to spend evenings cleaning their rifles and loading more paperpatched ammo -- implication was they had supplies of factory paperpatched bullets. These are the only reports I have seen about seemingly routine "dirty" shooting of larger BP rifles for non-military purposes.

Grisen
  
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calledflyer
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #16 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 12:08pm
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The old stories telling of the hunters sitting around in the evening making ammo and "cleaning" the gun doesn't mean they hadn't swabbed the bore 'tween shots, at least now and then. Just not mentioned doesn't mean it hadn't happened. It may only indicate the "cleaning" of the rest of the rifle and lubing it. It could easily be an oblique reference to the job he was doing at the ol' campfire. 
Quigley sure shot dirty, but then, he snapped shots at hundreds of yards, too. Just like real life.
  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #17 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 12:17pm
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calledflyer wrote on Jul 20th, 2016 at 12:08pm:
The old stories telling of the hunters sitting around in the evening making ammo and "cleaning" the gun doesn't mean they hadn't swabbed the bore 'tween shots, at least now and then. Just not mentioned doesn't mean it hadn't happened. It may only indicate the "cleaning" of the rest of the rifle and lubing it. It could easily be an oblique reference to the job he was doing at the ol' campfire. 
Quigley sure shot dirty, but then, he snapped shots at hundreds of yards, too. Just like real life.


Yes, the stories I read never mention "opportunistic" bore swabbing, so, who really knows. They do relate "lots" of shots at antilope in herds, with many killed.

How does a movie "Quigley" provide any valid evidence of what was actually done by the "ODG"s??

Grisen
  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #18 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 1:27pm
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westerner wrote on Jul 20th, 2016 at 9:37am:
Relined a 73 Winchester in 44-40 for a friend many years ago.  It shot BP better than smokeless.  Of course we shot it dirty without cleaning. Could hit a buffalo at one hundred yards most of the time. Wow! 
Joe.


Did anyone try shooting that steel buffalo in specific places, like nose, tail, ear, or was everyone just going for whole critter hits? Or was this a micro-midget buffer, say 10cm tall??

Grisen
  
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BP
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #19 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 1:50pm
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Quarter_Bore wrote on Jul 20th, 2016 at 12:51pm:
BP,
I am surprised that no one has offered the bit of information I read about buffalo hunters. That is: After every few shots they poured water down the barrel to cool (and I suppose) clean it. The accounts I read said that after their canteens were dry the buffalo hunters furnished their own "water". HMMM.

My thinking too, Quarter_Bore.
Water alone is an effective "solvent" , and would remove some fouling.
As for the buffalo hunters furnishing their own "water" after the canteen ran dry, they were a practical bunch back then.
They could have used the "water" from some buffalo bladders too.
Maybe the names of some of our modern liquid black powder bore cleaning mixes are closer to history than we realize.     Wink
  

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John Boy
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #20 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 2:19pm
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OK, I held back on this powder because it is no longer being imported into the US ... KIK
* May 2011 - Ridgway - Uberti 38-55 - 25 & 25 rounds of KIK, lot 2009 -  1.5Fg and FFg ( 42grs) - Ideal 375166 (330gr)
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

All 50 rounds rounds shot with accuracy from 500m to 200m with no tubing or patching ... minimum vernier adjustments from my standard settings
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)
One water cotton ball - 3 dry
  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #21 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 2:51pm
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Thanks John Boy!

Looks like that bullet carries plenty of lube. KIK powder I have heard about but never seen for sale. What do you consider the important factors leading to this performance?? 

Thanks,
Grisen
  
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bruce moulds
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #22 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 5:27pm
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it is clearly stated in "trajectories of modern rifles" that they shot some of them dirty.
the groups shown are reasonably acceptable, and needed to be for measuring trajectories.
George gibbs fired 50 rounds straight and put 48 of then into a 36" bull at 1000 yds, the other 2 shots barely missing.
in fact the brits were not allowed to wipe in long range contests.
the 40/65 win was chambered in repeaters. not much point unless they would shoot dirty.
original ammo for sharps creedmoor rifles was loaded with a grease wad, suggesting an intent to shoot dirty, even if blowtubing.
later ammo was not, telling us what we already know, that wiping done correctly is the most accurate.
bullets for wiping must be patched to bore or a little bigger to reap the rewards of the technique, and as chris says, cannot be chambered in a dirty barrel.
a lot of the old bullets had a tapered section behind the ogive which would allow chambering with some clearance, allowing for fouling, and bump up to what space was available.
20:1 seems to be a common alloy for 40 / 2 1/2" type cases used in mid range and hunting applications, and this is a fairly soft alloy, prone to bumping up well.
so undersize soft bullets, grease wads either of tallow or containing whale oil, and the other thing not often thought of.
this is the use of bank note paper for patches. a very tough paper not prone to tearing on rough fouling, and not really available today.
then we come to the difference between shooting in humid climes compared to shooting in Arizona or Australia in mid summer.
we know they did it. we just have to learn what they took for granted so much that they did not bother to write it down.
I have been working on this for years without fully achieving total reliability in all conditions.
it would be very handy in a sil match, and in a prone target match as well.
keep safe,
bruce.
  

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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #23 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 6:55pm
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Joe,

How many shots did you fire before "cleaning out the crud??" I find it just as easy after 15 shots as after 2 for my current 40-65 loads. For 44-40 is was after 5-6 stages (50-60 shots from rifle) -- still easy cleaning if Swiss and SPG.

Grisen
  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #24 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 8:34pm
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Joe,

Posted it earlier in this thread -- here is is again. Time to do better job of shooting. Plus inclinations of a life-long researcher.

Most others that tried "shooting dirty" some time ago used "tricks" that I find marginal or worse and powders I will not use. Grease cookies are not a substitute for a bullet that carries adequate lube. They may also have been operating outside the criteria listed by MartiniBelgian.

Grisen
  
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Mick B
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #25 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 9:30pm
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On the subject of the match between the Irish Rigby team and the US at Creedmore, the American team won only because one of the Irish team members put a shot on one of the American targets, this cost the Irish team the match. A later re match with the Irish team, in which wiping between shots was not allowed, was won by the Irish.
I have a friend here in Australia who has an original Rigby target rifle, one of only eleven that were imported for the Australian rifle team. Inside the case are the loading instructions, these instructions state that the load was 90 gr of Curtis & Harvey #6 powder, and 550gr paper patched bullet.
The loading procedure was to pour the powder down the barrel followed by a card wad pushed down to the powder. The card wad was followed by a lubricated wad and the projectile was then loaded through a false muzzle down to the lubricated wad. I have examined the rifle and the rifling is very shallow, possibly only two thou deep, such shallow rifling would not hold very much fouling to begin with, so perhaps the card wad scraped most of what was there, down the barrel to where the powder charge was, and was burned up by the following shot.
As for powder burning moist I think that atmospheric conditions on the day play a big part in this. On any given day here in summer the humidity can be as high as say 80%, in winter half that.  With so many variables in play, who can say, with absolute certainty, just what is happening in the barrel on any given day. Only results on the target matter.
Mike.

  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #26 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 10:08pm
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When I see Grisen in the top three results, will start paying attention.

        Joe. 

[/quote]

You don't need to worry, Joe. With my worsening eyesight and control of my trigger fingers, this BP target shooting is all for fun. And I do fully expect to shoot all my remaining BP matches "dirty".

Grisen


  
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svartkruttgris#369
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #27 - Jul 20th, 2016 at 11:14pm
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Thanks Mick B for a very interesting post!

I am a little confused -- is rifle a muzzle loader or a cartridge rifle being loaded from muzzle?

Grisen
  
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MartiniBelgian
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #28 - Jul 21st, 2016 at 2:13am
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Sorry - no false muzzles on the Brit ML target rifles - they weren't allowed.  And yes, when pushing wads down the bore, you're effectively also pushing fouling down the bore.
As to the Britsshooting Match rifle drity in the 1880's - yes, they did - BUT they used the blowtube.  You can find blowtubes as part of shooter's kit, and Halford specifically mentions 'blowing down the barrel between shots'.
  
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John Boy
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Re: Shooting "Dirty" with 40-65 or 40-70 Black Powder
Reply #29 - Jul 21st, 2016 at 9:29am
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Quote:
Looks like that bullet carries plenty of lube. KIK powder I have heard about but never seen for sale. What do you consider the important factors leading to this performance??

* The Ideal 375166 bullet with 6 GG's and a long bearing surface
* On that day, The 66% Relative Humidity
* The 66 degrees temperature (19 C)
(RH > 40% and a mean temperature)
* The KIK powder - only KIK and Swiss charcoal are made from Alder Buckthorn
* Sample analysis of KIK foul showing very fine charcoal residue - not like 'sticks' that I have found in Goex
* My home brew lube that is mutton tallow - paraffin & beeswax
Add, having had good accuracy that day, the Ideal 375166 bullet  calculates 17.65 in a 1:18 twist (the twist of the 38-55).  On paper, the same reload yields MOA accuracy at 100 - 200 - 300 yds ... when I do my part!
« Last Edit: Jul 21st, 2016 at 9:36am by »  
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