bruce moulds wrote on Nov 11
th, 2017 at 6:05pm:
grumpy,
are you shooting this in a bpcr with black powder?
if you are, here are some thoughts.
best accuracy comes from a bullet who's diameter as cast that will slide into an unsized fireformed case.
as we know, the bullet will bump up to what ever diameter is available to it before it starts to move.
using the above mentioned diameter, this bumping up will be minimized.
we also know that optimum bullet diameter is 0.001" max over groove diameter.
if the chamber dimension allows the obturated i.d. of the case to be bigger than 0.001" over groove diameter, potential accuracy is challenged.
we cannot make the chamber smaller, so the wat to reduce the i.d. of the obturated case is to use thicker brass necks.
norma basic brass (used for the 2 7/8" case) has slightly thicker brass at 2.4" than starline, and norma 3 1/4" brass is thicker again at 2.4", offering options for perfact bullet fit.
trimming longer brass to length also offers the opportunity to get a case length absolutely fully up to the chamber/barrel transition, also good for accuracy and leading minimization.
establishing all these things takes time, effort, and thought, but rewards can be worthwhile.
i am not trying to denigrate starline, as it is good brass when annealed correctly. just offer alternatives for different situations.
all the above is null and void if the chamber is an original pp chamber for bore diameter bullets, but the concept is the same.
incidentally, your description of the chambering as 45/90 can muddy the waters.
45?90 was a winchester chambering for lever and single shot rifles with slow twists for light bullet express loadings.
the sharps case that this was based on is more correctly referred to as the 45/2.4".
modern ignorance on these issues has led to mislabelling to suit marketing purposes.
keep safe,
bruce.
Indeed you are correct it is a 45/2.4 C/Shiloh Sharps early gun from before they split company.
My thoughts are to load reduced smokeless loads using IMR SR-4759 for now, until I learn the gun, may eventually switch over to black powder, but not right now.
Thanks for the information.