Friend has two remington rolling blocks,
1.  50-70 New York militia,  what smokeless powder if any could he use?
2.  #5 action what would be a good smokeless caliber to be put on the action?
Thanks

Thanks
Bill

I've had good results with IMR4198, or H4198 in large capacity older cartridges. I use it in almost all my larger case loads.
I've got a couple smokeless actions I've built up in older rimmed cartridges. As with any of these older cases using rotary vs. sliding extractors you just have to watch as you chamber a case to keep the extractor ahead of the rim, but it's not tough.
I have one converted to a sliding extractor at 6 o'clock under the chamber, and a T shaped sliding extractor. That's the finest gunsmith alteration I've ever seen, and it works flawlessly, and without thinking about it.

Anything but black is the most egregious heresy!!!! 

marlinguy wrote on Dec 5^th, 2022 at 8:48pm:


me too.
a recommended load here of 30g Of Buffalo Rifle in my 50-90 is just clean shooting magic!

Can't go wrong with a 38/55.

sportslube wrote on Dec 4^th, 2022 at 9:15pm:


2. If you want to shoot your #5 safely, you need to learn to neck down 30-06 or 8mm Mauser cases. No.5 chambers are cut too deep for modern cases, which causes case head separations  after 4-5 firings. Your clue is a bright ring about 1/2" ahead of the case head. What you are doing in necking down is forming a case that fills the gap I mentioned in front of the shoulder. Your press must be mounted on a surface that  can take heavy stress. Keep a floor jack handle to slip over the press handle for leverage and to make your sizing more precise. Trust me on this. Run your press ram up all the way and screw your 7mm Mauser FL sizing die (minus the decapping rod) all the way down on the shell holder. Lock the die ring. Apply case lube to the neck and run it up until the neck is sized, you can feel it happen. Withdraw the case and remove most of the lube. Put a LITTLE on the case wall. Reintroduce the case and lean on the press handle, enough to size JUST A BIT of the case wall. The jack handle here makes you much more precise. Withdraw again and inspect. If you've used too much lube you'll see a number of little darts around the new shoulder surface. You're trying to find a balance between the case seizing in the die from lack of lube and producing these darts. That's why you size and inspect, size and inspect. When you've sized a few, cut off and trim to 2.22 case length. Open the action, and try the case. If the hammer doesn't fall, size the case again, it may go. If not, you must grind a TAD off the die mouth. Run the die back down to the shell holder, loosen the ring, and lock the ring down again. Size the case again and try to chamber it. If the hammer won't fall, Grind the die mouth again. Screw the die down on the shell holder again and tighten. Repeat until it falls. Now you've got it.  You're of course adjusting your cases to your individual rifle. The key is sizing and grinding SLOWLY. You absolutely don't want to reintroduce that gap in front of your case shoulder. Now you need to learn to anneal. It will extend your case life tremendously. And don't fire 7mm Mauser ammo in your #5, It's dangerous. PM with any questions.

ccomdorsc

I've been using 30-06 brass in my 7mm rolling blocks since the 1960s.  I use only GI brass as it is heavier than the commercial brass.   Anyway, you are working too hard the way you are sizing the 30-06 down to 7mm in two strokes.   Yes.   Set the ring on the 7mm sizing die so it is full length sized.   Then back the die way off and just size the cases down a little bit at a time.  Run the case in, back it out, turn the FL die down a turn, and run the case in again.   No need for a cheater on the press this way.  Once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty quickly.   And, yes, inspect the neck and shoulder at each stroke.   Go really light on the lube.  I've never bothered to anneal them,  probably should,  but my brass has lasted a long time without it.

George