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Black powder small bore (Read 1395 times)

KWK Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 402 Location: USA Joined: Jul 12^th, 2004	Black powder small bore Dec 11^th, 2022 at 11:04pm	Print Post
	I've been trying black powder this past year and rather like it. It's surprisingly easy to clean up, seems to have a gentler recoil, and gives an entertaining plume of smoke. How well does it work in smaller calibers, such as 32-40 and 28-30?

	Karl
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waterman Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 2833 Location: Behind the Redwood Curtain Joined: Jun 9^th, 2004	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #1 - Dec 12^th, 2022 at 3:13am	Print Post
	It was never intended for the 28-30. My understanding is that the factory ammo was loaded with King's Semi-smokeless. But I have a barrel for an 1893 Marlin in .32-40 marked "Black Powder Only".


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uscra112 Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 4079 Location: Switzerland of Ohio Joined: May 7^th, 2007	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #2 - Dec 12^th, 2022 at 5:56am	Print Post
	Stevens' 1903 catalog speaks of several loads of 1F and 2F in the .28-30. No mention of King's. The .32-40 was developed long before smokeless even existed, of course.

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boats Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 7545 Location: Virginia Joined: Apr 23^rd, 2004	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #3 - Dec 12^th, 2022 at 7:13am	Print Post
	BP works fine in 32/40, however smaller the bore more attention has to be paid to flowing. It’s not big problem just needs to be delt with. Lot of methods, most common, target rifle frequent bore wipe, hunting gun generally low round count & it will run as long as needed before fowling. False muzzle & loading target cartridge rifle like a muzzle loader developed to handle BP fowling. When clean burning smokeless became available breech seating replaced false muzzle methods. Boats


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uscra112 Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 4079 Location: Switzerland of Ohio Joined: May 7^th, 2007	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #4 - Dec 12^th, 2022 at 8:50am	Print Post
	'Course replacing 10% or so of the BP charge with "nitro" pretty much eliminates the "fowling" problem, as the late era Schuetzen men knew very well.

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MartiniBelgian Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1674 Location: Aarschot Joined: Jun 7^th, 2004	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #5 - Dec 12^th, 2022 at 10:29am	Print Post
	I shoot a 30-20 (32-20 with .308 1:12 barrel) as a short-range match rifle. Yes, more sensitive to fouling than the bigger calibres, but perfectly manageable. When the barrel was still new, the bore was relatively rough and I needed several patches between shots. Now, a single humid patch between shots is sufficient - actually, overcleaning will degrade accuracy with GG bullets And I do intend to retry PP bullets - these failed miserably in the past, but with the bore nicely polished now through shooting and cleaning, results might be better, who knows?
	« Last Edit: Dec 12^th, 2022 at 1:31pm by MartiniBelgian »

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KWK Senior Forum Member Offline Posts: 402 Location: USA Joined: Jul 12^th, 2004	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #6 - Dec 12^th, 2022 at 1:11pm	Print Post
	This summer we were trying 36 caliber, a 9.3x74R firing PP lead .357s over a case full of Swiss 3F and some SPG cookies, trying to see if we could replicate the velocities of the Victorian BPE cartridges. (Nope.) That chamber tore patches which caused some leading, but the thing that surprised me was how little fouling there was. We once shot 40 rounds without cleaning and the fouling didn't keep increasing. (Since I no longer had scope mounts for that rifle, I could not test grouping.) I figured that as the bore got smaller, the fouling as a percentage of the diameter would increase, but I didn't know if this had a noticeable effect.

	Karl
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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 16079 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #7 - Dec 13^th, 2022 at 2:28pm	Print Post
	waterman wrote on Dec 12^th, 2022 at 3:13am: It was never intended for the 28-30. My understanding is that the factory ammo was loaded with King's Semi-smokeless. But I have a barrel for an 1893 Marlin in .32-40 marked "Black Powder Only". The barrels marked "Black Powder Only" were fitted to "Grade B" Model 1893 Marlin repeaters after smokeless steel barrels became the standard. Marlin had huge numbers of the 1893 barrels leftover in .32-40 and .38-55, and customers didn't want the older softer steel barrels. So Marlin made up a bunch of Grade B 1893's with blued receivers instead of color cased, and sold them for $1 less to get rid of their supply of BP steel barrels. I've owned several of them including one 1893 with a rare 32" barrel marked for BP.

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MrTipUp Frequent Elocutionist Offline Quality is to a product what character is to a man Posts: 1307 Location: Indiana Joined: Feb 19^th, 2020	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #8 - Dec 13^th, 2022 at 2:45pm	Print Post
	Was Marlin the only maker that used this rather ingenious method to rid themselves of left-over "soft" barrels? Bill Lawrence


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marlinguy Frequent Elocutionist Offline Ballards may be weaker, but they sure are neater! Posts: 16079 Location: Oregon Joined: Feb 2^nd, 2009	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #9 - Dec 13^th, 2022 at 3:01pm	Print Post
	MrTipUp wrote on Dec 13^th, 2022 at 2:45pm: Was Marlin the only maker that used this rather ingenious method to rid themselves of left-over "soft" barrels? Bill Lawrence I don't know of any others, but I would guess other companies simply sold guns in BP chamberings and just left them unmarked for either powders. All the Grade B Marlins were supposed to be standard grade versions, but some people wanted a BP barrel, and ordered them specifically. So although the advertising stated they were blued receivers, I saw one for sale at the Kansas City show back in 2004 that was an extremely high grade deluxe 1893 with color cased receiver, and lots of deluxe options, but a half octagon "For Black Powder Only" marked barrel. If I would have had the money I'd have bought it. It was a cool example!

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.22-5-40 Oldtimer Offline Posts: 797 Joined: Feb 13^th, 2010	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #10 - Dec 15^th, 2022 at 6:04pm	Print Post
	I have a Ballard no. 3 gallery Model rechambered from .22 l.r. to .25-25 Stevens. Since this is a cast action, I only shoot black...Swiss 3fg. Before I shot this rifle, I was concerned about fouling in such a small bore...but I soon found clean up to be fast and easy...3 to 4 patches wet with Butch's Bore Shine and it's done. For match acuracy, 1 barely damp patch thru with soluble oil/water mix dater each shot. Blowtube between shots will keep them in 1" at 50yds. I did try duplex with smokeless, and though bore looked very clean...still needed that damp path thru for max. accuracy...so to heck with the bother. These small bores are fun! Big cloud of white smoke blots out target....big boom way out of proportion to bore size...and best of all...no recoil.


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MartiniBelgian Frequent Elocutionist Offline Posts: 1674 Location: Aarschot Joined: Jun 7^th, 2004	Re: Black powder small bore Reply #11 - Dec 16^th, 2022 at 3:23am	Print Post
	When the barrel was new on my rifle, that for sure didn't work, I needed up to 4 patches (2 wet, 2 dry) to get good accuracy. However, now the single damp patch seems more than enough, and overcleaning will actually reduce accuracy with GG bullets. That in a .30 calibre barrel (32-20). It needed to be shot in, that and a few cleaning sessions with Bore Tech Chameleon Gel, that also does seem to help in smoothing out the bore.


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