Very interesting... Sounds like something I would try and do. Right now my rabbit hole is an in process 38-72 Win. Borchardt. Then I got a Hepburn redo in 38-50 Rem. Pictures?



JMH

Currently the designated perfect replacement for Cordite is Reloader 15 in the ratio of 1.19 R15 to Cordite. For my 30 grains Cordite this would be 35.7 grains of R15. This should match the original velocity and my rifle's sights and possibly at a lower pressure than the Cordite. When I found this out I quickly realized that R15 had vanished from the marketplace. While I was fretting over this and waiting for my mold to arrive it suddenly reappeared, of course at a much higher price! For my first tests I used some of the first bullets I had cast in the new mold at my usual 20 to 1 and Federal Large Pistol Match primers. On the cautious side I loaded the first rounds at about minus 20%, then 15%, then 10% and then a couple at 5%. I rounded this to 28 grains, 30 grains, 32 grains and 34 grains. All worked fine with the groups getting smaller, lower, and closer to the vertical line of the sights as I progressed. I was shooting at 50 yards (and my lowest sight is 100) so I knew they would end up a bit high. I kept a close eye on the fired primers as they were LP and the pressures were getting higher. The rifle has a large firing pin but it is well fitted to the block and has a nice contour. Based on all this I decided that for the next round of tests I would go to LR primers and cast at 16 to 1. We'll see. Now to cast.

I loaded some of my 300 grain bullets with Reloader 15 loads that worked up to the levels of the original Cordite and shot at 100 to try to match the 100 yard fixed leaf on the rifle. I learned 2 things. One is that the Cordite load was a whomping, stomping load and the second is that the good old British wide V out there on the barrel and the bead front sight are more than a match for my old eyes at 100 yards. I've decided to see if I can find a more pleasant load that will shoot well, unless I need to knock a moose off his feet or something. I'll also dig out my variable aperture that clips on my glasses. Oh, the rifle handles the higher pressure of the Cordite level loads just fine. And I found another piece of information about the original owner that I posted in the "what you can find" thread in the General Discussion section.