So those dies could possibly lead you to the best rifle you have even owned, if only you try !

I will say again that for me at least the work toward an accurate load is the fun part.  I have a number of good rifles that I have worked up good loads for but they see little use once that has been achieved.    The guns I shoot the most are the ones that best loads have not yet been discovered for.  Once there they seem less interesting and languish.   I like having them and knowing they will shoot when called upon but for me the fun is in the hunt even more so if it is said it cant be done.

bullshop wrote on Aug 16^th, 2026 at 1:32pm:


I have to agree.  After I'd run through over a couple dozen old and obsolete and, modern for the time, American rifle cartridges I was getting pretty bored.  Then I discovered the plethora of old, obsolete and out of production British, German and European cartridges I'd never heard of, smokeless and black powder.  For a couple decades I pursued them with an insatiable appetite.  As I figured out how to make the cases, calculate the length, thus weight of bullet required and come up with a powder charge and bullet combination that shot well they got put on the back shelf and the search began for another.  As you said, I enjoy having them and knowing how to make them shoot but, as B.B. King said, "The Thrill is Gone".

IMO BN black powder cases are no harder to get to shoot well than straight cases.  I acually believe my 500/450 no.2 Musket - chambered rifles are easier to get to shoot accurately than my 45-70...  My no.2 Musket Francotte match rifle is probably the most accurate mid- and long range rifle I have. From 77 to 90 grs of powder with a 520 - 540 gr bullet.
And I actually disagree with the statement that loads cannot be variable.  just look at the range of powder weight I'm using.  Yes, you don't want the bullet to end up below the shoulder, but most of those cases have pretty long necks.

Now, something like 577-450 is indeed quite a bit harder to get to shoot well - but that's not because it's a BN case, but  1st of all because it is seriously 'overbore', i.e. the relation case capacity to (usable) bullet weight.  And some other factors too, especially in period military rifles.
But the more powder for a given caliber/bullet weight, the harder to get a BP cartridge to shoot.  Think 45-70 vs 45-120.

On the other end of the spectrum I shoot a 32-20 BP match rifle with fast-twist barrel and heavy bullets (150-160 grs) - and that rifle is also superbly accurate when I do my thing.  Again, a moderate charge of powder with a pretty heavy bullet.  A bit more sensitive to fouling - but it's a small calibre, so...

So for me, no reason at all why BN cartridges should be harder to get to shoot than straight ones - just different.  I actually prefer BN cartridges for my BP rifles, that should be clear by now...

My .40-70 BN Shiloh 1874 does well when I do my part.

burntwater wrote on Aug 9^th, 2026 at 1:49pm:


OK, I'll be the fly in the ointment. When I started working on loads for my original 44S Rolling block I had all sorts of cartridges.  I wanted about  100 ready to use for the 2024 Creedmoor match in Tenn.  I had some re-worked .348 cases, JBA 44-77, JBA 43 Spanish, Bertram 44-77, Berdan primed 43 Russian and some original Remington UMC balloon head brass, a real mishmash.  82 gr Swiss FFg was the load I settled on. While practicing, the re-worked .348 brass were the first to pull apart.  (I had previously used these and much of the others in a 44-77 Smokeless Rolling Block I built, using smokeless with no problems).  I thought maybe the web had been weakened when the brass was turned to fit  the chamber - by the previous owner. All of those went away.  Ultimately, the only group that had no pull apart failures were the original UMC cartridges. I did lose a couple to neck splits, however. 
The .43 Russians were interesting. The rim is a two-piece rim and a few of those had rim separations.   

All the brass had been annealed before fire forming to the "new" chamber and all the brass had been fired at least once prior to an occurrence.   

I posed the question of why does this happen to a world class BP shooter. His working theory is that Swiss FFg is a harder granule than most and when those hard granules start to move they hit the neck and stretch the cartridge.  In his experience, a load of 95 grains of Swiss FFg would tear about 50% of the cases.  My guess is that the UMC cases didn't tear because they were made for an original rifle or the balloon head gave room for the gases to expand a bit before they hit the neck. The other brass took the full brunt of a harder powder right to the neck.  -- I don't know for sure--   

I am working on a different load.  I don't know how to determine if a powder is "soft" or "hard".   

Anyway, that's my story. 

-06

bullshop wrote yesterday at 6:57pm:


Yes, .408" groove. I bought this rifle new in 1990. It has proven to be a fine rifle.