Herb
54 Cal.
- Joined
- Mar 19, 2004
- Messages
- 1,954
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I built a .45 Leman Trade Rifle at the Green River Rifle Works in 1978. This was in a class in Antique Custom Riflesmithing taught by Greg Roberts, production manager. I may give this rifle to my greatgrandson Trenton, 14, in Hawaii. He wants to hunt wild pigs and really wants a .45 flint Lancaster I built. I do not know if real blackpowder is available in Hawaii, and some is necessary to shoot a flintlock with Pyrodex or Triple 7 powders, available there. I asked his dad to see if they can buy real black powder there. If not, I can give him this percussion rifle if he wants it, which can use Pyrodex or Triple 7. So I tested these powders in comparison to black powders to advise him how to use them. I will post these results separately.
I used .440 Hornady balls and various patches, lube always Murphy Oil Soap and alcohol. Primers were CCI 11 (magnums not needed) and a Hot Shot nipple, necessary for the Pyrodex and Triple 7 powders. I shot at 50 yards from bench through my Oehler 35P chronograph, plotting each shot and finding the patch if I could.
Pyrodex and Triple 7 and Swiss need strong patches and I tested several. There was JoAnn .007 (crushed reading) linen (too loose a weave, not good), JoAnn .018/.012 linen (too thick for this ball and bore, but good), OxYoke .015 (which mikes .012 but compresses to .0065) which worked very well. I tried to standardize on the OxYoke because it is widely available. Also some of my other linens which worked best, but it was too much trouble to describe them. Some powders needed overpowder wads (OPW) which I cut from a shrunken wool sweater. I used weight-corrected measures for 35 grains of Goex 3F and Olde Eynsford 3F and the same 70 grain measure (made from a fired 7mm Rem Mag case) for Goex 3F, 2F, OE 3F, OE 2F, OE 1 1/2F, Pyrodex P and RS. I also used it for Triple 7 3F and 2F but later made a 50 grain (Goex 2F) measure for them. More on that later. I did not have Swiss 3F, but Swiss 2F and 1 1/2F needed their own measures. The 70 grain Goex 2F measure held 79.3 grains of Swiss 1 1/2F!
On Target 1, I started with 35 grains of Goex 3F and a JoAnn linen that miked .012 but compressed to .007. The weave was too thin and it is not a good patch. One blew, velocity 1395 fps. (You can hold down CONTROL and hit the + sign to enlarge pictures).
On Target 2 I used this patch with 35 grains of Olde Eynsford 3F and all patches blew. 1490 fps. Then I went to an .009 super muslin and four averaged 1379 but all patches blew. I have not yet shot a good group with Olde E. 3f in any caliber and do not like it. On the same target I went to 70 grains of Goex 2F, trying 3 patches. I used 35 and 70 grains because those are what this rifle liked when I built it 36 years ago.
I am going to break this into separate posts because it takes so long for the photos to come up.
I used .440 Hornady balls and various patches, lube always Murphy Oil Soap and alcohol. Primers were CCI 11 (magnums not needed) and a Hot Shot nipple, necessary for the Pyrodex and Triple 7 powders. I shot at 50 yards from bench through my Oehler 35P chronograph, plotting each shot and finding the patch if I could.
Pyrodex and Triple 7 and Swiss need strong patches and I tested several. There was JoAnn .007 (crushed reading) linen (too loose a weave, not good), JoAnn .018/.012 linen (too thick for this ball and bore, but good), OxYoke .015 (which mikes .012 but compresses to .0065) which worked very well. I tried to standardize on the OxYoke because it is widely available. Also some of my other linens which worked best, but it was too much trouble to describe them. Some powders needed overpowder wads (OPW) which I cut from a shrunken wool sweater. I used weight-corrected measures for 35 grains of Goex 3F and Olde Eynsford 3F and the same 70 grain measure (made from a fired 7mm Rem Mag case) for Goex 3F, 2F, OE 3F, OE 2F, OE 1 1/2F, Pyrodex P and RS. I also used it for Triple 7 3F and 2F but later made a 50 grain (Goex 2F) measure for them. More on that later. I did not have Swiss 3F, but Swiss 2F and 1 1/2F needed their own measures. The 70 grain Goex 2F measure held 79.3 grains of Swiss 1 1/2F!
On Target 1, I started with 35 grains of Goex 3F and a JoAnn linen that miked .012 but compressed to .007. The weave was too thin and it is not a good patch. One blew, velocity 1395 fps. (You can hold down CONTROL and hit the + sign to enlarge pictures).
On Target 2 I used this patch with 35 grains of Olde Eynsford 3F and all patches blew. 1490 fps. Then I went to an .009 super muslin and four averaged 1379 but all patches blew. I have not yet shot a good group with Olde E. 3f in any caliber and do not like it. On the same target I went to 70 grains of Goex 2F, trying 3 patches. I used 35 and 70 grains because those are what this rifle liked when I built it 36 years ago.
I am going to break this into separate posts because it takes so long for the photos to come up.