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Black Powder advice please.


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I've done a little research and I mean a little, but it looks easy to reload without specialist equipment for occasional use.

Just wondering about how complicated getting the license is. Also who sells all the bits and pieces please.

 Thanks for any advice.

Edited by redial
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Kranks do a variety of bits - but online you will find just about anything you need. Reloading BP is not without it's hazards as the slightest spark, even from static, can set it off - pretty sure that a standard reloading press is not particularly recommended due to this? The licence, I found, is pretty straight forward but you need a special box to store the stuff - you can get them online or find plans and make your own - licence btw is free. You will also need to store the powder away from your house, if possible, and the storage box will need to be bolted/chained to a wall - it's also worth letting your local fire station know that you store explosives. If you live near a BP stockist then that will save you a lot of money - shipping the stuff is going to bankrupt you - have you thought about BP alternatives - Pyrodex etc is a lot easier to deal with.

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Most of the information has been said  extra advice is go for the antique  loading tools such has a powder measure which is detailed in drams  and some are also have the shot measure on them , you also need a capper decapper  and a bench rolled turnover  most of these loading tools are easy to come by at auctions For loading you need  1/8 card  over powder wads , a felt or similar  1/2 inch wad and a 1/16 over shot wads . Using black powder medium grain  keep of pyrodex it is terrible stuff  and soon makes you gun rusty  this can happen  before you get home too clean the gun .For loading use a volume load  for a 12 bore using the old measure is 2.3/4 drams of powder  to 1.1/8 oz of shot.  Cap and resize the case  first powder then a 1/8 card wad .then the felt or similar 1/2 inch wad then a 1/8 card , then the shot and a 1/16 card over shot wad then finish with a rolled turnover 

Feltwad

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Edited by Feltwad
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Guest cookoff013

What this guy says. Wouldnt bother trying to reload to modern gunpowder speeds. Black powder doesnt have the oompf. Just be sensible and you will have exellent shells

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I reloaded some 12 bore cases a while ago with Bp.

Used a loadall 2 to prime the cases,seat the wads and crimp.

Powder and shot were hand measured.

Think the eventual load was 60gr of powder with an equal volume of shot.

If you do decide to load Bp make sure the wads are well seated.

Brilliant to shoot and the look you get from people is pricless.

takes a little longer to ensure the gun is clean after use but worth the extra effort.

DO NOT clean it in the house unless you have a very understanding OH with no sense of smell.

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1 hour ago, ditchman said:

i used to scrub out the barrell in the bath with hot water and soap..............until she made me replace the bath cause it left an indelible black ring in the bath

every day is a skool day...........

Was it from cleaning the barrel or your "natural body oils" that caused the ring?

Although I did eye the dishwasher up once and was promptly told to (insert expletives) "get that thing outside to clean it."

 

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39 minutes ago, gotgcoalman said:

Was it from cleaning the barrel or your "natural body oils" that caused the ring?

Although I did eye the dishwasher up once and was promptly told to (insert expletives) "get that thing outside to clean it."

 

i got banned from the dishwasher when she found a camshaft and valves in it................i wont tell you excactly what she said..............

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Just steady away using the old reloading tools I can hand  load  50 plus in a hour  first I powder the capped and resized cases next I wad them with  the card and fibre wad , then the shot and over shot wad  and finished with a rolled turn over . You will find that paper cases are the best for black powder ,plastic ones melt and a rolled turnover is the best .I have used this method now for the past seven decades .

Feltwad

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if feltwad dont know then no one does, he pointed me in the right direction a few years back, aint looked back since (unless the game keeper chaseing me ).he..he.

good honest advice, take note of what he says (and others) and you wont go wrong...good luck, it will all make sense in the end.

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My advice is forget Black powder go for one of the substitutes i would opt for Triple 7 FFG it like pyrodex RS & CTG  is safer in the home needs no special handling and its cleaner more powerful and needs no licence like black .   in a 12bore general pigeon sort of load go with 2 1/2 drams equivalent with 32 gram of lead in grains around 68 grains of triple 7  FFG .Can use typical modern cases plastic though paper are preferable but only load the plastics that one time.

Edited by Fen tiger
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Plenty of good advice here. I regularly load black in both plastic and brass cases. A good freind has adapted a lee loadall to throw 12 bore loads which in plastic I roll turnover with an antique tool. Brass cases are available from claygame but you need oversize wads and fa license for large pistol primers.

dont believe they don’t have enough mph, nonsense. Properly loaded they produce good patterning loads that will kill cleanly at all normal ranges.

cleaning is paramount and a 50:50 mix of water and windscreen washer fluid does the job. Just dry thoroughly after and check again a day or so later as be is unforgiving when it comes to rust.

good luck

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1 hour ago, Vince Green said:

Yes but available from a lot more places. The other problem with black powder is where to buy it

And its more stable safer in your home and its cleaner burns more progressively and develops higher velocity with less fowling easier ignition faster ignition time . The substitutes are there because USA muzle loader hunting laws demanded them why not use them just as much smoke same if not more progressive push. Black is history with these new substitutes . Aliant do a substitute now but never used any.

 

Edited by Fen tiger
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Has I said I  will l not use pyrodex  in any of my muzzle  or breach loaders because of the instant  rust  has for Triple 7 FFg  I have never used it so I cannot comment ,for me it is always black powder .But it may be  that I am a traditionalist  whose  loading has been the same for many decades and find modern substitute black powder hard to accept.

Feltwad 

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15 minutes ago, Feltwad said:

Has I said I  will l not use pyrodex  in any of my muzzle  or breach loaders because of the instant  rust  has for Triple 7 FFg  I have never used it so I cannot comment ,for me it is always black powder .But it may be  that I am a traditionalist  whose  loading has been the same for many decades and find modern substitute black powder hard to accept.

Feltwad 

Thats your choice and i respect your decision i was just pointing out the pros for the substitutes and they are improving all the time, its not like they do much different they all need cleaning with less residue in the substitutes generally but all smoke the same etc. The potential performance advantage you either accept and go by volume or reduce on the substitutes to close the gap on price but the Aliant is directly comparable if not cheaper than black in the states , how that will work out for us here we must wait and see.

 My take on the substitutes is like riding a clasic motorcycle on the road do you wear a 1920s pudding basin helmet or put on your full face AGV to improve your safety.? I would chose the latter, the substitutes are without question safer no debate there. we all understand safe handling or in the comparison safe riding practice but in life accident can and will happen and if they do the substitutes are a clear advantage that alone swings it for me despite the other aspects already discussed.

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1 hour ago, Feltwad said:

Has I said I  will l not use pyrodex  in any of my muzzle  or breach loaders because of the instant  rust  has for Triple 7 FFg  I have never used it so I cannot comment ,for me it is always black powder .But it may be  that I am a traditionalist  whose  loading has been the same for many decades and find modern substitute black powder hard to accept.

Feltwad 

I agree about Pyrodex, 777 is very good and I have used it these past few years very happily. The rust problem with muzzle loaders comes primarily not from the powders but from the percussion caps which are still, even today, corrosive.

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Enclosed are a couple of images of the old black powder tins which no longer are available  ,I remember has a young man buying a 1lb of this  black powder for the sum of 7 shillings which I too save up for , this to me was the best black powder which was sadly missed Also a image of two well known brands of powder  in the states.

Feltwad

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