(The picture is a frame grab from an iPhone video.)
I did a few variants:
1-1/4 oz. of #7.5 shot on top of a compressed column of sawdust (in lieu of a cushion wad)
1-1/4 oz. of #5 shot on top of sawdust.
Also, some of the same payloads on top of lubricated wool felt wads. (I have a supply of such homemade wads for use in my Euroarms Magnum Cape Gun percussion 12 bore.)
And a patched .690 round ball on top a couple lubricated felt wads. All were loaded on top of 80 grains of 3Fg.
I tested one each of the #7.5 and #5s, and 3 of the PRB loads.
From 10 yards the #7.5 penetrated one wall of an empty soup can. The #5s went through both sides. Patterning seemed OK for a cylinder bore gun.
Accuracy with the PRB would be good enough to take a deer out to 40 - 50 yards or so.
Because these shells were loaded with black powder, I ran a couple patches wet with a Ballistol/water emulsion through the bore when we finished shooting. I repeated this at home and left the bore with a good coat of Ballistol.
The empty shells got put into a soapy water bath overnight. I found that a 12 gauge tornado brush was perfect for brushing out the inside of the cases to remove residue left from the glue I used to hold the over-shot cards in place.
Tomorrow I'll punch the primers out of the spent shells and clean the primer pockets. I'll also use some acetone to remove the load info I'd written on the side of the shells with a Sharpie marker.
Shooting these BP shells was a lot of fun and the cases should be reusable more or less indefinitely.
One thing I like about the Magtech brass shells is that they use large pistol primers rather than 209 shotshell primers. I use LPPs for .38 WCF and .44 WCF, so that's one less component I need to stock. Also, in normal times, pistol primers are less expensive than 209 primers. (All bets are off in this election/pandemic/civil unrest year, however.)
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1 comment:
Haven't shot BP loads in years. OK. In decades. Sure miss it. One of my favorites was an old H&R 28 Gauge singleshot that I only ever shot BP out of due to the fact that it was a resurrected basket case and although tight there was no way I'd run higher pressure smokeless through it. We only had the CBC (forerunner to Magtech) full brass shells with their Berdan type primers, but got good service out of them. Someday I need to lay in a box or two of the Magtech 410's for old time sake use in the Boito singleshot I picked up a while back. There's nothing quite like the BOOM of a BP load. Very different sound and feel from the smokeless rounds.
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