doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com NMLRA Black Powder Cartridge Matches

FYI:
The NMLRA (National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association) in Friendship, IN (just west of Cincinnati) host the largest NRA Regional BPC Silhouette match in the country - 76 shooters. May 16, 2020.
This year they will be hosting other BPC matches, Skeet, Trap, Pistol, Double & Sporting Rifle the same weekend. For this group, the Sporting Rifle (safari) will be Friday 4pm. The Double rifle (safari) will be Saturday at 9am.
Myself, Bob Woodfill and others will also be hosting a BPE display at the GunMakers Hall at the NMLRA range.. There will be a dinner on Saturday evening for all shooters.
I'll update with any info I see published that I can share.
Rick Weber

Good to know the Association is still going strong. Have many back issues of Muzzle Blasts. Is this the first year back-end stuffers have been allowed?

No sir. This is an non-Muzzleloading weekend the organization has expanded the use of their large facility to BPC shooting.
The 2 National Muzzleloading matches are still held in June & September and there are still 700-1000 registered shooters at each event.

You guys are still shooting 500 yds Rams, no? Not meters?

Good news Rick.

Does anyone commercially load BP shotgun cartridges?

Buffalo Arms offers 10 and 12 gauge BP cartridges. You won't like the price.
Loading them yourself is your only realistic option.

I'm still curious about the distance to the ram line.

You won't like the aftershot cleanup either. But you will love the smoke and the fire coming out of your barrel...Geo

We shoot black powder Trap.
I put a dab of lube on the crimp of each cartridge.
Clean-up is sooooo much easier.
Few swabs of windshield washer fluid, and a few swabs of WD40.

Saskbooknut, I presume you are using fiber wads as well. Lubed or unlubed?

I load my BP cartridges just like my ML - only difference is the case.
I�d post a photo if I knew how..lol

It would seem to me the lube on the crimp would get lost in the pellets and burning gas before a wad would do much good. I do know plastic compression wads and BP don't like each other much. I elect for a lubed wad and plastic shot cup. Been doing it that way for so long I've no idea if its easier to clean up afterwards than another method of loading BP shells. I will have to give windshield washer fluid a try.

https://vimeo.com/373451587

Tamid, I tried plastic shot cups over a fiber wad and still got plastic melting on the barrel walls. I'd like to find a shot cup that didn't give that problem but haven't found one yet.

Windshield washer fluid, glass cleaner in a spray bottle, or just plain ol' dihydrogen oxide all work equally well at cleaning barrels of bp fouling in my experience.

Fibre wads (dry) in plastic hulls, usually Federal Top Gun, once and done.
80 grains FFg, 1 1/8 ounce #8 shot.
I don't use shot cups because they didn't improve patterns over no shot cup, in fact worse.
I have been using a dab of lube on the crimp for at least 25 years. It sure eases cleaning.
There is no lube migration on hot days if you don't use lubed wads in your load.
We use a cartridge block to hold and carry our shells crimp up.

I don�t understand how a plastic shot cup over a fiber wad would melt. It is ahead of the gas. Only if the fiber wad is not sealing properly and gas is escaping could I appreciate how the shot cup would melt

As for the pattern when using plastic wads I�ve found they hold a tighter pattern

I don't understand it either, and I came to much the same conclusions that you did, but even lubed fiber wads would not solve the problem. Makes no sense to me.

In contrast, I use Low Density PolyEthylene (aka LDPE) wads, 0.06" thick, directly on top of >80 grs of 1.5 or 2 fg Swiss powder in my rifles and never had any plastic melting in my bores. Recovered wads look as new. The rifle wads and the plastic shotcups seem to be of very similar, if not identical, plastics, but I can't testify to the chemical nature of them.

In the past, I have used thick artist watercolor paper as a shot wrapper as well as the mylar wrappers sold by most reloading suppliers. The paper might slightly tighten the group (presumably less shot deformation on the barrel walls). But it is a PITA to use it and takes up valuable case space.