Black Powder in 38.55

[Rudi Gunn]

I was wanting to load up some black powder rounds in my 38.55 Marlin. 

Right now all I have is Laser cast 240 grn. Are these too hard, wrong lube?

Would that also pertain to Pyrodex?

Shot my friends muzzleloader witih the real stuff and just wondering what it would be like in my cowboy guns! ;

Allen

[Cuts Crooked]

..........and just wondering what it would be like in my cowboy guns! ;

It'll be a major hoot!

Regarding those bullets: If they are lubed fer smokeless they will need the lube removed. Both Black Powder and Pyrodex require the use of a BP friendly lube Such as SPG, T/C Gold, or the old stand by 50/50 (Bees wax and crisco). The lube in those smokeless bullets is petroleum based and will foul out yer bore REALLY fast and with some of the nastiest tar like stuff ya ever saw! And unless they have large/or several lube grooves you will have to clean yer bore frequently whilst shootin' them. ( a pure  bees wax wad under the slug can be a major help with bore fouling too)

Loadin' fer BP ain't rocket science but there are a few rules that you must adhere too. #1. As noted use a BP freindly lube...no petrol based lubes. #2. No air space can be left in the cartridge when loaded. A bit of compression on the powder charge, about 1/8" is a pretty good starting place. #3. Be prepared to fiddle with yer loads until you find wat werks best in yer gun. It shouldn't be too difficult to find the "sweet spot" though! The 38-55 was originally a BP loading and it should like being fed wat it was intended fer!

[D. R. Greysun]

Rudi Gun,
This may help you down the trail to true lube wonderment!

http://sassnet.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1784&b=1&st=&p=&#entry

D R

[Tommy tornado]

The other problem I have run into is that the bullets with two lube rings for smokeless powder don't carry enough lube.  I have switched to a 4 lube ring design.  The hardness should be fine.

[Dick Dastardly]

If and when I design, with some considerable help from John Boy, a new 38-55 bullet, it will be a twin Big Lube(tm) design.  It will carry way more lube, as much as five times as much, as the nearest competitor.  My new 45-70 bullets carry 4.4 grains of lube.  That's more lube than some pards put powder in their cowboy loads.

The object will be to wet the barrel to the point that the fouling stays so soft that it blows right out with the next shot.  In other words, and we have done this, your second shot and your 100th shot will have the SAME fouling.  We want a bullet that will shoot dirty and shoot accurate all day long.

There are many considerations to building a new design, but for Black Powder, lube is king.

DD-DLoS

[Howdy Doody]

I shoot BP in 38-55. Well, not real BP, but 777. I tried Goex, Pyrodex, APP and for my Marlin 336 Cowboy she likes the 777. I shoot a 249gr bullet in mine sized at .380 and I drop tube 777 in at 53gr by weight, add a milk carton wad to protect the bullet base and there you have it. That thing shoots some great groups out to the 200 yards I have shot it. All the powders work, but that is my current load for mine until I start to experimenting again. BTW it will drop a steel buffalo at two hundred meters that we shoot at cowboy silhouettes too. 

[Steel Horse Bailey]

Howdy!

Rudi, there's one more possible problem with those bullets that hasn't been mentioned.  You said they were Laser Cast bullets.  L.C. makes some of the best quality bullets on the market.  BUT ... they are VERY hard.  BP doesn't like hard bullets very well.  I have (unfortunately) some experience in this.  I used my 405 gr Meister hard-cast bullets lubed with SPG, powered by about 63 gr (vol.) of FFg at my first long range shoot.  (1874 Taylors Sharps repro;  32" barrel) I was using a blow-tube after each shot, and a quick run thru the bore with cleaner after every 10 shots.  'Nuther words, I was tryin' to stack the deck in my favor.  At 200 yds, we started.  I rang the Buffalo 18 of 20 times, but the spotters said I was all over the target.  A hit's a hit, I say.  By the time we shot 300 yds, then back to our final range of 400 yds, I hit 2 of 20!  Sure, I may have been part of the problem, but when I mentioned (after the match was officially over) that I had some of the same bullets, but powered by 29 gr of IMR 4198 and could I shoot them?  The honcho (GW) said sure.  I then hit 17 of 20.

The moral of this true story is that yes, you can shoot those 240 gr LC pills with BP, but the accuracy is not, IMHO, very good.  I wouldn't use them for any competition over 100 yds.  BP LIKES soft lead bullets!

Others may disagree.  Your mileage may vary.  Whatever you do, even a miss can be fun with BP!