45-75 is here!!

[Black River Johnny]

Cimarron 45-75 arrived. looks great nice wood and fit. cycles good too. I have 50 rounds of .348 win brass , .458 dia 345grn bullets, lee dies and ordered the expander dies from  c&H, also have some goex 2f. What else do i need to get started? do you have to drop tube load? do I need fiber wads? Please help.
Thanks
John

[Grizzly Adams]

Cimarron 45-75 arrived. looks great nice wood and fit. cycles good too. I have 50 rounds of .348 win brass , .458 dia 345grn bullets, lee dies and ordered the expander dies from  c&H, also have some goex 2f. What else do i need to get started? do you have to drop tube load? do I need fiber wads? Please help.
Thanks
John

Hi, John.  Sounds like your on your way.  As to your questions about loading BP, I suspect you will get lots of answers as everyone has his own ideas about it!  Speaking for myself, I always use a drop tube when loading BP, and I also use a fiber wad against the base of the bullet.  Others use wads made from felt or card stock.

Some things to keep in mind: 

When loading with black powder remember that you must NEVER leave an air gap between the powder and the bullet.  Black powder cartridge cases will always be full. Use a drop tube of about 24" length with a funnel on the top. You can make your own, or buy one from Buffalo Arms.  The tube should fit just inside the cartridges mouth. You pour the powder down the tube into the cartridge. This allows the powder charge to settle properly in the case.

Normally black powder is compressed a bit when the bullet is seated. So you subtract the seating depth of your bullet plus any wads you may be using from the length of the case, add in the amount of compression you plan on using, (1/16" for example,) and this will give you the level to which you should fill the case.  Remember to keep the OAL of the loaded round at 2.25.
  Some experimentation will show you just how much compression to use - every rifle is an individual.

Next  add your wad and seat the bullet.  Make sure your bullets are lubed for BP with a good BP lube like SPG.  Smokeless lube will not work with BP.  You don't say what bullet you are using, but you may find that you have to seat it below the normal crimp grove in order to get the correct overall length of 2.25.  Longer OAL, and the round will not work through the action.

Good luck, and let us know how you are doing.

[Dirty Brass]

I keep seeing reference to using a wad against the bullet. Can someone explain why this is necessary? I have never done that with my loads, but maybe I should?

[john boy]

Can someone explain why this is necessary?

Black powder has a high spiked pressure curve and the gases are 2000C.  Pure lead melts at 620F.  Need I say more?