Black Powder loads

Hi Pards,

I thought to post a few loads that work for real black powder. Of course, anyone using this data is doing so at personal risk. Not my responsibility. The loads worked for me. Anyone else might have different results.

I shoot a Uberti Border Deluxe in .357 Mag Caliber. Meaning that the cartridge must be within specifications to function properly. I find that my smokeless .357 Mag loads with the 125 LRNFP bullet and an over all length of 1.495 work just fine. The black powder loads require a big lube bullet, the 160 grain Snake Bite truncated cone, to function properly with black powder. This bullet requires a .38 Special case to make the appropriate length. My cartridge length is 1.525, a bit long, but it functions without a problem.

I got OK accuracy at 30 yards in my back yard gallery, but I wanted to see what the rifle/load would do at longer distances. You can see that at 70 yards, I was a bit off. A minor adjustment of the tang sight got the rounds as close as I can hold. I supported the forearm with my hand against the table and shouldered the butt. Not as accurate as a ransom rest, but it does show that the ammo shoots better than I can hold. BTW, I used the same elevation at 70 yards as at 30 yards! Have yet to check the velocity with the Chrony, but it might be pretty hot even with 1.1 CC of Lidu.

This load uses 1.1 CC of 3FFFg LIDU (real black powder) in a .38 Special Starline case with about 2 MM of compression and a Winchester small pistol primer. The bullet is the Snake Bite big lube bullet with a hardness of about 8.5 that I cast myself.

This load was passed on to me as a very accurate load for a rifle. I'm a believer. The pard also suggested that other grain black powder didn't work as well, 2FFg for example.