Bullet Size for Trapdoor

[mr.tickle]

I recently slugged the bore on my 1873 Trapdoor, it came out to .458. What size bullet do I use? .456, .458, .460? I was planning on shooting blackpowder cartridges.

Information

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[browningautorifle]

Can you just bump your mold? That should give it a couple more. Have you thought about paper patch?

[mr.tickle]

I don't have a mold for it, it will also be my first time shooting/reloading black powder. So I am having to learn a lot about this type of reloading from scratch. I also will probably buying the bullets starting out. Is 20-1 ratio soft enough?

[mr.e moose]

You should be good with a .458 pure lead bullet it will bump up a bit when fired.

[mr.e moose]

It should be OK. Where are you located? If in Canada I could suggest a few places or send you some to try out. The big thing with shooting the Holy Black is to leave no air space between the powder and the base of the bullet. If you buy a hollow base bullet fill the HB with a beeswax and Crisco lube and have a .458 card between the bullet and your powder. The Paul Matthews books are great for a beginning BP shooter. With modern cases you wont be able to get 70 grains of black powder in. You can use drop tubes and compression plugs but the best I can get is around 65.

[browningautorifle]

The big thing with shooting the Holy Black is to leave no air space between the powder and the base of the bullet.

Excellent advise, an air space with Black can cause you to damage a rifle right now...

[mr.tickle]

It should be OK. Where are you located? If in Canada I could suggest a few places or send you some to try out. The big thing with shooting the Holy Black is to leave no air space between the powder and the base of the bullet. If you buy a hollow base bullet fill the HB with a beeswax and Crisco lube and have a .458 card between the bullet and your powder. The Paul Matthews books are great for a beginning BP shooter. With modern cases you wont be able to get 70 grains of black powder in. You can use drop tubes and compression plugs but the best I can get is around 65.

I appreciate the offer but unfortunately (perhaps fortunately this time of year), I am in Florida. I was planning on checking out Matthews books. Will flat based bullets be ok?

[mr.e moose]

Nothing wrong with flat base bullets. One of my favorites is a 405 grain.

[mr.tickle]

Let me ask another question. The gun closed on both a no-go and field gauge. Yet I was told it should be ok with black powder loads. Is that true? The gunsmith obviously did not want to put him inself into a legal conundrum.

[Patrick Chadwick]

Let me ask another question. The gun closed on both a no-go and field gauge. Yet I was told it should be ok with black powder loads. Is that true? The gunsmith obviously did not want to put him inself into a legal conundrum.

The gunsmith's position is understandable. Checking such old rifles with gauges set to modern standards is not only typically a waste of time - it can be dangerously misleading, by giving the user a false impression of safety if the gauge test is OK. Many other things can make an old BP unsafe to fire - deep rust pits, welding repairs, worn/missing pins on RBs and Martinis, replacement barrels with the wrong thread and thus very little bearing surface, chambers drilled right through for scopes...