Couldnt pass this one up...... 424,XXX serial number range. It has a 77/79? rear sight (not a buffington and not a 73 sight). Breechblock dated 1873. Pretty good bore with crisp rifling all the way to the muzzle. Crown nice and sharp where the rifling emerges. It does have a few patches of pitting in the grooves here and there. I used some JB bore paste and polished the bore somewhat.
I've been loading a 405 gr FP (not HB) Lee from wheelweights (already on hand) and it seems to like H 4198 (30gr) better than either 3031(38.5gr) or 5744 (28gr). I crimped the first loads I tried which did not group very well at 50 yards. The H 4198 load shot a 3 inch group with three touching and the other 2 strung high. 3031 didnt even hit the target.....5744 was not as good as H 4198. I crimped these loads with a LFCD.
I'm at the loading bench again, but this time I molded some bullets with a 20/1 lead/tin mix and am using 30 gr of H 4198. Should I crimp? These are coming out of the mold at 460 and I use Liquid alox as I dont have a lubrisizer yet.
One other question. I have a Lee HB mold on backorder (looks like Sept). Does my Trapdoor have a 1/22 twist and will it handle the Lyman 457125 500grainer?. I'll eventually load black as soon as I gather up what is needed Drop tube , measure, wads, SPG etc................Thanks..........Bob
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