Argentino M1879 Rolling Block. Is it worth restoring?

[Patrick Chadwick]

And finally ...

Refurbishing an Argentine RB - Part 14


Is there enough powder in the case?

To check this, put the 30M1 (or .357 or .38 special) case into the BP case so that it sits on the powder. Use a marker pen to mark the height of the BP case mouth on the 30MI case.



Now place the marked 30M1 case next to an empty BP case, to see how deep the top of the powder charge is.



That is not enough. The powder must come up above the shoulder, otherwise the card wad will become loose when it is pushed down. A load like this would require the use of a suitable non-rigid filler (semolina, dacron - there are various possible materials).

So we do it again, this time with the 67.4gn measure. Once more, mark the level on the 30M1 case.



And once more, check this with the empty case.



This is sufficient. And is in fact precisely what I use for my (nearly) match-winning load. When you are tuning the load for optimum performance, you can get any load you need by using different measures, or by filing down the mouth of an existing measure. As an experienced pack-rat, you will have collected several cases!

Now it is necessary to ensure clean separation between the powder and any filler or, in this case, the grease cookie. Take a card wad - as you can see, it was punched out of an old (washed out!) milk carton.



Since the wad was punched from the other (white) side, it is slightly rounded on that side, and the side you can see here has the sharper edge. The wad will be easier to push into the case if you preserve this orientation.

Place the wad over the case mouth



(some more one-handed pictures coming now!).

Now place the mouth of the 30M1 case over the center of the wad,



... and press the wad gently into the case mouth. The wad may become slightly skewed. Just press a bit more on the side that is higher in the neck, and it will straighten out as it goes down. You might like to practice on an empty case a couple of times, before trying a case with powder in it. If you pull out the wad from the case, you will see that it is slightly dished. That is what keeps it tight!



Push the wad down until you feel it sit on the powder.
Repeat with a second wad.
The powder is now safely in the case.

The next stage is to insert the grease cookie. I call it cookie because many people like to do it this way: take a suitable tray-like object (a suitably deep lid off a glass jar could do) and fill it to the brim with the lube of your choice (I see you have some ready). Simply place the case mouth down on the lube tray, push down, twist and lift, and you have a defined amount of lube in the case mouth. You are using the case mouth like a cookie-cutter, hence the name grease cookie. At least that is the theory. It only works cleanly if the lube has a wax-like consistency. The lube I prefer is too soft for this method. And this is where the 5ml syringes come in...

These syringes are marked in 0.2ml steps.



As you can see, the original markings are gradually dissolved by the lubricant. I discovered by experiment that 0.4ml was not quite enough lube to get through a match target without fouling problems, and increased it to 0.5. The syringe has accordingly been remarked in 0.5ml steps.



And if you look at the next picture, you can see that this amount of lube fits neatly in between the bullet and the card wads over the powder.



Now squeeze a dose of lube into the neck of the cartridge, seat a properly lubricated bullet to the right depth, and you are done. I don't think it is necessary for me to tell you how to use a loading press, so I am pretty nearly done too!

One last point. Observant readers will note that I have made no mention of a card wad between the bullet and the grease cookie.
- Firstly, the bullets are anyway lubricated in their grease grooves. So the bullet is not grease free to start off with.
- Secondly, although some are worried about blobs of grease sticking to the base and throwing the bullet off course, I am not convinced that a wad sticking to the base is any better. It is going to peel off to one side or the other. Another small but unpredictable factor. And the soft lube I use has no chance of clinging to the base of a bullet doing about 350 meters/sec when it exits the muzzle. But I have seen wads more than 10 yards downrange.
- Thirdly, you can find on the Pedersoli website a recommendation that you shoot the Gibbs percussion target rifle without a wad between powder and bullet base. And the Gibbs is quite simply the best you can get. Again, some worry about grains of unburnt powder sticking to the base, but is a sticking wad any improvement?
- Fourthly, I have tried with and without such a wad, and not observed any difference.
- And finally, true to the good old engineering principle “if you don't build it in, it can't go wrong” - an old-fashioned way of saying KISS - why add something of doubtful utility that takes up more time and space?.

Mechanically, you basically have the length of the neck to play with when adjusting seating depth, powder volume and lube quantity. If you have followed this method carefully, you may not have the absolute best possible load for your rifle, but you will have a PDG first approximation.

You are now ready for the test firing!

Good luck, and please post pictures of the results!


Patrick


P.S: store the loaded cartridges with the bullet down, This helps to prevent lubricant seeping through the wad into the powder (I hope!)