Headspace on 1873 Springfield Trapdoor

[Daan Kemp]

A lot of enjoyment in reloading, especially black powder. Little fuss, not critical as to nano grams of powder, nice big bullets to handle, big cases, cases last forever, etc.

Information

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[Patrick Chadwick]

cases last forever,

... as long as you
... ONLY neck size, if at all. If you are lucky with the chamber neck and only use soft to moderately hard lead bullets, then you may be able to avoid even neck sizing.

... IF you have more than one rifle with the same caliber, always use the neck sized cases in the same rifle. Distinguish by marking the base or using only one manufacturer per rifle.

... Always use the cases with the same orientation. I make a file mark at 12 o'clock and highlight it with a felt pen.
Bolt actions are highly symmetrical about the bore axis. But all types of block action (Trapdoor, Snider, Martini-Henry...) are asymmetrical and can have a slight skew on the block face which worsens with wear. Full-sizing, by trying to force the case body to be square to the base again, is surely a contributory cause of that fatal bright ring about 1/2" above the base that tells you your case is on the way to a base separation.

[steveu]

[QUOTE=Patrick Chadwick;458968]... as long as you
... ONLY neck size, if at all. If you are lucky with the chamber neck and only use soft to moderately hard lead bullets, then you may be able to avoid even neck sizing.


And anneal the cases!