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TKs for the kind words, Garry. Many of us have a lot of experience with black powder, bullets and ctg. rifles & this experience is applicable no matter the configuration of the barrel or barrels.

Yes - a good suggestion, Andreas - a hard wad underneath the bullet will prevent any skirt obturation and subsequent pressing contact with the barrel walls - however - a hollow base makes the bullet longer for it's weight and increases the necessary rate of rifling twist, somewhat. If the twist is in the 24" or faster range, I'd try the heavier bullets. If it is slower, ie: 1 turn in 30"(or slower), I'd probably stick with 300 to 360gr. flat based bullets.

It is a simple matter to check the twist rate as they were all over the board. With a tight patch on a jag started into the muzzle and run to the top of the chamber, mark the rod with felt pen on a piece of tape right at the muzzle's top/centre edge. Pull the rod out until the mark turns 'round & sits at 6 o'clock, ie; 1/2 turn. Mark again at the muzzle, then withdraw and measure between the marks. Then multiply by 2. That's the rate of twist. It is most easily done with the barrels clamped one over the other in the vise, so the mark is visible side to side, from top dead centre, to bottom dead centre, rather than having to look underneath the tubes to see it.

It is true that a hollow based bullet will increase pressure slightly. Increase it to unsafe levels, I doubt very much.

With the DR's, regulation becomes the sickler. There are a number of lightweight bullets that do very well indeed.

At one time, I had a double cavity RCBS mould for what they called their 300gr. .457 or .458 bullet. It was very accurate in my Rolling Block, Sharps and Winchester M94 in .45 Colt. I was, however, wanting at that time to more or less duplicate the Express bullet, so I converted one cavity to a hollow point. I used that bullet in the .45 Colt(revolver ctg.) M94 lever gun to kill 2 elk, a bull and a cow. My load (RP brass only) gave me 1,740fps (not an error) from the 16" Trapper's barrel, which pretty much duplicated the .450 BPE's factory load with the same bullet weight. It was very effective, neck shot the cow (by accident), dropping her in 70 yards, and high lunged the bull clipping the spine then exited, dropping him on the spot. That was with the HP bullet, cast in straight WW metal. So - don't discount the lighter bullets as they worked back in the 1800's and still work today.

The RCBS Hollow Point cavity cast a 305gr. bullet in WW alloy, while the solid cavity cast at 322gr. Accuracy was identical with both & they shot into the same group. I used beeswax/vaseline for lube, 60/40 mix then and still do as a BP or smokeless lube for .45 cal and larger. It's as good as SPG or Lyman Black Powder Gold lubes and allows lead bullets to run up to 2,000fps without leading and fine accuracy.

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V

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