40-65 smokeless loads
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40-65 smokeless loads
Can smokeless 40-65 loads be used in my soon to be built 1874 rifle?
Chris
"Friends come and go...enemies accumulate"
"Friends come and go...enemies accumulate"
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Smokeless loads can be used. Most powder manufacturers will have load data. I received Lyman recommended smokeless load data with some 400 Grain 40-65 "Schmittzer" bullets I bought. Just research at this point as my 40-65 will reportedly go into production in mid-late January'04. The Lyman data, for a 400 grain bullet, showed:
GRAINS GRAINS
min Vel. (fps) max Vel. (fps)
AA 5744 18 1135 21 1274
IMR 4895 29.5 1265 34 1472
IMR 3031 28 1271 33 1525
IMR 4198 21.5 1271 25 1431
You need to be real careful with smokeless that you don't accidentally end up with a double charge in the case. The Shiloh is however a very strong rifle. Kirk does 'destruct testing' on a regular basis as part of his QC program and it takes a powerful charge to get one of those rifles to break a gun. I toured the plant in late October and Kirk showed me a rifle .. 45-110, that someone had MISTAKENLY USED 5744 AS A BLACK POWDER SUBSTITUTE. Had cases filled with 99 GRAINS OF 5744. The rifle showed damage after the 3rd. shot was fired. It did not come apart, but split. That's almost 5 times the recommended max charge published by Lyman (others may vary). Shiloh states that the 38-55 and 40-75 are suitable for smokeless .. because the cartridge industry does manufacture off the shelf ammo for those calibers, and those cartridges are well within the safe charge threshold. The rifles are comparable in strength to the Ruger #1. Just make sure you follow established loading criteria, and don't use smokeless as a black powder substitute, filling the case .. as someone has already done. (fortunately for them they were shooting a Shiloh and not a lower quality rifle .. or it could have been a very serious incident). At any rate, black powder is not any more difficult to load for than smokeless, it just takes a little education. Then you're shooting a traditional rifle with traditional powder. Highly recommended. Good shootin.
GRAINS GRAINS
min Vel. (fps) max Vel. (fps)
AA 5744 18 1135 21 1274
IMR 4895 29.5 1265 34 1472
IMR 3031 28 1271 33 1525
IMR 4198 21.5 1271 25 1431
You need to be real careful with smokeless that you don't accidentally end up with a double charge in the case. The Shiloh is however a very strong rifle. Kirk does 'destruct testing' on a regular basis as part of his QC program and it takes a powerful charge to get one of those rifles to break a gun. I toured the plant in late October and Kirk showed me a rifle .. 45-110, that someone had MISTAKENLY USED 5744 AS A BLACK POWDER SUBSTITUTE. Had cases filled with 99 GRAINS OF 5744. The rifle showed damage after the 3rd. shot was fired. It did not come apart, but split. That's almost 5 times the recommended max charge published by Lyman (others may vary). Shiloh states that the 38-55 and 40-75 are suitable for smokeless .. because the cartridge industry does manufacture off the shelf ammo for those calibers, and those cartridges are well within the safe charge threshold. The rifles are comparable in strength to the Ruger #1. Just make sure you follow established loading criteria, and don't use smokeless as a black powder substitute, filling the case .. as someone has already done. (fortunately for them they were shooting a Shiloh and not a lower quality rifle .. or it could have been a very serious incident). At any rate, black powder is not any more difficult to load for than smokeless, it just takes a little education. Then you're shooting a traditional rifle with traditional powder. Highly recommended. Good shootin.
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