doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Reloading Question

Stan, I agree. Gil

As a poster suggested, the wildly varying velocities in some of these loads is probably attributed to a faulty chronograph or incorrect use of the chronograph.

Eightbore, I thought the same until I fired 8 Winchester factory loads after shooting handloads and the AA's varied by maybe 25 fps wherein the handloads were erratic over the same chronograph. It could have been the reloader (me), but I follow the same procedure loading one at a time from start to finish. I may not have had sufficient or consistent seating pressure according to BP, but according to the Ideal manual, seating pressure with modern powders isn't as important as it once was. Gil

The gun in question is a 16 gauge 1884 Rigby SLE that was sleeved in 1955 with conventional steel barrels and proofed for 2 1/2" length shells at 3 tons.

Gil,
I have never seen dripping fiber wads. I have bought pre-lubed wads, and they are heavier and stiffer, but never dripping. Pre-lubed fiber wads are harder for me to find. I tend to buy the dry ones and then soak them in odds and ends of black powder cartridge lube and/or melted Crisco. But mostly, I used them dry and they never seem to get hard with age.

Do you suppose the high variance in velocities could be due to variation in the recrimping process? Were these reloaded shells or virgins?

I was told by someone who knows that hard fiber wads are better than soft, but he didn't say why. As above, I found that velocity with them can be very erratic. Any wisdom on hard vs. soft?

The same person recommended Swiss BP over Goex, again he didn't say why - thoughts?

I fired both new unfired and once fired. Crimp depth before roll crimping was at least .25" with a good roll over. With the small gas seal, the X12X with the same charges, all was good. Gil

LGF, Swiss is the powder of choice among competitive rifle matches. It is typically faster for a given granulation, and less fouling and a bit more consistent from shot to shot. These are somewhat subjective however (except for as the overwhelming favorite among the best rifle competitors.

Wet fiber wads are typically used in muzzleloaders shooting clays. Soaked in a liquid cleaning solution and squeezed out on loading. The loads are shot right away so no problem contaminating the powder charge. Not used in shot shells where they are not used right away. I use lubed wads in my black powder loads and they work very well keeping the fouling soft and lubing the bores. Lubed wads keep the fiber dust from blowing back into the shooters face. I also use OE powder as it is as fast as Swiss and the fouling is a little lighter and softer. Easily run 50 + loads on the clays course and do not have to punch the tubes in the course of shooting a round. 1fg. in the 10 gauge and 1.5 or 2 fg. in 12,16 and 20's. Work great and hit hard on the course and in the field.