Yes, bullets that sort for an express rifle are hard to find in paper patch form. My smallest/shortest at about 1" long and 410 grs. My rifles have faster twist. Most paper patched bullets are over 500 gr. Grease grooves will probably be better for your uses.

So, drop tubing or vibrating will only fill the case with so much powder. The physical limit this way is far less than any safety threshold so it is normal to start with a load that will vibrate or drop tube to a level that will just fit under your bullet with a wad and no compression. This is effectively a minimum load for that bullet and wad combination.

To a different load means adding more powder - and that necessitates doing something to create the space for it, and compression is what gets you there.

So let's back up.

Start with bullet seating depth. The bullet normally would be engraved through the first band in a target load. But they will not seat easily in a fouled barrel so figure that you may want to back off from that just slightly. Put the first band on the rifling but not into it more than a minimal amount. That overall length (OAL) with that bullet and your wad will determine how high your powder column must be to fill the case, and thus your minimum load with drop tubing or vibrating.

Next add 2 grs of powder to that total and drop tube that into the case. Your bullet will sit too high to meet your OAL, so compress it with a compression die (buffaloarms.com).

Continue adding powder in 2 gr increments until you find a load that shoots well and you are done.

That's a bit over simplified, but that's the process in a nutshell. You can compress black powder up to 3/8" easily. At some point, you will have so much compression that the brass will bulged and the case will not chamber. With luck, you will have an accurate load before then, but if not, there are ways to deal with that as well.

Good luck and let us know how you do. I believe there are others here that shoot bp in similar cartridges. They may have some additional suggestions.

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BrentD, (Professor - just for Stan)

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