Given the trouble I'm having finding the smokeless powder I want/need, any suggestions for black powder or better yet a BP substitute load(s) for a 45-70? Would be much appreciated. I'm shooting a modern Marlin 1895. Thank you in advance, Richard
RichardAustin,
Your best bet is to shoot TrailBoss powder, unless your heart is set on Black powder(subs). It's alot of fun to shoot these TB loads. Anyway here is a link to Hodgdon Triple 7 data:
http://hodgdon.com/PDF/muzzleloading_manual_2008.pdf?CHECKBOX_1=onyou have to scroll down to the cartridge data portion.
Have fun and stay safe! Tom
If you want to shoot BP you can get a ton of info in a book by Paul Matthews. Black Powder has a lot of problems with fowling you need to deal with this if you are going to shoot any amount of rounds. Straight BP will cause accuracy problems in a few shots unless you find a way to keep the build up soft. Matthews goes into several solutions to this problem. The Book is Loading the Black Powder Rifle Cartridge. I shoot duplex loads as described in this book and find them to be very clean with little buildup. Good luck and make sure you read the section on brass cleaning. I all most forgot to mention he has a good bit of info on BP substitute loads.
American Pioneer Powder
Jim Shockey's gold, consistent, clean, powerful.
Give Blackhorn 209 a try. Best BP substitute on the market. Clean up with regular solvents, just like smokeless ammo.
http://www.blackhorn209.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/b209blackpowdercartridgedata.pdf
Load my 444 with 209 on occasion,great stuff and easy cleanup.
Trail Boss loads are fun, for sure, and easy cleanup because it is not BP. Also I use Blue Dot with some home cast loads and am very well satisfied with it, and RL-7 and IMR4198.