heading out the door with a "new to me" taylor and co high wall in 45/70. I believe the guns made for taylor by Uberti. fit and finish are nice and it locks up tight. Bore looks good.
I have 3 boxes of smokeless loads for it but want to use blackpowder so if everything goes well today i'll be looking for some advice from you cough, cough, fine gentlemen on how to get started.

once you go "black" you will never go back!

okay-so was able to put the last 6 into about 41/2" using the iron sights. i had some winchester 300gr hollow points and they were some of the dirtiest factory loads i've used.
there is some slop in the trigger when it's cocked that i don't like and i definitely need to look into a tang sight.

any recommendations on a tang or tang/front combo? i see them anywhere from $90-700.
Also any recommendations on places to buy BPCR supplies?

Buffaloarms.com

Yup. Then, talk with these folks; Powder, Inc. about having Holy Black delivered to your door, or go see them in N. Arkansas and tell Jerry the folks from east Texas sent you.

Oh, welcome to the "Dark Side".

Ed

Tim, prior to doing ANY shooting with proper Lead / Tin BP loads you are going to want to clean your rifles barrel .

It's simple,

* Lead / Tin = Solder

* BP sulphuric esidues = flux

* Copper is easy to solder, and has an affinity for solder, under pressure.

Greg

good point, i cleaned it up with butch's yesterday when i got home but i'll give her another go round before switching to BP.

ordered a Lee Shaver mid-height soule sight and the 17A front sight with an internal spirit level.

I'll save a few more pennies over the next few weeks while i'm away at work and hopefully pick up a few reloading items.
Main items on the list
-drop tube and funnel
-Swiss 2f powder
-bullets (gonna start with some 500gr round nose-soft cast to about 12 BH)
-Bore Mop
-need some more brass-100 or so.
.030 and .060 wads.

i've already got Dies, est 40 pieces of remington brass. loads of LR primers.

Cast your bullets to 30:1 alloy and go forth to slay.

Id be careful with Lee Shaver, He riped me off about 10 years ago, big time, on some sights!

Fair enough, of all the comments i've found on his work yours is the 3rd or 4th negative one. I researched his work, Heilman, MVA. The MVA is out of my price range, Mr. Heilman said it would be months for delivery but no promises.

we'll see if i made a bad choice or not, the vast majority of reviews/comments on his sights were positive recommendations.

going to buy bullets for now from BACO. eventually i'll get into casting my own but it's too expensive to do it all at once.

I've got 3 more weeks before i head back home-by that time i should have a healthy stack of packages waiting to open.

Found a Paul Jones mold for a 535gr Postell bullet and added it to the stash. Looks like I'll be getting into casting sooner than I thought.

Lucky you! Casting is part of the magic of BPCR. You don't have to get into expensive gear to cast good bullets.

Ed

question for the casters-i have 50# of pure lead. If i make an alloy of 50% pure lead and 50% lyman #2 i should end up with something in the line of 12BHN correct? I need to know what to add to pure lead to come up with an acceptable alloy. I know i could just add tin at 20:1 but what about antimony?

NO ,....I repeat NO antimony,....

Lead, and pure TIN,....That's It,....

FORGET "BHN",....the alloys that perform best at our pressures and velocities are to SOFT to measure accurately or repeatably on the Brinell scale.

FORGET "Hardness, as a function of additional tin,....tin's about CASTABILITY, .......

Antimony has it's place,....but not in BPCR.

You're gonna' like your Jones mold,...I've got his Creedmore 540, and it's a sweety.

GTC

GTC

Thanks Greg-still a few weeks before i get to play with the new toy but lining everything up to be there waiting on me.

last question- (i'm lying)-20:1 or 30:1?

30:1. 20:1 if you gotta shoot through a dinosaur.

I guess my Hartford Model was built for dinosaur, then.

It loves 20:1.

I was given some 30:1 Lyman 457125 bullets (~510gr) and it doesn't like them as much as my 20:1 out of the same mould.

Jim, I think you're confused about the 20:1. It would be USED by a dinosaur such as yourself to shoot large land mammals.

Ed

I'll tell ya' what,....how be I mix up a bunch of old odds and ends from completely different batches of alloy, powder, and primers,....

we set up on turkeys

....and put some $$$ out on the table ?

Lemme REPEAT something,....I don't give a rat's azz what Sellers, or anybody else says about 20:1 v. 30:1,....they'll BOTH pass the "Thumbnail test",....e.g. VERY soft.

Tin ratios have got nothing to do with "hardness",...or what they'll shoot through.

Nothing.

GTC

well it's official-I'm insane.
the cost to cast my own, load my own and keep her clean has now surpassed the cost of the rifle itself.

2 more weeks and i'm home to start playing with all the new toys. Mrs Tim has allotted a corner of the dining room to stacking all my boxes. unfortunately her acceptance of all the packages cost me a diamond ring for valentines day.

Yup, when the bill arrives for the powder and additional lead, it'll cost you another one.

Ed

My wife wants me to put a price on all my "STUFF" so should I kick the bucket unannounced she knows which cruise package to book. I'm doing a major master bedroom/bath remodel presently to keep her happy as I've been hearing alot of "The only difference between men and boys are the price of their toys" lately!