Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots NEED HELP Browning BPCR

It is stamped on the barrel of these rifles,” recommended for black powder”. Does anybody with personal experience know if these rifles are safe for smokeless powder? They chamber the same actions for 7 mm Remington magnum, which produces way more pressure, so I can’t believe that they would intentionally weaken the action for the 4570. If you know for certain one way or another About what is safe to do with these Rifles, I would love to hear your thoughts.

It has been said the 45/70 is safe for smokeless. I had one and what little I shot it was with smokeless.
I believe the 40/65 was marked black powder only. There might be another chamber also marked B.P only.
I would shoot it with B.P. As thats what its meant to shoot not that its a safety issue.

Browning is a member of SAAMI and the cartridge 40-65 doesn't have a SAAMI rating is my understanding.

I guess what I’m trying to figure out guys, was browning just covering their ass with the recommended for black powder marking. A Ruger number one is also chambered for 4570 and you can load it as hot as any bolt action. That same action that browning has the recommended for black powder marking on, is also chambered in seven Remington magnum. Did they make this action weaker on purpose for a black powder cartridge? Seems illogical if they did so.

Even original BP rifles can be fired safely with smokeless loads that stay within BP pressures, save only that old soft barrels may experience more wear with jacketed bullets and the higher temps of the smokeless. It’s possible that the BP actions weren’t heat treated the same as ones for smokeless rounds, I suppose. I would contact Browning, but wouldn’t expect any deviation from the stated purpose marked on the rifle, and most of the employees from when those were made are likely retired.

Keep enquiring and maybe you can get a true answer. Meanwhile, Trapdoor Springfield loads should be fine, and maybe all the fun you want to have on the back end. Perhaps one of the BPCR organizations can help you.

Good luck!

I think it's a matter of semantics. (Non-SAAMI support for .40-65 notwithstanding.) Read it another way, as in "we recommend this rifle for your black powder shooting enjoyment". Of course the Miroku High Walls are hell for stout and will take any kind of a sane load you put through them.

https://www.browning.com/content/dam/browning/support/owners-manuals/1885manual.pdf
The manual is available here.
It goes into some detail about what your asking.

You need to purchase the Browning BPCR book by Wayne McLerran (TexasMac). He is the expert on these rifles. I can't find the article right now, but I believe his opinion is that a 40-65 does not have a SAAMI specification, so they just put the "Black Powder Only" on the barrels for that reason. The barrels for the 45-70 and 40-65 come from the same manufacturer.
https://www.texas-mac.com/

Thanks guys.

I shoot my 1880 TD carbine with smokeless loads... but reloading them to TD pressures.

Member crs uses a newer 86 in 45-90 and loads hot without problems send him a pm.mb