met up with a friend of mine on Dec. 22 and we had a great time. :)

Between us we had 4 Snider-Enfield 577's, a Remington Hepburn? .40-70, a Martini-Henry 577/450, a Swinburn Martini 500/450, a 450 BPE side by side, and a Lancaster 500 Ovalbore SxS.
We also had my 1894 Winchester, a Lee-Enfield, and a PH .451 Whitworth, but that's for another board.

His 500 double was my favorite of the lot, quite a serious load in that oldie. It was a 115gr charge of powder(I think it takes up to 120) It was originally a pinfire cartridge and converted many years ago to a center-fire.

Found out my 70grain load with the 320gr round ball in my Snider sporter is averaging 1125fps.

Shot some bigger conicals out of the Snider Carbine and they clocked at 915fps.

I just installed a front sight on my Snider carbine and am working on another Snider project gun. So only 3 of the things at the moment.

It's official, my most coveted black powder cartridge rifle is a Lancaster ovalbore SxS. I'll take any calibre but .577 Snider or .500 Express would be preferred. All that a guy needs to do to get one is remortgage the house! oh well, but it's nice to have a dream.

Went the other direction...worked with a .32 Flinter and a 32-20 Marlin. Still trying to find the right combination for the Marlin (want a BP load), but think the last loads tried are where to start next time...were looking good at then end.

Idea is that I want to hunt next year with only BPCR...small game included.

a good goal to have. I have been close to only BP hunting for a few years. But the 30-30, 12 gauge, and even a .22 rimfire sometimes sneak in. I want to take all big game for the next few years with black powder in my Sniders and flintlock. Small game with shotshells in my Snider, but bigger fowl still with smokeless 12 gauge loads.

Ribbonstone, those 32's are for small game I guess, do you use your rolling blocks for big game? What calibres?

There is what strted life as a Danish M1867. Old friend of mine gave up hunting (he just got too old) and sent it to me...was a project rifle when he was gunsmith school in the early 1950's. Actually, even in comparison to modern rifles, it's the best off hand rifle I own. Existing barrel was perfect, he just set it back a bit, rechambered it for 45/70, and cut it at 27". Uses a no-name tang rear, nice sight, very simple and solid, but haven't seen another like it. Very plain and simple conversion, but it got the dimentions and shape of the stock right.

Other RB is box stock 50-70 New York contract musket, 32" barrel. Shoots well, but can see why the 45/70 was such an improvment in trajectroy in 1873.

There is a 38/55 Winchester '94 in the mix as well as the 32-20 Marlin 27S pump.

Use a repro. 10ga. Pedersoli SXS percussion for shotgun duty.

For a couple of years have only hunted with iron sights, but included some smokless rifles...in the deep brush/swamps an old Winchester 1910 .401WSL is a good "thumper".

sounds like a decent collection. That 10 gauge must be fun to use.

I have been hunting without a scope as well for about 10 years, I don't miss them.

Muzzle loading shotguns, given the same choke constrictions, work as well as the smokeless rounds...1 1/2Oz of #2 shot at 1200fps dopesn't much care what pushed it. One instance where smokeless isn't a giant step ahead balistically.

Fouling is the 32-20's main problem...three or four shots and you'd better clean. Even the .32 flinter will go about twice that (one of the advantages of a patched ball being run in from the muzzle each time).

caragnan I saw your post re the Lancaster A friend of mine with whom I shoot has a 577/500 double rifle A very handsome Piece made for a Maharajah cased with all accessories.We have put a few through it[Loaded by somebody else] and he would like to shoot it often.The cartriges we used were duplex loads and we dont want to get into that.We dont know what bullets to use and we dont know what B P loads to use.As you can imagine its a very expensive rifle and we dont want to get it wrong.Any suggestions?

I am not the best one to ask about that. I'll suggest you pull apart one of the cartridges, if they are working well. Measure up the bullet and try to get a mould close to it. If it is not shooting really well, then you will have some fun. The oval bore is an oddity. The advantage is the lack of sharp eadged rifling so fouling does not really build up. These Lancaster rifles are incredible shooters with a bullet that fits right.

I think that the rifle should take a full load of black powder, maybe use Fg rather than FFg to reduce pressure a bit. Lower the charge and work it up slowly if using 777.

The 577/500 is quite a powerhouse sporter round. Hopefully you can get all set up. There is no bullet mould in the cased set? I thought sometimes they had them.