Anybody shot blackpowder in their lever gun? is it a bad idea?

I did some just the other day. It works just fine in my Marlin. I used a drop tube and followed my brothers directions. It wasn't even all that dirty in the gun. It was just too dirty for me. I like the advantages of not having explosives kept in my house as well.

Anybody shot blackpowder in their lever gun? is it a bad idea?

Leadlum,

I'm pretty sure the Marlin folks got tired of me talking about shooting black powder in my lever guns, especially my 336 cowboy in 38-55 (your other post indicates you are interested in 38-55). I load a standard rifle primer, 42 grains of Goex FFg, a 0.30-inch card wad and a 40:1 (lead:tin) 246 grain bullet from a Lyman mold, lubed with SPG. It averages 1170 fps 10 yards from the muzzle. Trajectory is looping and if I remember right (not at home/don't have my notes), I have it sighted at 2 inches high at 50 yards, on at about 80 yards, and 2 inches low at 100 yards. I've shot three whitetail deer with it so far.

I think it was Mainer on the Marlin forum that told me he killed moose with a similar load, after I had asked if my load would penetrate enough on a deer. I figured if he could kill moose, I sure could kill a deer with it. I shot two does at about 50 yards through both lungs and heart. There was not much, if any expansion and the bullet penetrated completely with caliber-sized hole in and out. Both does ran a few yards and tipped over. I shot a small buck (about 180-190 pounds field-dressed) last year through both lungs, broadside, and complete penetration, but I missed the heart. It fell over on its side, got back up and ran off. I waited 10-15 minutes and followed, only to kick the buck out of its bed after about 80 yards. I waited about another hour to follow more, and kicked it up again after about 100 yards. I killed it with a shot to the neck and a shot to the head. It was either a really tough deer or I need more expansion. I figure the latter. Upon "dissection", I found that only one lung had collapsed from the first shot, even though it was "perfect", right behind the shoulder and out behind the opposite shoulder. Maybe it was just an oddity, but one guy told me he likes to wait for hogs (that he hunts with 38-55 and similar loads) to turn lengthwise before he shoots them, to get more effect.

Anyway, black powder loads in the 38-55 at low velocity penetrate real good (way better than I expected), maybe even too much for deer, even with really soft bullets like mine. I've been hollow-pointing my ammo lately, in anticipation of trying them next year.

Some folks complain about cleaning a lever gun after using black powder, but I think its easy. The bore is certainly easier to clean than with smokeless and jacketed and all that metal fouling. The action on a Marlin is easy to break down and a quick wipe of a wet rag followed by lube cleans things up pretty good. I'd say that 19th century guns shot lots of black powder and some of them are still worth quite a bit of money! ;)

GDay!

boreal has the right view, it was black powder that made the reputation of the 45/70 (and other BP rounds) and if you've an urge to try a few rounds, go for it. Yes, it's dirty, you'll need to clean your barrel with a BP solvent, and you'll need to clean the cases.

It's what the rounds were designed for...may decide never to shoot BP loads again, but it's worth it to give them a try once...if for no other reason than to see what's kept them popular for 130 years.

Haven’t done much with black powder but I have tried a number of loads with Triple 7, mostly 3f. It gives the smoke and I’m not so worried about the cleanup. I have been able to get good accuracy with most bullets I’ve tried.

1895GS:

52gr Triple 7
405 rem
starline
ave 1379fps

52gr Triple 7
300 rem hp
starline
ave 1558fps

52gr Triple 7
405 cast performance gc
starline
ave 1418fps

52gr Triple 7
350 hor fp
starline
ave 1467fps

Think I`m gonna stick with smokeless. Thanks guys; wouldn`t mind popping off a couple just to try.

I've shot BP loads from my one Win '86 and really enjoyed it! I use locally cast bullets that have a good BP lube and clean up of the gun is no more difficult than cleaning it after shooting smokeless. Of course you do have to clean the brass, but that's not all that bad.

There's nothing like the boom and smoke of black powder. I'd recommend trying it at least once.