Thread: Help with black powder rifle

Hi can anyone help, I have a black powder muzzle loading rifle which has been built by a Canadian police armourer, problem is that it has been built using a .308 inch barrel from a 30/30 rifle ,my problem is I have no bullet mould to use with this rifle and I’m having trouble finding anyone that can give me information on what mould I could use as this is not common as a black powder calibre , yes I did know I would have trouble when I brought the rifle but it was such a great little rifle I thought I would give it a go, any help or advice would be great

I looked at it several times but the caliber put me off. I like barrels I can poke my finger down.I will look in some BP loading books for a mould.

Yes my other black powder rifles are 58cal and the barrel of this one looks so small but it’s such a nice little rifle I thought I would give it a crack, thanks for help

Just get a projectile close and size it, And use a patch to fit to barrel. Upper Hutt gun shop would be the guy to talk to. Slug the barrel to get accurate measurements.

cheers

Take it your shooting ball?

At this stage im looking at anything that may work it has been suggested to try buckshot ball with patch

It will bump up to fit when fired, problem will be residue in the barrel after a few shots

I'd follow Maca's advice, he knows his stuff.

A slug in .301 PP'd up to .308/.309 works great in my 308win with smokeless, might be a place to start.

Cheers for that any idea where i could get a mold of that size

That's were it gets interesting. For smokeless PP the rule of thumb is bullet should be about .001 over bore and PP about .001 over groove. A custom mold would be ideal but I've just been using a Lee C312-185-1R as it throws a .301 nose and used a lathe to take the ribs down to size. A .301 sizer may also work but that would probably need to be custom too.

Slugging the barrel would be good before investing in molds etc. Firing a couple of 30 cal casts through may reveal a few things too.

Cheers

Try to get a Lyman mould cheap as chips, email or ring Upper Hutt as found him really helpful

Sorry make that a Lee mould, a Minnie would be good but think that cal maybe a little small. Easy mould to make if you have a good machist or the equipment.