Rowdy,
The weather coooperated this afternoon so I went to the range with 70 cartridges
loaded with the Black Dawge bullets....
35 cartridges - KIK 3F / 36 grs by weight
35 cartridges - SWISS 2F / 36 grs by weight
cases - R-P 44-40
primers - 2 1/2
Velocity with both - 1,300 f.p.s. area - ballistic replication of the original 44-40 b.p. cartridge
Results:
Fouling.......KIK 3F - after 20 rounds there was a solid ring of fouling beginning to form at the muzzle and when I cleaned the barrel after round #35 it had extended back into the barrel 4 to 5"
. It took a bit of effort to remove it.
SWISS 2F - flawless performance.
No hard ring of fouling was experienced. After 35 rounds, cleaning patches went through the barrel smoothly.
Interestingly, a look through the bore after every 10 rounds revealed that the fouling from both powders was light except that with the KIK powder, that nasty hard ring of fouling eventually started forming at the muzzle end of the barrel.
accuracy..........KIK 3F - 1st grioups were 2+ times larger than those produced by SWISS and accuracy really went downhill from about the 21st round onward.
SWISS 2F - accuracy maintained throughout all 35 rounds. Last 5 shot group was as good as the first five shot group.
Conclusion.....
I would suggest that Black Dawge load their b.p. rifle ammunition (could use "Rifle" to designate it as adapted to rifles) with SWISS 2F. It has definitely proven itself vastly superior with their bullet that holds .7 grs of lube. They could charge a slight premium for their "Rifle" b.p. ammunition to make up for the cost difference in using Swiss (approx 2.50- 3.00/box). THEIR CUSTOMERS WOULD BE MUCH HAPPIER.
MORE REPEAT BUSINESS TOO!
I would also suggest that the .428" bullet diameter be increased to .429-.430 which would be a better fit in current .44 barrels. I had bumped up the bullet to .430" prior to loading them. One user reported leading using this ammunition. I did not have any with the larger diameter bullets.
w44wcf