Professor Marvel has linked to London Jack, I'll ad my 2 cents.

I contacted London Jack from that very website... a very personable fellow.
I ordered a Mauser holster and was told about 6 weeks delivery.

I received a fine product in exactly 6 weeks to the day, from England no less!
The quality of construction and pattern were first rate.
I highly recommend the gent as a maker and a man at his word.




 

A .38 full of BP will never be accused of being a bunnyphart load 

Yep the no airspace thing is not as critical as some people make it out to be.

In cartridge guns and C&B pistols you know you have too much airspace when there is a noticeable delay between pulling the trigger and the boom.  I hear it most often in C&B pistols with mouse fart loads.

First question, is it 2F or 3F?

3F is for modern muzzle loaders only.
2F can be used in cartridges, shot shells and modern muzzle loaders.
Hodgdon does not recommend that any grade of 777 be used in antique firearms.

Load it to just shy of the base of the bullet. Hodgdon does not recommend compressing 777.

 yeah, yeah yeah... just like Hellgate I have used it wrong too.  I was in a place I couldn't get BP for a while and used APP and 777 flown in for us (funny story about what is considered dangerous and they won't transport on military contracted flights...).  I just loaded it like I do Real powder.

I also don't care what grain size of powder I load for Cowboy shooting, I shoot FFFg, FFg, Fg and probably floor sweepings.  I mainly shoot reenactment powders when I can get them (so I'm cheap...).  I have shot Fg from cap and ball revolvers and even 4F and 4F mixed with 1F.  As you can see I'm a "snob" (NOT) when it comes to shooting at targets 10 to 15 yards away from revolvers, rifles and shotguns.

Now saying all of that and sounding smug, I will admit I just paid $67.99/lb for 4 lbs of IMR 4064 last week which is only enough for just 699 loaded rounds (unless I spill some), with tax, shipping and hazmat that is over $0.47 per round!  I will spend money when it counts but as I said, cowboy action ranges unless you are in a PRS or some sort of long range side match just shoot what you can get.

You can always have space in a case (horrors!) even with BP.  John Kort found a bunch of 19th century shells loaded in partially filled cases.  I'm not sure where the "use a full case or seat the bullet against the powder" came from.  Smokeless powder generates a LOT more pressure a LOT more quickly (I can show you the pressure ramp rate charts).

Hellgate's suggested 13 grains sounds good and he is RIGHT, 777 loads are still very low pressure loads.  The manufacturers have to warn us that eating the powder can be harmful to our health and Prop. 65 will warn you that you should not attempt to reproduce after using a substance as dangerous as 777.

All joking aside, firearms are serious things, they can and will kill you or others if mishandled.  But, BP and BP substitutes are not some mystical art, they are in fact easier to use than smokeless powder.

~Mako

Sedalia Dave, great picture! I do not anneal, hopefully won't ever need to. One of the reasons I run good stout loads in my guns.
Mako, thank you for the most timely case information. I have literally thousands of .38 Special cases [mostly once-fired] and this information gives me hope for BP. I think using a 150-158 grain RNFP with a strong  APP load will be my starting point for going this route.
Thank you to ALL who have given me much needed and appreciated insight!