..........I plan on working on a black powder load if the Black Dawge doesn't work out . I really enjoy working with the 1873 in 44wcf .The new short rifle needs a .429 dia bullet my old half round shoots .427 imagine that ? Why can't they all take the same bullet ?
Rowdy,
They can if one prepares b.p. ammunition like it was manufactured back when Winchester was making '73's.
In other words, a soft lead bullet of .426 - .427" diameter over a quality black powder.
Prior to the mid 1890's when smokeless powder and metal patched (jacketed) bullets made their appearance bore / groove dimensions varied widely according to George Madis, who wrote the Winchester Book (my '73 made in 1882 has a .433" groove diameter. I have heard of some being as large as .435".). George told me that Winchester knew that their b.p. ammunition would shoot accurately in barrels of varying diameter so didn't correct the situation.
That changed in the mid 1890's because smokeless powdered ammunition did not shoot so well in larger barrels.
Today, handloaded replications of early Winchester b.p. ammunition shoots well in my rifle's oversized bore. Black powder bumps up the undersized .427" diameter soft lead bullet to fill the bore just like the original ammunition did 100+ years ago......
I Took my gun for a walk a few times this year but didn't see anything legal. The magazine contained black powder ammunition assembled to replicate that vintage ammunition of yesteryear.
w44wcf