Thread: Black Powder 1000 years old. Nitro 140 years young

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

Originally Posted by Warthog

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

Yes it would work in almost any modern cartridge

But it is not really ideal in bottleneck cartridges

BP is at its best in a straight tapered or slightly bottlenecked cartridge

The problem with BP in smaller bore calibers is fouling build up.
A big charge of BP in a small bore will leave a lot of fouling.
The same charge of BP in a large bore will leave the same amount of fouling spread over a much larger surface area.
So fouling build up that deteriorates accuracy will take more shots

I'm sure someone on here has played with BP in modern cartridges for a laugh.

Originally Posted by Warthog

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

The .303 British was originally a Black Powder cartridge.

Originally Posted by Tasbay

The .303 British was originally a Black Powder cartridge.

Yes and lots if guys have tried to get the original ballistics from modern black powder loadings

It's not easy because the original factory BP loading factory made had a solid puck of BP inserted into a partly drawn case.
Which was then formed around the pre made charge.
So it obviously had a specially made charge and a high load density

Still the 303 would be fun with BP because it's a pretty modest case and you just fill it up and put a cast lead bullet on it and away you go

Originally Posted by akaroa1

Yes and lots if guys have tried to get the original ballistics from modern black powder loadings

It's not easy because the original factory BP loading factory made had a solid puck of BP inserted into a partly drawn case.
Which was then formed around the pre made charge.
So it obviously had a specially made charge and a high load density

Still the 303 would be fun with BP because it's a pretty modest case and you just fill it up and put a cast lead bullet on it and away you go

How did they go in the military field with BP in original 303s re fouling issues? Be a bugger to be in the middle of a pull thru as someone charges ya with fixed bayonet....

I believe they had shallow rifling to begin with...but fouling would just have been a thing,I mean they hadn't yet had rifles without it lol. Maybe the" boil the Billy and pour through barrel" we knew to remove corrosive priming,actually had origin's here?.

Metford rifling with rounded lands and grooves minimised fouling, but when they changed to cordite it couldn't stand the heat

Originally Posted by Warthog

Just out of interest... would black powder work in modern cartridges such as a .308 for example?

I have loaded black powder in Snider,577/450 32/20,303,45/70 and 8mm Kroptaschek and maybe others I can not think of.
The 303 and 8mm required a packed full case of 3f powder to get consistent ignition. Now I load them all with light loads of smokeless mainly trailboss or AP70.