Recent content by JohnBz

Gary...........thanks for the lead on thick wads. It is a Russian 44. Applefish .........charts are very interesting. I was trying to go with semi original gallery loads and a Lee .7cc yellow dipper gives 11.1 grains of FFF. Since I couldn't seat the ball any deeper with my Lee die, I went...

Finally got .433 balls to load some 44 Russian gallery rounds. Here is what I have come up with so far: 1st shell is 11 grains FFF with milk carton card ready next to it. 2nd shell is .5cc of corn meal on top, another card ready. 3rd is card on meal and .429 sized ball ready next to it. 4th...

Thanks for all the great info........... Especially like the popsicle stick idea. Have some skinny wooden coffee stirrers that should work perfectly. I'll postpone annealing until I see if I get much worrisome blowby. So simple gallery loads with .440 round balls it will be for now.

Murph, Thanks for all the great info. Guess I'll start off with some light gallery loads and go from there. Any problem with lubing on top of the ball with a q-tip after inserting the ball onto the powder?

So Murph, Is the idea that annealed cases expand more and seal better upon firing and are thus cleaner on the gun, not really true? No real help in preventing cylinder binding, etc.?

I am getting ready to load up some BP ammo for my Berlin made Russian 44 and was wondering if other reloaders anneal their brass first. Have heard that annealed cases will expand more and therefore cause a lot less blowby to gum up the action. Also heard that "from the factory" Starline brass...

.433 would of course not even chamber in .427 Cylinder Bores. Ugh! I have not measured my "New Service" yet, so cross your fingers for me that it is "Okay". Just a reference, my 1891 Colt single action is .424 throat and .430 bore. Those old 44/40 Colt measurements were often all over the...

Sal, Thank you for the Ludwig & Lowe info.

And then there were the German copies of the Russian 44 made, I think, for the Russians after the American contracts ran out. Does anyone have info regarding these? How was the quality of them? Pilot27, any references to those?

I do have some Hornady .427 205gr cowboy bullets I could use. Not sure if they are pure lead or not. Would they be a safe possibility? They are the ones that have a knurled surface instead of lube grooves. Weren't they designed for Lee liquid alox? Could I coat them with a black powder lube...

I would like to shoot my newly acquired 3rd model Russian using black powder, but I need some advice. When I slug the bore I get a low reading of .423 and a high of .427 on the lead slug, depending on where I position the mike. Did it twice and got the same results both times. Is this normal...