I couldn't get a projectile to seat with 15 grains of pyrodex. I'm sure if I really smash one down in the press it would be fine.
I need black powder. Real holy black
Real Holy Black Powder and the substitutes are to be compressed. In fact there is no over compressing. In smaller spaces like Cap & Ball and Cartridge FFFg is the norm and some people use FFFFg when they can find it,
All Pyrodex is course for the designations they give it. Cartridge Grade is much closer to FFg than FFFg.
I do a lot of BP Cartridge shotgun shells (All Brass). I do run into volume shortages on the higher velocity loads so I go to FFg instead of Fg. The fine grains have less space between them, and compress better. There is no such thing as Over Compressing Black and substitute powders.
One other thing I thought of is: especially Pyrodex, but pretty much all cartridges are suppose to be loaded by VOLUME, not by weighing the charge. You might want to get an inexpensive muzzle loading powder measure. They make smaller ones for the 36 and 32 caliber C & B revolvers.
Modern brass has less volume than the original Balloon Head brass. The solid Head or Webb takes a few grains of volume. Old cartridges usually had a lube treated wad between the bullet and the powder. Without a "Lube Cookie" or a lube soaked wad the residue (fouling) builds up much faster. One simple solution is to put lube on the front of the cartridge. Like wiping a potato chip in dip, slather some lard or Crisco on the cartridge. In cool weather I use a pop-cycle stick as a trowel and fill the chamber in front of the cartridge. (that's what you do on C&B revolvers too) For warm weather you need a more stiff lube. I use 2 parts paraffin (or candle wax) and one part Crisco. (I have friends in Cowboy Action shooting that use 357 mag brass, 18-20 grains of FFFg, standard primer, a 1/4" Thich Cookie of paraffin, under the bullet. In hot weather a over powder card under the cookie. When they shoot 5 shots quickly, the melted paraffin drips out their barrel for a minute or two. There is no fouling build up and the HOT WATER clean-up has less scrubbing) When you shoot between 100 and 200 BP cartridges out of a 4 gun competition, BP clean up isn't that much harder than smokeless.
Last "Hack" that I can think of is , Caring for your shot brass. Many will tell you that dropping them is hot water will soften the fouling inside the case, IT WILL! However there is a chemical reaction that will stain you cases an ugly black (it won't hurt anything) But if you want those cases to clean up bright and shiny, use the blue windshield washer fluid. It only takes enough to cover the empty cases, afterward wipe the fouling out, allow to dry a tumble as normal. I had all brass 12- and 20-gauge shells plus a few hundred 45 Colt cases that had several years' worth of staining and would never get shiny. I later went to the wet tumbling with stainless steel pins and detergent. This make them look brand new but isn't necessary.
For my eight 38 S&W revolvers, I use a 700-fps load of HP-38/WW231 load. I sometimes conceal carry my Safety Hammerless (Lemon Squeezer) and would never want to put it back in my pocket after firing BP ammo. (I even have a shoulder holster for this gun) But the making of fire and brimstone has a very profound effect as well as BP ammo is much louder than smokeless loads.
You can PM me If you need more information. I really hope you enjoy your revolver.
Ivan
