Smokless in the Uberti 1876 50-95

[Crazy Horse]

Has anyone worked up a load with 5744 for the 50-95? I want to shoot a 350 grain cast bullet with it. I won't try black powder so I will have to find a smokless load somewhere. I shoot BP in my sharps but I an not tearing the lever action down every time I shoot it for cleaning. I have 5 boxes of the Ten-X smokless loads and they shoot good. I wish I knew their load.

[Chuck 100 yd]

Crazy Horse ,I posted this a few weeks ago. Not 5744 but they shoot great.

My search for a decent smokeless load for the .50-95 has ended in less than stellar results. The 2009 Hodgdens Annual Manual has all the Win. 76 cartridges but the .50-95

I tried Chaparral`s suggested load of IMR 4198 with lousy results. Very accurate but so position sensitive that if you don’t raise the muzzle to place the powder to the rear before each shot you will have a stuck bullet in the bore.

The 2007 Hodgdens Annual Manual has an article on Trail Boss powder and suggestions for obsolete cartridges. It states ,find the amount of Trail Boss (TB) to make a 100% load density load and use 70% of that as your starting load.

The neighbors are at the beech this weekend !!!!!!



1- Find the 100% charge ( filled to the bullets base ) = 19.5 gr.TB

2- Find 70% of above = 13.65gr.TB

3- Load 5 rounds with 350gr. Lyman bullet/SPG ,Burtram brass, WLR primer and 13.5 gr.TB

4- Stats over the Chronograph = Vel.= 1091 ES=26.6 SD= 13.3
(80.81 FPS per GR. of powder)

5- Load 5 rounds with same bullet, primer and case with 14.0 gr. TB

6- Stats over the chronograph = Vel.= 1116 ES= 6.1 SD= 3.1 ( WOW!! )
( that ½ gr. Increased velocity by 25 fps. )

7- load 13 rounds to take to the range in a couple of weeks to put on paper.

Range report to follow.

UPDATE !! I fired those 13 rounds at 50 yd. today. 10 were loaded with bullets cast of wheel weight alloy and 3 were of WW and pure lead @ 50/50%.

After sight adjustments I fired a three shot group at 50yd. with WW the group was 1 1/2"
With 50-50 mix the group (3 shots) was just under 1" center to center (almost a single hole! )

This load is soft and very accurate in my rifle. Many more of these loads will go through my barrel. Grin

[Hobie]

You don't have to tear it down, just clean from breech to muzzle instead of muzzle to breech. Also, invert the gun while cleaning so that the crud that does come out the action comes out the top rather than falling to the bottom.

[KirkD]

Crazy Horse, I have not worked with the 50-95, but if I were developing a load for it using 5744, I would start with 26.2 grains. The reason I suggest that is that 26.2 grains of 5744 gives me 1,337 fps in its smaller brother, the .45-60 under a 318 grain bullet. The 50-95 has a larger capacity and only a slightly heavier bullet, so you would not likely achieve 1,300 fps with that load, but it would be a good safe load to start with. If you have a chronograph, you could then slowly increase the load until you got 1,493 fps, which was the original BP velocity advertised in Winchester's 1895 catalogue. 5744 will give you a lower pressure spike for the same velocity and bullet than what BP does, so you'll be safe with a load of 5744 that gives about 1,500 fps with a 300 grain bullet.

If you want to use a heavier 350 grain bullet, then you'll have to ease off a bit on your max velocity. The 350 grain bullet is about 17% more than the standard 300 grain bullet, so I'd back down on my max velocity about 17% to about 1,250 fps. That might be just about where you might find yourself if you started with 26.2 grains of 5744.

[Crazy Horse]

Thanks a lot for the information!!!