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RBinAR

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While shooting the 40 caliber smokeless muzzle loader I had considerable help deciding on a load. Notably there are some pretty good sources for the 405 Winchester which is very close to the caliber we?re shooting.

The only problem is the lightest weight bullet normally shot from Teddy?s caliber is 300 grains. Still with this information it was possible to gain an idea of what will work within the pressure limit required.

The following is what was discovered with three particular powders. All components were the same with every load. The bullet was the 200 grain Shockwave, the primer was the CCIm, and I used a 1/8 fiber wad.

H4198 proved to be useful with loads of 41 to 45 grains. The maximum bullet speed was 2320fps.

H322 worked with loads from 50 to 54 grains. Bullet speed at maximum load was 2488fps.

Benchmark loads range from 58 to 62 grains. Bullet speed at maximum load is 2687fps.

From what can be seen here is the normal course of a smokeless muzzle loader. However the effect is faster in this caliber than in a larger bore. Notice that as you change powder speeds and load maximum goes up in a fairly linear rate.

Using that profile it would not be hard to predict that slower powders will work in much the same manner. If we go to H-4895 load limits will probably go up about 4 grains. Moving even slower Reloader 15 or Varget would make about 70 grains. With each step bullet speeds could be expected to go up 100 to 125fps. So I?d expect 70 grains of powder to shoot 2900fps.
 
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