powder chargers

[petersburg]

How long would you store powder chargers made up before you use them? Checking to see other opinions.

[Don Dixon]

Powder charges put up in the plastic tubes most skirmishers use, and then packed in an air tight container such as a military ammuniiton can, will last for years. The bigger problem is the lubrication on the bullets. Since the only good lubricants are natural, they have a brief life span when put on the bullets. What I've done for years is load ammunition, pack it in ammo cans, but only lubricate it before I go shoot it.

Regards,
Don Dixon
2881V

[petersburg]

OK Thanks Don

[Muley Gil]

When I started skirmishing again in 2006, I used ammo that my daddy had made up in he '70s. It has been stored in metal ammo cans. It shot fine.

[jonk]

So long as the ammo is kept in a cool dry place, the presence of some slight air circulation won't hurt the black powder in the least. How long it lasts is up to debate, and depends on what lube you use.

I know I have some .69 tubes that I charged and seated a ball in to later dip lube a few years ago that are fine. No lube on the ball until I'm ready to rock and roll to contaminate powder or otherwise dry out.

I know our team commander uses a synthetic lube of mobil 1 and beeswax. He has some ammo made a few years in advance that he swears is just as good now as when he loaded it. Personally looking at his hit times and consistency I doubt this, but he believes it in any case.

Now you get into loaded brass cases, i.e. conventional internally primed ammo, centuries.

[Cannonman1]

I stumbled on this technique when I ordered some flexible vinyl tubes from McMasters.. Ordered the half inch size for my .58 rifle musket and found they could handle a minie but it stretched them a bit too much and a lubed round would tend to pop out. Soooo.. I ordered some 5/8 inch tubes (These are all 1.5 inches long btw)
The interesting thing about this is that the 5/8 inch tubes were too large and the .575 sized bullets would just fall out... but.. the half inch tube will telescope into the 5/8 inch tube like a piston.. Very nice match up .. so what i found I could do was put the powder charge in the half inch tube, insert a tissue paper wad to hold it in and drop the lubed ball into the 5/8 inch tube and just put the two open ends together making a complete round.. Advantages are that it protects the skirt, keeps the lube soft and does not dry out at all, prevents lube contamination of powder (also makes breaking up unused rounds easy), keeps my hands less greasy for handling loading operations and rounds don't get greasy in my cartridge box.. Also makes handling my percussion caps more positive and fluid.. totally dry and easily handled rounds coming out of box with no spilled powder.. Disadvantage is that, depending on the shooter, it may take just a spec more time to load a round during a match.. but not as much as you might think and with a bit of practice and with the advantages, may actually take less time.. and I can still get 3 aimed shots off in a minute with no problem. This has probably been done before .. I assume it has but like anything discovered in experimentation or by accident has a certain amount of "I wonder if anyone has tried this??" What do you guys think??

Side note.. When shooting I break the round open at the muzzle, pull the paper wad with my teeth, charge the powder and then invert the other half (A slight press of the tube with a standard minie will squeeze the minie out and it can be placed in the muzzle while holding the tube).. Slick !!... also, the pulling of the wad with the teeth, spitting out the paper and squirting out the ball by finger pressure inserts a kind of authentic spin on the loading process which I get a kick out of.
I use a beeswax mutton tallow mix for lube and this seems to work very well. I don't lube the hollow base and so I don't get any lube into the tissue paper.

Also... 5/8 inch tube telescopes into the 3/4 inch tube and works wonderfully for .69 cal !!

Bill

[Cannonman1]

One thing I also found convenient is that if I am using different rounds or any variance in powder charges in a testing mode, I can mark the outside of the black vinyl tube with a white marker..

[bobanderson]

I stumbled on this technique when I ordered some flexible vinyl tubes from McMasters.Also...

5/8 inch tube telescopes into the 3/4 inch tube and works wonderfully for .69 cal !!

Bill

This intrigues me no end. Can you post some pictures, Bill?

I especially want to improve my smoothbore load tubes.

[Cannonman1]

Trying to post pic... having issues on my end.... Images sent by personal message..