This article written by Herman Erhart Jr., was published in the #182, July/Aug 2006 issue of the Fouling Shot.
Many years ago a deceased big game hunter’s son gifted me with a 12 pound, T. Bland of London, double barrel, 3” black powder express rifle. It was a top break, doll head under lever, exposed hammers with two triggers. The rifle was in excellent condition, but as no ammo was available at that time I put it in the gun safe and forgot about it.
Some time in the late 70’s I bought 20 each 3-1/4” .577 brass cases from Bell. After a few more years I located a Lyman #585213 hollow base Minie ball mould. Wanting a flat base bullet, I turned down the cone on the base pin. When cast with wheel weights, this gave a flat base bullet weighing 575 grains. The bullets measure .589”, which matches well with the .587” groove diameter of the bores.
I lived close to RCBS in Oroville, California so I had them make up a set of dies, shell holder, inside case neck reamer and a file trim die to fit my RCBS A-2 press that takes the 1-1/4” dies. I prepared the cases and then, not being able to find any loading data for this caliber, and showing a lot of bravado and very little sense, I loaded up 10 cases full of 2F black powder (185 grains) and 10 cases with the equivalent load of Pyrodex Cartridge powder. I tried the black powder loads first; WOW!! I’m not small, 6’ 4” and 275 pounds, but as I did-n’t really lean into it, when the smoke cleared I was about two steps back from where I started. I then opted to try the Pyrodex loads thinking they would surely be a wee bit easier than the black powder loads. WRONG. Though the Pyrodex loads gave a little less smoke they had the same, if not a little sharper recoil than the black powder loads. Since several of the people at the range were interested in the rifle I persuasively talked them into shooting up the remaining eight rounds. After this experience I cleaned the rifle and brass and put it back in the gun safe.
Many years ago a deceased big game hunter’s son gifted me with a 12 pound, T. Bland of London, double barrel, 3” black powder express rifle. It was a top break, doll head under lever, exposed hammers with two triggers. The rifle was in excellent condition, but as no ammo was available at that time I put it in the gun safe and forgot about it.
Some time in the late 70’s I bought 20 each 3-1/4” .577 brass cases from Bell. After a few more years I located a Lyman #585213 hollow base Minie ball mould. Wanting a flat base bullet, I turned down the cone on the base pin. When cast with wheel weights, this gave a flat base bullet weighing 575 grains. The bullets measure .589”, which matches well with the .587” groove diameter of the bores.
I lived close to RCBS in Oroville, California so I had them make up a set of dies, shell holder, inside case neck reamer and a file trim die to fit my RCBS A-2 press that takes the 1-1/4” dies. I prepared the cases and then, not being able to find any loading data for this caliber, and showing a lot of bravado and very little sense, I loaded up 10 cases full of 2F black powder (185 grains) and 10 cases with the equivalent load of Pyrodex Cartridge powder. I tried the black powder loads first; WOW!! I’m not small, 6’ 4” and 275 pounds, but as I did-n’t really lean into it, when the smoke cleared I was about two steps back from where I started. I then opted to try the Pyrodex loads thinking they would surely be a wee bit easier than the black powder loads. WRONG. Though the Pyrodex loads gave a little less smoke they had the same, if not a little sharper recoil than the black powder loads. Since several of the people at the range were interested in the rifle I persuasively talked them into shooting up the remaining eight rounds. After this experience I cleaned the rifle and brass and put it back in the gun safe.
In the ensuing years, while reading through old gun books and magazines, I learned that in the mid 1880’s the factory load for the 3” BP EXPRESS cartridge was 167 grains of black powder and a soft lead bullet weigh-ing 610 grains which gave a muzzle velocity of 1650 f.p.s. and also a 570 grain hollow point bullet with a velocity of 1725 f.p.s. This apparently was the top load using soft lead bullets. When the loading companies switched to a hardened or alloyed lead bullet, it appears a higher breech pressure was developed caused by a higher bullet resistance to the deep riflings and swaging the bullet to bore size.
As a result this produced a higher bullet velocity and at the same time, took what was a manageable recoil level and upped it to being unmanageable. I can personally attest to that fact. Based on this information I estimated the muzzle velocity of my load of 185 grains of 2F and a 575 grain wheel weight bullet must have approached 1900 f.p.s. When I pulled the trigger something went down on both ends.
In the late 1890’s both Eley and Kynoch had segued to the new smokeless powder called Cordite. Loads ranging from 65 to 100 grains of powder and jacketed bullets weighing from 650 to 750 grains were produced. During this time the black powder loads went out of production and had all but disappeared by WWI. The nitro loads were still available up to the 1960’s. It appears the full nitro loads, 100 grains of Cordite and a 750 grain solid jacketed bullet produced recoil so unmanageable that big game hunters opted for smaller calibers like the .500 Nitro single or double rifle. The smaller calibers were more manageable. This ultimately led to the end of commercial production of this cartridge. With all of this history one would think this 120 year old cartridge would be dead, buried and forgotten, but not so. If one does a little searching bullets and boxer cases can be found. I even saw a set of dies on eBay for this cartridge.
About six years ago I saw Bertram’s ad for .577 N.E. basic brass, so I again purchased 20 cases. A short time after that I found an article on smokeless loads for big bore black powder double rifles. It seems the recommended load for this caliber was 73 grains of IMR 3031 for a muzzle velocity of 1700 to 1725 f.p.s. with a 570 grain lead bullet. This closely approximates the 75 grains of Cordite and a 650 grain lead bullet load that was popular in the early 1900’s.
About six years ago I saw Bertram’s ad for .577 N.E. basic brass, so I again purchased 20 cases. A short time after that I found an article on smokeless loads for big bore black powder double rifles. It seems the recommended load for this caliber was 73 grains of IMR 3031 for a muzzle velocity of 1700 to 1725 f.p.s. with a 570 grain lead bullet. This closely approximates the 75 grains of Cordite and a 650 grain lead bullet load that was popular in the early 1900’s.
Dumping those 73 grains of powder into that big case left approximately a 1 1/2” space between the powder and the base of the bullet. I solved this problem by using a 5/8” punch and a 1” sheet of Styrofoam to cut out a pile of wads. By cutting several wads in half and stack-ing a 1” and 1/2” wad I had a perfect wad column height. I then loaded up ten rounds and headed to the range with my son and his business partner.
In order to show it wouldn’t hurt them I fired off a round. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the black powder loads so I talked them into firing off two rounds each. Then with some degree of hubris I fired off the remaining five rounds, which I regretted for the next few days. This load seemed to be very accurate as we were able to hit an 18” steel plate at 100 yards. As I wanted to load up 25 rounds, at my next casting session I cast up 50 bullets then picked out 25 of the best by looks and weight. I shoot them unsized so I gave them a good coat of Lee’s Liquid Alox and let them cure for several days. When the lube was sufficiently dried I put together 25 rounds and headed for the range. Again the rifle was of great inter-est to the young shooters. The older curmudgeons, like me, knew better than to take up on the offer to pop off a round. I fired one round for show. I came home with four unfired rounds, the rest were fired up by several young guns. Believe me, I got more pleasure and less pain watching others shooting rather than doing it myself. I guess I’ll have to load up another bunch for the newcomers.
The peculiar feature of this rifle is that it doesn’t have the ear splitting crack or sharp recoil of belted magnums but rather an awe inspiring boom and a long heavy recoiling shove. Since I wouldn’t dare to shoot this rifle from the bench, I’ve taken the information gathered from shooting it to determine that the barrels are regulated to about 50 yards. If you want to hit something at 75 yards, I don’t think it would make any difference which barrel you use. Thanks to cast bullets this fine old rifle is once again alive and kicking.
The peculiar feature of this rifle is that it doesn’t have the ear splitting crack or sharp recoil of belted magnums but rather an awe inspiring boom and a long heavy recoiling shove. Since I wouldn’t dare to shoot this rifle from the bench, I’ve taken the information gathered from shooting it to determine that the barrels are regulated to about 50 yards. If you want to hit something at 75 yards, I don’t think it would make any difference which barrel you use. Thanks to cast bullets this fine old rifle is once again alive and kicking.