JunkCollector wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 11:54 pm
Could be....I was impressed by the start.
I'll have to see if I can do any distance with it.
Kept that propane tank for it.
Test some drops.
Zee said not his thing but I can picture him enjoying one.
Two useful tools for you:
The website for NOE bullet molds gives the blueprint for every mold in their catalog. At the bottom right hand corner of that blueprint is that bullet's estimated B.C. Just find one as close to the bullet you're using and make that your starting SWAG.
Federal has an online ballistic calculator that I've used a lot.
Between them and some chronograph data, you should be able to plot the rifle out pretty well. Be prepared to work in small increments of range. I recently plotted out an approximate trajectory for the 535 grain Postell bullet, which the BPCR competition boys typically launch at subsonic speeds to avoid the "trans-sonic wobblies" as they slow downrange. With a 1000 yard zero, that thing is 50 FEET high at 500 yards, and six feet low at 1025. You might get that arc a little flatter with different slug and propulsion options, but be advised, it's a mortar. The good news is that full case / lightly compressed black powder charges seem to be stupid-consistent in the velocities they give, so once you have the range, wind is likely to be your bigger enemy.
My biggest complaint with the BPCR sighting systems is that they are often EXCEEDINGLY analog, even by my Luddite standards. Instead of well defined quarter-minute clicks, you're likely to be aligning hash marks with a friction dial, or turning a polygonal knob on an external adjustment scope on which one flat presumably equals one MOA or some fraction thereof. All as potentially precise as any other system, but you really have to (a.) know it and (b.) clear your head of those other systems while running it. To that end, your 1884 should have that era's Buffington sight - the ballistic nerd's combat computer of the day. Instructions for such are undoubtedly out there.
