Just my two cents, from the new guy! Been reading these posts this evening! Great topics, good answers! So here's some more thoughts to ponder!! Italian single shot copys both Sharps and Remington are fair at best. Replace the barrel with a name brand, with known twist and bore diameter. Then it might shoot good! Watch your breech block for signs of cracking, several rolling block copys have came apart on the range due to breech block problems! The twist rate and bore diameter should be checked before you decide to purchase one! Have inspected three so far that were advertised as 1 in 18 twist with .458 bore only to be a 1 in 20 twist with a .460 bore! Not exactly truth in advertising!
Duplex loads- A no-no in an original single shot! No matter how skilled and carefull you are! Duplexing causes unknown pressure limits, this can do bad things to your rifle and even you! Most duplex because it burns most of the fouling out of the barrel, however after firing such a load have you noticed that the rifle kicked harder? Cartridge was a little harder to extract? Plus duplex loads on anything shortens case life due to higher pressure at the base of case! Thins out the brass at the base!! This can be an expensive way to go if your duplexing anything bigger than a 45-70!
Powder compression dies- A big waste of money! All the compression you will ever need on a black powder cartridge is 1/16 of an inch if that! You can do this with your over powder wad and a wood dowell, and if you think this is slower than the die think again! Line up 20 charged cases and do 10 by hand and 10 in the die. The hand is quicker than the die! How can the hand method be accurate you ask? If you mark your compression limit on the dowell, including your seating depth,wad and the 1/16 compression all falls into place rather quickly!
I posted this for your benefit! Not to make anyone mad! If I did , forgive me! Been doing this game for a long time, longer than most! I know what works and what don't! At least with my rifle!! Have seen guy's get rich selling garbage to make the game easyer, while it makes you poorer! And the results are still the same! Keep it simple! If it works dont change it! And most important of all, Every time you pull that trigger on that old single shot your closer to history than most folk ever will be! Enjoy it!!!
A man and his rifle become one!
