4 Bore

Last weekend saw me shooting the Hughes 4-bore with black powder. Fg was too slow to get any velocity and the cases and bore was fouled quite bad. FFg was a different story! Clean burning, easy to clean the bore and cases, and about 200fps ahead of Fg GOEX with the same charge. With a 1743-grain conical bullet, 10 drams = 1126 fps, 12 drams = 1243 fps, and 14 drams = 1369 fps. 16 drams saw 1500 fps and this was about what the original load was regulated for but with an 1882-grain bullet. Recoil was quite heavy. Craig Boddington wrote in his Safari Rifles that bore rifles had a healthy shove rather than a violent kick. Trust me, this was no healthy shove--it knocked me into next week! Good thing my rifle weighs 22 pounds (23 when loaded with two shells!). Up to now, I have been shooting Blue Dot and 90 grains = about 1300+ fps. 120 grains launched a 1400 grain ball at 1720 fps. Also quite a handful!