No, actually, it's a Range Report ! ! !
The scary thing is, I'll bet there's a half dozen or so forum members who are gung-ho Star Wars fans and will know the name of the "fish-faced Admiral or General" who uttered those famous words in the subject line...
Anyway, in my case, it's a Trapdoor that I'm talking about! I got to spend some quality time at the range with my twin brother yesterday. While he fooled around shooting 1" groups -- offhand -- at 25 yards with a replica 1650s Matchlock that has no rifling or rear sight (pretty impressive, I must admit), I got to put 40 rounds down range using my Uberti Trapdoor Carbine -- having lots of fun and making lots of smoke! I'd only plinked with this carbine before, which was fun, but yesterday I wanted to shoot for groups and start load development.
I'm pretty pleased with the case colors of my Trapdoor, as I think she's got more actual "color" (versus shades of mottled grays and blues) as compared to most Italian case-coloring that I've seen before. The funny thing is, and maybe I shouldn't admit this, but the "saddle ring" in the picture is actually a rubber o-ring of about the right thickness and diameter. It fools many folks who took a look at the carbine, but for me it keeps the ring from banging up the wood or rattling against the bar (just in case I take it out deer hunting some day). That might be an unusual "upgrade" for a Trapdoor Carbine, but hey, it works for me.
I used 55 grains (volume) of 3F 777 for powder and didn't swab between shots, which is how I use the 777 in my .45 caplock as well. My first 20 shots were using 300 gr flat base gas-checked bullets from M&P Cast Bullets in Brattleboro VT, sized to 0.457". Those are easier on the shoulder, but the groups weren't too promising. So my next 20 shots were M&P's 350 gr FPBB sized to 0.458"; the extra length and diameter might have helped these stabilize better, as even without cleaning between shots, I started to get some pretty decent groups at 50 yards. Now keep in mind, this isn't a bench gun and the barley corn front sight (like an upside-down triangle) isn't conducive to the ultimate in accuracy, nor is the short barrel and sight radius, but I'm pretty happy with this group -- which was the last group. Not too shabby after firing 37 other smoky rounds, and it is "Minute of Indian", and I think it shows great promise. My next attempts at loads will be with that same bullet, but using 2F instead of 3F 777 for 10 or 20 rounds, and the next lot might add a felt wad or a little bit of corn meal over the powder. just so there's no air space. (I've read that 777 powder does not work well when it's overly compressed, but I do want it packed well.)
Next, I thought I'd run through how I handle the dirty brass after firing the 777 loads at the range, just because some of you might be interested. I bring a windshield-washer fluid bottle half full of warm water and some dish detergent with me to the range. After each shot, I plunk the brass into the jug. That's it, there they stay until I get home. I shake it some once all the brass are in there, and the water does start to turn black. Once I get home, I dump the brass out into the kitchen sink (as SWMBO was not home 
) and you can see how clean the outside of the cases are, with no scrubbing yet.
My next step is to use the Lee .45-70 hand tools to deprime the cases, then back into the jug they go for another few shakes with warm water and detergent. While the cases are pretty clean already, the primer pockets aren't yet...
There are many other tools to use, but I find it just as easy to spin this extra screwdriver blade around in the pockets to clean them up some. Then I use a .45 rifle brush on a short handle to brush the inside of each case a few times.
It was tough to get a good pix of the brass, but here's the inside of the cases after they've soaked all day and been brushed out. I think the dark spots you see are shadows, as I haven't observed any nasty fouling or corrosion on any of the .45-70 brass.
Then I rinse the brass in hot water and wrap them up in one of SWMBO's dish towels and get them pretty dry. I usually have a backlog of other brass to clean anyhow, so I ran those through my regular routine of walnut shells for 1 hour followed by corn cob (with polish) for 45 minutes along with some .32 and .357 Mag brass, and as you'd expect they come out nice and shiny. So now they're all ready to be loaded, and I get to do this all over again!
Gee gang, now I'm thinking that I just might load up those 350 gr Trapdoor loads "as is" and take her out in the woods for deer later this week... Whether I see one or not -- and hopefully it won't be 300 yards out if i do -- it just might be a lot of fun to carry this "old" smokepole in the deer woods for a few hours. She is a "thumper" for sure -- on both ends! 
Tight groups!
Old No7
- I appreciate it. 
