As the pic shows, the lube was dried out and there is some tarnishng of the copper case. Thankfully, they cleaned up ok. I used a toothbrush to clean off the dry lube and a bore brush to clean off the cartridge case (right). I then relubed with SPG, wiping it on with my fingers.
Well.......tried to fire a couple of the original UMC .22 b.p. cartridges but click, click....priming compound is "deader than a doornail". I wasn't totally surprised, just a bit disappointed.
So......I spent a couple of hours cleaning and pulling bullets and powder from the UMC cartridges. Thankfully, the case was not crimped into the bullet heel so the heel was not distorted in the process.
Bullet diameter .225"
factory powder compression: .035"
I have been in the process of getting set up to load .22 LR b.p. cartridges over the past couple of years and have 5,000 Armscor primed .22LR cases, so I loaded the 4.5 grs. of the original powder into Armscor cases and seated the U.M.C. bullets with a Lyman H&I .225 die.
10 loaded and ready to go
I had a chance to shoot 10 of the assembled b.p. cartridges recently at my clubs 50 ft. indoor range since the weather wasn't too good outdoors and I was anxious to test them.
I was very pleased with the results.
As Jackie Gleason would say "How sweet it is!"
I'm saving the rest of the cartridges to test at 50 and 100 yards once decent weather arises.
The fouling in the barrel was surprisingly light.
I am waiting for a David Mos mold to produce a copy of the original UMC bullet. I'm looking forward to producing some 22 b.p. cartridges to shoot some NRA Smallbore Cowboy Silhouette just like those that have gone before us would have done if Cowboy Silhouette would have been around in the late 1800's.............
To be continued.........
w30wcf
