Hello! I am a brand spankin/ new member here and this is my very first post. I'll try to be concise, because I need some help and I've heard you're the guys to get it from. OK here goes. I recently picked up my first British doublerifle, an Alex Henry 450 BPE 3 1/4 over a century old (still waiting for the exact date, but I suspect 1890's). I've got all the great loading books: 2nd and 3rd editions of Graeme Wright's British Double book, all the Double Gun Journals (with all the relevant Sherman Bell articles) and I'm waiting on delivery of a British book which I can't recall the title of at the moment.
I've got: 20 loaded rounds from last owner.
Load: 48 grs IMR 4198 w/dacron filler 300 gr Hornady soft point (he said, but the bullets are jacketed with lead hollow point on the 20 he gave me)
In my possesion now: 4 lbs 4198, 1,000 cci large rifle primers, Old unused RCBS Rockchucker press, Lyman scale.
I've got brass and dies on order from Buffalo Arms, but the dies are back-ordered.
I've also got a lot of casting components I started getting at the beginning of the summer primarily for my blackpowder flinters and caplocks.
So I've not yet casted anything and I've got to get a proper mould for this 450 BPE.
I've already gone on too long, so let me ask, bvasically, what do I do now to feed this double? Can I measure the bores groove to groove, do I have to slug the bore and chambers and follow the Veral Smith LBT methods, do I try to get a variety of bullets, as someone on another board suggested, and try a whole bunch before committingto a mould, do I (same guy's suggestion) get a Lee .45-70 mould? Or do any of you gentlemen have a different path to offer?
I should have capitalized all the letters in Help in the subject line, because I need HELP!
Many Many Thanks - Marc