Lo & behold, the wind was mild today, so off to the range after dinner to further test the moschetto load shown above.
Accuracy wasn't so great. I fired 4 shots @ 50M & the group - or pattern - was a rectangle about 2.4" X 4". From the moschetto, ( 17.5" bbl) three rounds clocked 1120, 1112 and 1097 fps.
Then I shot some 10.4x47R loads through a Vetterli long rifle. I used the RCBS heeled bullet & 22.0 grains of AA 5744. Airdale had mentioned how gas checked bullets seem to shoot better for him. I haven't a gas checked mold, so I stuck a 40 cal .030 veggie wad on the base of each bullet using melted lube.
It sure seemed to help groups!
I had some of that ammo left over & tried one round through the moschetto... recoil wasn't bad at all, so I fired 3 for group & they went into 1.5" with 2 touching! And that load shot to the SAME point of aim as the lighter load!
Velocity from the moschetto was 1103, 1119 and 1161. Pretty darn close to the lighter bullet velocity!
From the long rifle, the load clocked 1277, 1267 and 1263. ( 33" bbl)
While far from conclusive, todays results hint that a special lighter load for the moschetto really isn't necessary. For mine anyway. As always, your mileage may vary or your stock might crack.
Might not, but proceed with caution anyway. SW