A "Tight" Load

[Walker357]

Just FYI. I shoot .44 ball and .015 prelubed Oxyoke patches in my .45. Loads fairly easily and shoots better than I do.
Course if Oxyoke is defunct I will have to switch.

 

[TexiKan]

I was never a fan of the "tight load" regime. I noticed it was hard to load, my accuracy wasn't that good, and the patches came out "scored." (cut, etc.) I have a .50 cal. and I started using .495's and eventually went to .490's. My load goes down pretty smoothly, with some resistance but not too tight or too loose. Then I read about the theory of starting with a powder load of one and one half times the caliber of your gun and work from there. Eventually, I settled for 73 grains. Yes, I know, I know,..............others will swear by the "lob it in" method by recommending a closer or less to caliber load. The information pages, available some years ago from a fellow near Kansas City, made sense and he advocated a load that produced the "crack" associated with velocity and proper load combination. From that point on, my accuracy improved dramatically!

Every gun loads differently. Try different combinations of powder and patching. I would not recommend the tight patch, but that is me. Too loose........you will get "blow by."

As for the starting load.......I think you are on the right track but it is imperative to go up or down in five increments until you find the best accuracy. :imo:

TexiKan
---------------------
If you continue to do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got.

 

[arcticap]

It really depends on the depth of your rifling. European guns tend to be shallower than American. :imo:

 

[CoyoteJoe]

:agree:--with the thought that a tight load is best for accuracy, problem is, "tight" means different things to different folks. Green Mountain barrels recomends a ball .005" under bore diameter for hunting and full bore diameter for target, each with a .015" patch. When I have mentioned that I use such loads people on this forum start to whine "oh that's too hard to load".
Get a yard or so of pillow ticking from Wally World, that runs about .018" and with your .440" balls should be easy enough to load. I run .440" balls with .027" canvas or .033" denim and spit lube. For range shooting there is no better lube than spit and it is free.
I also think 70 grains is an upper end hunting load in .45 caliber, I'd start with about half that.
Start light, shoot groupes of five shots from bench rest, change only one thing at a time and keep records if you hope ever to know what your rifle can do. Tight is Right.-- ::

 

[Stumpkiller]

When I have mentioned that I use such loads people on this forum start to whine "oh that's too hard to load".

:cry: I'd break my wood ramrod, have to lug around a short-starter and have to put the palm of my hand over the rammer and get a sore spot on my hand. :cry:

But you're right. That would be a tight load. Just sounds like a lot of work. :cry:

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

How much more accurate is the tight load over the looser one?

 

[Zonie]

How much more accurate is the tight load over the looser one?

Good question.
I've shot some very good groups with fairly thin patches and some really crappy ones with some thick patches.

Because there are so many variables like ball size, patch thickness, lube, powder type, powder load, phase of the moon, location of Mars.... I've come to the conclusion that the really accurate patch is the one your gun likes best.

 

[Tahquamenon]

I would not return them.

Heck, you should burn up 200 rounds to break the bore in before you begin shooting for accuracy or adjusting the sights more than to get registered on paper (especially fixed sights that require filing to raise the point of impact).

Your best load may be a 0.440" ball and a 0.015" patch, instead of a 0.445" ball and an 0.010" patch. Every rifle is different. The tightest might not be the most accurate overall. Experiment.

I always try to find the most accurate convenient load. So I don't have to futz with a short starter, liquid lubes or worry about snapping my wood rammer out in the woods.

Shooting is supposed to be fun!

:agree: Go ahead and shoot up what you have to help break in the bore.