Paper patch and grease groove bullets

[Comfortably_Numb]

idaho ron, some one on another post just said he has never heard of you, guess he has been hiding under a old wash tub most of his life.

No, not a wash tub, a cave, and not most of my life, ALL of my life. I can tell idaho ron actually knows what he's talking about, I can tell just from reading his posts. And, if Fleener says he's ok, that's good enough for me. The reason I have never read his posts or heard of him before is because I shoot mainly round ball and shotguns so I don't often read posts like this. . All of my bullet shooting has been done with BPCR's. This long range muzzleloading shooting reminds me of BPCR shooting, many similarities. These days I can no longer hold up a heavy rifle or stand heavy recoil.

 

[45man]

Paper patch is to engage rifling with a smaller bullet but a lubed bullet that fits is no different. Either works. What work do you want to do? I seen a man that wanted to paper patch a .17 caliber bullet. I need cheater glasses to even see the thing.
Paper patching does work so go for it.

 

[cannonball1]

I am fairly new to sizing lead bullets and have a question. How many thousands can you EASILY reduce a lead 500 grain 45 caliber bullet down?

 

[fleener]

When I first started shooting LRML, I simple took my .458 BPCR bullets and sized them down to .450. Now that is not recommended, but I was able to do it and I also won a match or two with them.

My molds now are ordered .001 to .002 thousands over what I think I will need. This is just a margin of error that I want for the mold maker and allows me to be able to size them to the desired dia.

Fleener

 

[cannonball1]

thank you

 

[nkbj]

The commonly available off the shelf molds for large bore cartridge rifles can be shot as lubed lead or paper patched in the same barrels. In other words, sizing back down to below bore diameter after patching with paper is not difficult. Use a push through design sizer with a gentle entrance angle. The previously alluded to re-expansion of the as-sized bullets can be a problem though even with just a small amount of lube applied to facilitate passing through the die. With some papers you can find re-exanding of the patch with time even without lube.

 

[Brent]

I am fairly new to sizing lead bullets and have a question. How many thousands can you EASILY reduce a lead 500 grain 45 caliber bullet down?

3

 

[M. De Land]

When I first started shooting LRML, I simple took my .458 BPCR bullets and sized them down to .450. Now that is not recommended, but I was able to do it and I also won a match or two with them.

My molds now are ordered .001 to .002 thousands over what I think I will need. This is just a margin of error that I want for the mold maker and allows me to be able to size them to the desired dia.

Fleener

Good topic with lots of information guys. I'm picking up a lot of new ideas. One thing I think should be mentioned that I didn't see is that lead tin alloys not only age harden they also begin to soften in about a years time. Keeping them in a freezer is supposed to retard the change but I have not personally experimented with this. I have found that alloy with some antimony will hold it's hardness with in a BHN or two for many years at about 12-14 which may be a bit hard for patch bullets.