Paper patch groove depth vs bullet weight

[Steveoko922]

What is the typical groove depth seen on conical paper patch barrels and what are the limitations on the bullets ability to obturate the bore?

I have a .408 land, .427 groove rifle that shoots 289 grain bullets. I'm having trouble locating a hollow base bullet but a flat base is avaliable.

I'm worried the soft lead bullet won't be heavy enough to slug up and fill the rifling.

 

[paulab]

What is the typical groove depth seen on conical paper patch barrels and what are the limitations on the bullets ability to obturate the bore?

I have a .408 land, .427 groove rifle that shoots 289 grain bullets. I'm having trouble locating a hollow base bullet but a flat base is avaliable.

I'm worried the soft lead bullet won't be heavy enough to slug up and fill the rifling.

Soft lead will easily bump up to groove diameter. Why do you think you need a hollow base bullet? A 20:1, 24:1, 30:1 or pure lead flat base bullet will easily bump up to groove diameter. What is your twist rate. That will determine how big of a bullet your rifle will stabilize.

 

[Phil Coffins]

Sharps rifles that used paper patch bullets had .001” - .0015” depth of rifling and when a paper patch bullet was used they were smaller than bore size to insure loading ease. Dr. Mann’s book documents that metal jacketed bullets obturated. A pure lead bullet is as heavy as you can get, adding alloy makes a lighter slug.

 

[CRB255]

As I stated in a previous post I shoot an Accurate 44-390P paper patched bullet out of my .45 Rice barreled Hawken. 70 gr of FFFg, .50 cal wool wad then seat the bullet. My bullet goes down with ease. Single finger pressure is all that's needed and these bullets are dead nuts accurate.

 

[Steveoko922]

As I stated in a previous post I shoot an Accurate 44-390P paper patched bullet out of my .45 Rice barreled Hawken. 70 gr of FFFg, .50 cal wool wad then seat the bullet. My bullet goes down with ease. Single finger pressure is all that's needed and these bullets are dead nuts accurate.

As of recently, I had an orginal style bulholzer mold made for my swiss infantrygehwer. It is 289g, .399 and has a hollow base. I patch it up to .408 and it is a snug fit down the muzzle.

The slug easily fills the .427 bore and shoots a 3.5 inch group at 150 yards.