It's been quiet here

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

For years Brent used 82 grains of 1 1/2 Swiss in his .45-70 with two different paper patch bullets in two different rifles. One is a Winchester high wall with an 18-twist barrel (GM?) and the other is an Axtell 1877 Sharps with a 16-twist barrel (also a GM?). In the 18-twist he uses a prolate (fancy word for 3D elliptical) pp bullet at around 515 grains primarily for silhouette. In the 16-twist he shoots a 530-ish grain prolate pp bullet that is 1.520" long. The 1877 is his Creedmoor rifle.

About 4 years ago he started having all kinds of trouble with the fluffier lots of Swiss 1 1/2. I believe this year he has been shooting 2f Swiss but I don't know if it's still 82 grains or what it is. He has done fairly well with the 2f.

Both of Brent's rifles are cut with a tight paper patch chamber using a reamer of his own design. I used his reamer for the chamber in my Hepburn with an 18-twist Badger barrel. I shoot the same modified prolate paper patch bullet in my Hepburn that I first started using in my .45-90 back in 2010. That bullet weighs 528+/- grains out of my 17-1 lead/solder alloy. I had to open the mold up to .445" to shoot in my Hepburn because of the slightly bigger bore diameter in that Badger barrel. I also shortened it from 1.460" to 1.435". It shoots pretty well for me as it is now.