some 44-77 questions

[Don McDowell]

On the roller cutter thing, I use a slightly different process than Kurt. I cut the strips to width, staple together "packs" of 5 and then mark the template on the top sheet of the pack.

[Kurt]

Sam.
No a lube wad is not needed but you must wipe between shots. Danielson does very well shooting with out a lube wad.
One thing you must make sure of and that is using a good wad stack, one that fits tight in a unsized fired case or your bullet will get gas cuts.

I have a Sheldon R-15 tool room lathe that my Son got for me for $200. when they upgraded the shop and it was well taken care of, not a dent in the lays and it came with three chucks R 8 collets, a bunch of bits several tool posts and taper attachment. That lathe had a 7 HP 3 phase motor, relay box. I got a milling attachment for it also, but I sure wish I had a mill.
Right now it's down. I had a friend come in one day when I was turning down some bar stock and turned my back to it and the travel stop did not kick out and it took a gear out. I replaced the gear but this lathe has over 900 different thread pitches and i'm having a hard time getting it timed again.

[Don McDowell]

Devil in the detail is in the wiping solution and routine as well. Most widely used wiping solution with paper patchers, that shoot well, seems to be napa oil and water mixed at 1-7. Lots of ways to get there, but having a clean bore is important, and even Remington cautioned us in 1875 to have some lubrication in the barrel, or on the patch. Perry's book goes into great detail on shooting accurately.
The unsized case bit is up for opinion and personal preference as well. I know 3 out of the 4 patch shooters at the 2016 bptr nationals resize their cases and then use a custom expanding stem to fit their patched bullet diameter.
Shooting dirty with accuracy can be accomplished, and it's not as hard/unlikely to happen as some would have you believe, but the best way to consistent accuracy is by wiping.

[Nuclearcricket]

I don't know how my wads fit into a fired case as I cleaned them, then sized the neck and trimmed them and then imto the walnut hulls. I have 8 rounds here that I need to take out and unload. Preferably over a chronograph. I will check the wad fit once I fire them. If need be I can open up the wad punch a bit but its around .450 so they should be large enough to seal.
Kurt, I found my Mill on Craigslist. I have made out pretty well on that site this year, I got the mill, a snow blower and a nice pair of used leather motorcycle chaps. Since I am close to Penn State, I think that helped a little on the mill. The guy I got it off of wasn't much more than 25 if that and was moving soon and wanted it gone. It hardly took any haggling to get the price to drop to about half. But when you consider it weighs less than 400 pounds, its no monster but is a lot better than the mini mills they sell and a hell of a lot better than nothing.
Don, do you use the lubed wads or the naked ones? I do have the NAPA oil, I use it on the lathe mixed 10-1 but just picked up a spray bottle that is graduated in mix parts so it will be easy to mix up 7-1 to take to the range or just saturate patches before hand and keep them in a jar. I would think that also, with the NAPA oil, even if you run a wet and then a dry patch through the bore there would still be a film of lube of some sort left behind. I don't see that as being a bad thing.
Sam

[Don McDowell]

Sam I use the muzzleloader original dry lubed wads. I've tried the various "lubed" felt wads from different sources and find that that lube has a tendancy to contaminate the paper. I also as per the instructions in the 1875 Remington catalog use a drop of jojoba oil wiped on the patch (jojoba oil being the closest we can get to spermicitti nowadays)
On the case expander, you may want to think about having it about .002 over the bullet diameter so when the case mouth springs back from the expanding process it is just a tight fit on the bullet.
When running wet and dry patches on either a jag or a nylon brush, you'll want to use at least 2 damp's and 1 dry. Depending on the atmospheric conditions, you may end up going to 3 or more damp patches. This is where the BACO bore wipes and other such "bore pigs" are so handy, it's one pass and done. Perry talks in his book about using the Fisher brush, which is pretty much like the bore pigs that Jim Terry makes and sells. Danielsons bore brush system is also a close copy of the Fisher Brush.

[Gunlaker]

I like the Seth Cole 55W too. As far as I can measure, it's about 0.0016" but paper is tricky to measure accurately for me.

I use it to patch .445" and .446" bullets for my .45's and patch to a snug thumb press fit.

Don, what wiping routine is Ian using? It's pretty impressive to shoot PP in such a time restricted match as silhouette and shoot master class scores!

Chris.

Chris he went to using the BACO bws and a variation there of.

Thanks Don.

Chris.

[Don McDowell]

Glad to help Chris. Will you be shooting patched at Phoenix?

[Kurt]

Don I'm not saying not to size the cases I size some for some of my shooting. What I'm getting at is the wad should fit tight in the fired case so when it is fired the case neck expands in the chamber and if a wad fits loose in a fired case the gas will seep past the wad before the bullet expands fitting the bore and gas cuts happen shooting a PP bullet. I went through this when I first started loading PP with out a lube wad just using a plastic wad under the bullet and the chamber was a little loose where the wad seated easy in a unseized and the accuracy never showed up with the ladder loads, I had a bunch of flyers and lead when cleaning. When using the same rifle I added a thin 1/16" cork wad under the bullet and the plastic over the powder the accuracy was there and the lead was gone. This made me do the snow thing when it came I loaded some with just a plastic wad and this is what I found.

Copy of IMG_0546 (2) by Kurt, on Flickr

Size your cases if you feel the need too but getting the right diameter wad is a plus or using a soft expandable wad that seal fast and the unexplained vertical will disappear.

[Don McDowell]

I think that wad fit is important but I also am firmly convinced that using a bullet diameter that is to far under bore diameter will deal you more fits than the wad diameter/thickness/material/stack.

[Nuclearcricket]

When I loaded the LDPE wads into the cases they were tight enough that they were slightly domed. The necks are sized tight enough that I can almost but not quite push the bullet into the case, I used a seating die. The sizing bushing is still a bit of a work in progress. Its hard but not overly hard and I can keep polishing it out till I am happy with the fit of things. I feel that there is a good chance that I will have to make a separate bushing for the PP bullets but thats not a big deal.
On another note, I went to Staples and looked around, they did have some tracing paper there in 50' rolls, one was open and a corner sticking out, a piece followed me home. It miked about .0015 to .0016. I kind of felt it was on the expensive side at $14 for the 12" roll. I dont remember the brand name but it did start with an S and it was listed as 8# paper.
I think I will just go with the SC 55W or Y, since that seems to be a known entity.

Sam