Getting Back into It

[Flash Pan Dan]

Thank you all for the replies. It did help. One other question and please let me know if I should move this to another part of the forum. If I wanted to get a dedicated barrel for shooting paper patched bullets, what would you recommend? I have read that a choked barrel or a one with gain twist would be preferable. What about a chamber reamer, is there one I should look for? And finally, a barrel maker, who would you recommend?

[bruce moulds]

dan,
while I am not saying it is better, I have a smith gaintwist from Canada, and it is very good.
in the day, the americans used std twists, and the brits used gaintwist, and both worked.
I just had to try one.
mine is a 40 cal, and goes from 1:26 to 1:13, and is stainless.
keep safe,
bruce.

[Flash Pan Dan]

Thanks Bruce. I am in the process of acquiring a Stevens 44 ½ and it occurred to me that I could get a barrel for it to test bore sized paper patched bullets. Gail at CPA mentioned Ron Smith in Canada also as a source for gain twist barrel. I will try and find some contact information for him.

[bruce moulds]

dan,
sorry I have lost his address.
I think he is in alberta, and calls himself rks.
he doesn't do email - phone or snail mail only.
he is quite a character.
good luck,
bruce.

[Flash Pan Dan]

Well, I tried the nylon brush with wet patch and that relieved the fouling issue but then I found that I had run out of the 2F powder I have been using so I gave it a try with what powder I have left; KIK 3F. Using the KIK powder I had no fouling issues at all. A single wet patch followed by a dry patch left the bore ready for the next shot. But I will have to do a little more load development with this switch.

The 3F is denser and it doesn’t fill the case quite like the 2F. Anyone ever use 3F? Any words of wisdom and experience would be greatly appreciated.

[Flash Pan Dan]

I have been trying a new load with my Sharps, also in 40-65, and it is showing some promise;

.402 bullet 370 grain
55 grains of 3Fg Kik compressed .230
1 .030 Walters wad over powder
1/8 inch lube cookie of DGL lube
1 .030 Walters wad over the cookie
Newspaper over primer wad
.00165 tracing paper wrap

This load is shooting one inch wide by 3 1/2 in tall groups at 200 yards. All the holes would be touching if I could reduce the vertical stringing. Any ideas at what I could try to reduce the vertical stringing?

[Don McDowell]

Try leaving the lube cookie out. Not really needed if your wiping between shots.

[Dave Roelle]

Hi Dan----just wondering if the case is sealing the chamber consistently ?----do you notice and smokey cases ?

annealing the cases would help if thats the case

perhaps a over powder wad with a bit better sealing potential

both of these helped me get a better handle on vertical

45-70 in a Shiloh

Dave

[Flash Pan Dan]

Dave, I anneal the cases after every cleaning and they come out of the chamber after firing just as nice and shining as they went in.

Don, I made up some cartridges with out the lube cookie and I did not get as good a results as with the lube cookie. I also tried some loads where I replaced the lube cookie with a lubricated felt wad. That load shot a lot better than the load without the cookie but still not as good as the load with the lube cookie.

I was thinking that I would try different powder compression levels to see if I could minimize the vertical stringing that way.. What do you all think?

[Ironramrod]

Dan, do you have any chronograph data of your current loads? A large standard deviation (SD) will indicate a lot of variation in velocities which translates into vertical issues on the targets, especially at longer ranges. If you have a larger SD (e.g. >10), then load up some loads w/ more powder in increments; 5 shots w/ 57 gr. powder, then 5 more w/ 59 gr. etc. up to about 65 gr. or so and test them on paper. Keep all other load parameters the same while doing this.

Regards
IR