New .44 caliber Brooks mold.

[Don McDowell]

Dean Becker swears up and down that making the base adjustment out of a dissimilar metal is the best way to solve the heat sync problem. So maybe at some point when you get your stuff moved and set up that might be another project for you .
I have found that the close to bore diameter the bullet, the thinner the paper the more harmonious the out come when it comes to hunting that elusive x ring.
Jim it would be great if you could get things together and make the journey to Phoenix this spring.
I'm hoping to get to work building loads to go, but I'm hoping to make a deer hunt or two between now and the end of the month, and have an antler less elk license that's only good in December and January With a 4 day conference I have to attend in December...
So many things to do and so little time.

[Kurt]

Jim,

That bullet is a little closer to the original Postell nose, that might be a plus. I have always said, if I was just to have one mould it would be a postell.
I magnified your picture and I think you have your patch quite aways below the ogive seeing the ring at the end of the shank.
If you have a problem with the base not filling out right just dip the plug screw in the alloy to heat it up and when making the pour raise the ladle when the cavity is full and let it empty over the hole. The vibration will fill the voids and make a close consistent weight.

I like the looks of that profile.

[Distant Thunder]

Kurt,

Yes you are right the patch is too low on that bullet and I knew that but it's was just wrapped to see what diameter I would end up with using my thin paper on the bullet as cast. That line I put on the bullet using a template I made that I can put the tip of the bullet through the hole until it stops and then just spin the bullet a little and it will leave a line where the ogive starts, or pretty close. The template has holes for .40, .44, .45 and 50 caliber. I will eventually mark the mold when I decide where exactly I want the patch to start.

I took the attached picture today with a better patch job and the bullet in a case so I could get a better picture of the nose profile without the distortion caused by the cell phone lens. This also give a pretty good idea of what a 1.450” long bullet would look like if it was seated in the case .300” deep over about 82 to 85 grains of powder.

I’m still just playing with the sample bullets Brooks sent with the mold so don’t read too much into my patching or bullet seating. Hopefully I will finish insulating my building on Saturday and be able to take a break from working and do some casting with this new mold. If I can get some cast I’ll probably start my testing by just pulling some other bullets from loaded rounds and stick this new one in on top of those loads. That will be quick and easy and get me started. I’ll work on loads from there.

It’s only 2 weeks until deer season so I may not get any real load development done until December. I have a lot to do to be ready for deer season.

As someone said it well, “…so much to do and so little time…”!

[Kurt]

Man Jim, Why would anyone want a straight walled case looking at this.
From what I have seen of the old Ideal Harry Pope moulds, that profile would fall right in the mould cavity.
I would put my money on this over any of the sharp pointed ellipticals I have at any distances the sights will reach.

With two base buttons you should find the right combination.

[Distant Thunder]

Ok, so I can’t help but think about this new bullet and I decided to do a side by side comparison of the new bullet and various pictures I have on file and see just what it most closely resembles. Using my very limited computer skills I put together the attached picture. On the left is an original Sharp .45 caliber PPB and on the right is my Brooks bullet. That’s pretty close and that is what I wanted Brooks to recreate for me.

The more I look at this bullet the more I’m looking forward to working with this design to see how it shoots for me out to 1000 yards. It sure looks good to me!

[Don McDowell]

Brooks's original creedmoor nose is a very good bullet profile.

[Kurt]

The left bullet I have seen at our local collectors show in the original wood rifle cases with original bullets and tools from rifles documented with targets from the late 1800rds Creedmoor shoots. Those bullets had cup bases with twisted tails tucked into the base. The patches were almost brown and with a close look at the paper it looked like the paper money was printed on. It looked like fine short cotton threads. (Bank note paper.)
Brent Danielson had a mould that dropped that bullet, but he said it just never performed for him well.
I think I still have a copy of that bullets measurements.

[Distant Thunder]

I believe Brent's problems with that original Sharps Creedmoor bullet were related to his bullet OAL and his ROT and not the design. He was trying to push a 1.500" long bullet from an 18-twist and it was marginally stable at best. He had erratic results with it and many dirt diggers.

He actually had the same problem with the 1.520” prolate bullet that I made the mold for when he shot it in his then 18-twist 1877. To correct the problem he rebarreled that rifle to a 16-twist and for a number of years he was hard to beat at Lodi. Then the wheels came off and he has never completely got them back on. He says, and it may be true, that his problems now are related to the lots of Swiss 1 1/2 that are out there. We all know that Swiss 1 1/2 has gone through some changes, most notably the density, lots beginning sometime in 2013 suddenly were fluffier and did not do well when loaded like the old lots of Swiss 1 ½ using little to no compression.

Other shooters have found ways to make the newer lots of Swiss 1 ½ work. For the past several years I have been loading a 2013 lot of Swiss 1 ½ in my .45-70 Hepburn for long range matches. My results and scores would seem to say it shoots pretty well.

Then the question comes up every once in awhile, “How did the ODG make those 1.500” long 550 grain bullets shoot as well as they did back in the 1870s?”. I think some of the answer is in the 100 plus grains of powder they were burning and the increased velocity they were driving those bullets with. The cupped base may have also helped by moving the center of gravity forward some making them harder for the winds to destabilize. Other than that I don’t know how they could do it if they indeed did it consistently. A marginally stable bullet can remain stable in mild conditions, but when they are fired in the more active winds and especially headwinds they will usually come a part and start to hit in places that can make a shooter scratch his head.

I look forward to testing this new Brooks bullet in both flat base and cupped base. It should be interesting. Maybe I can answer a few of these questions that we talk about but never really know for sure, at least to my own satisfaction.

God this is fun stuff!

[Don McDowell]

Jim, I just had a brilliant idea.
How about you load a dozen of those and take that rifle deer hunting?????

[Kurt]

That sounds like a very good idea