The Lee 405-grain flatnose bullet, in mongrel alloy, shot a quite nice group over BH209 powder; I'm going to have to try this again.
I've been using a wad under most bullets both to protect the base from powder gasses, and to prevent any possible contamination of the powder by traces of lube on the bullet base; need to load some without, and see how they work. So far as the lube goes, just carefully wiping the base clean should take care of that.
I've read a lot of debate on using a wad with smokeless powder, varying between "No big deal" and "You'll blow up your rifle!" Anything that might cause nasty pressure pulses in firing scares hell out of me, so there's that. There's also a lot of people having used a wad to either protect the bullet base(with the resized case preventing any chance of it moving further into the case), or- with light loads- using a pasteboard wad to keep the powder toward the base for more consistent ignition. The latter especially sets a lot of people off on the 'blow up' side. It does seem to improve accuracy with Green Dot, but you might get the same effect by making sure to tilt the rifle up before firing to make sure the powder is at the back.
No, I didn't think to test that before.
I want to try some of those Lee 405-grain hollowbase bullets with black powder, see how that works out.
I think that catches this mess up for now.
4 comments:
I like the Lee 405 grain bullet, either in dead-soft alloy for the BP load, or in a slightly harder alloy for a smokeless load. It's been my go-to bullet int he .45-70 for a decade or longer.
Believe it or not, the patch helps prevent leading, by keeping the powder gasses from vaporizing the base of the bullet.
if you need to keep the powder against the primer, use caulk backer foam rod:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/M-D-Building-Products-1-2-in-x-20-ft-Caulk-Backer-Rod-71480/202066515
under the bullet and on top of the powder. You'll have to measure and cut to length but it works.
I know the patch will do that, if it's covering the base. I've seen some real arguments about 'It should just barely go over the edges onto the base!' vs. "It should cover the base!"
I need to make a specific list: 'Try this next'.
I would never have thought of using that, I'd have thought it'd melt.
SO far it hasn't melted on me. I could pick it up and use it again sometimes, when I find it.
Even a cardboard or paper cookie will protect the base of the bullet. Or a wad of paper. Doesn't have to be more than the diameter of the bullet base. I use small wads made of notebook paper and punched out with a .50 dia hollow punch.
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