Okay guys, it was cold and windy yesterday, so I was a weenie and didn't go to the rifle range... spent the day casting some new 340 and 500 grain bullets for my .45-70. (Yes, I know 500 is a bit much for the Marlin lever gun, but I've messed with them at minimum loads and they do just fine, obviously seated deep) Anyway, I have tried paper patching a few 340 grainers, (not going to try the 500's because they have a gas check) and have a couple of questions. The patches are on just fine and look good to me. One kind op paper that I tried by the way is roll printer paper, like the receipt paper you get at the gas station out of the printer. Mine is the same thing, but for my Shooting Chrony printer. After it dried, it seems to be tough enough. The other paper I used is 25% cotton parchment. On both, I discovered that after they are dry, if I take my finger and roll them back and forth one at a time on my loading bench, they come pretty close to being the right dia. Without "squeezing" them with my dial calipers, they are about .461... if I put just a bit of pressure on, they go to .458 pretty easily. I feel that once loaded into the cartridge, they should be okay... Question is: Should these be lubed before seating into the cartridge, or should they be seated dry? I use Lee Alox lube. Second question is: I've been kind of curious if swabing the barrel with T/C Bore Butter, much the same as you do a muzzleloader between shots, would have any positive effect of the accuracy of either non-patched, or paper patched bullets. Thanks for a'puttin' up with my questions. Dave
