Long Range and Swaged Bullets

[Cottonwood]

Greetings everyone  

I've been around to a few other GB forums but did not realize the one for Swaging was here.  I'm only interested in what will work best in my original 76 action Remington Rolling Block 45-2.4"  

I was talking with a Long Range Match BPCR shooter, who told me to stay away from soft cast/swage bullets for long range 800 - 1,000 he stated that a 20:1 works better for long range, and 30:1 for Silhouette.  He loves to cast, but casting bullets well has not been my best persuit.  I will only be in a couple real long range matches this year, but they are not Silhouette, but are more geared like The Quigley Match so MOA is not a requirement for scoring here, but hitting the steel gong target is, but I still want to do the best I can.

I do not have a temp-control-enviroment area to cast in.  So Swaging bullets is very attractive to me.  (Statement by Corbins) Swaging is the most precise method of making a bullet. It is extremely fast, easy to learn, and has many additional advantages over casting.

That got me thinking about the Creedmoor Match of 1874 and 1879 which I don't think they new any differant at the time since all cast bullets were of pure lead.

I like to paper patch my bullets and now I also want to find out about knurled bullets, and if they carry lube better than regular grease groove bullets do.   On Target Swaging looks to be the only place to purchase knurled swaged bullets to try.



Thanks
Jon

[talon]

I don't have the knowledge to answer your immediate question about what is better...lead or 20:1 or  30:1 alloy or paper patch,groved or knurled to hold the lub. But I can say that swaging tools and techniques exist to achieve any combination of these elements once you find out which is better for YOUR barrel and target. Swaging alloy can be done using the bigger ( and more expensive) dies and manually operated presses(lub groves/knurling are applied after the bullet drops from the die). The diemaker can make a set to fit just about any barrel diameter and weight range you desire, but you may have to wait up to a year to receive your order.  It may be be worth your while to visit Mr Richard Corbin's site and read up on his section concerning paper patch swaged bullets ( www.rceco.com ) .

[zrifleman]

Montanan--You expressed an interest in using paperpatched bullets. First of all swaged paper patched bullets are normally made up from pure lead or no more than 1-20 tin/lead (5% tin). A lot more shooters are making PP bullets than when I started 25 yrs ago. So there is a lot more info and misinformation available. Presses, dies. wire cutters, and gang molds are available from either one of the Corbin brothers. The problem is finding a reasonable price for lead wire. That is why a gang mold is handy. How good are they compared to cast bullets? Properly sized, I give them a slight edge over cast bullets in long range shooting. Although my old corbin press and die sets work fine--I am going to add a Walnut  Hill and die set from RCE.

[Smokin Joe]

I'm using "On Target Swaging's" 400 gn in .449 diameter, paper patched and lubed with Rooster Jacket in my 2.4". The bullets are 30:1 and they work just fine. He also swages the same slug in pure lead...it works equally well.

[hunter280man]

Montanan,  I make a .447  and knurl it for very tight bored muzzleloaders.   I also have several .451's that I can knurl.

Once knurled they swell up a few thou depending on the setting of my knurling tool...usually about .456-8 but the smaller ones push down a .451 bore almost too easily.   I don't know what your actuall bore dia is but somethign like this might work out for you.

As for holding grease?  You bet it holds more grease.  And I am using up to 1% antimony to tuffen up the bullet for cased cartridg shooting.

You can drop me a E-mail anytime to talk about it if you wish.

Hunter280Man@msn.com