Do people PP bullets for muzzle loaders as well?

[handirifle]

The title says it all.  Just wondering if this would work better than using Sabots.  Seems like the same concept, different materials.

[Castaway]

Essentially when loading traditional ball the cloth patch serves the same purpose as does a paper patch.  No reason why paper patching wouldn't work but the problem I see is getting a mould the right size so you're not patching a 0.452" bullet up to 50 caliber.

[Lead pot]

That would depend on how deep the groves are cut. My front stuffers have deep cut rifling .010 and some are cut .006. and .008 deep.
The .008 and .010 would be to deep for a PP , you would get gas cuts.
The .006 is borderline but with the proper paper it will work good with a tight patched fit and clean bore.
When I select a paper I like to keep it close to groove depth then have a mould or swage die cut to match the paper so the patched bullet is .002 under bore diameter.
And you should use a false muzzle to load that PP bullet so the patch wont get damaged when you load it.

Kurt

[handirifle]

Casaway
I was((n't) edit) referring to a ball, mainly a bullet.

Kurt
Good info, do you mean the shallower grooves are better for PP'd bullets?  Isn't the sort of the opposite of using plain lead bullets?

[wgr]

yes you can pp for muzzle loaders.  you dont need any false muzzles. i pp for my 50 cal i size to .495 use two raps of 9lb onion skin paper  takes the bullet back to .500.  in my tc   it will slip fit no short starter needed and i can get off 3 good shots befor cleaning the bore. its true that the shallow rifling is needed . i shoot a 400grain hollow base bullet. the false muzzles and cross patch wre used on the big 25/30lb target rifles  the long range whitworth  was a 1in 20 twist and use two raps of paper
theses guns rare used for 500 to 100 yard  matches

[handirifle]

I will have to see how deep the rifling on my ML is.

[Lead pot]

The false muzzle serves two purposes.
It will seat a tight fitting patch or PP bullet with out tearing the paper. For accuracy in front stuffer slug guns they loaded tight fitting bullets and still do.
And second it will align the bullet straight in the lands, kinda like using a competition in line seating die for the cartridges.
Yes you can do it with out one but run out will hurt the accuracy just as bad with muzzle loaders as the cartridge bench guns.

Kurt

[dbm]

Paper patched bullets are widely used (and were in the 19th century) with the muzzle loading match rifle. Typically a match rifle will shoot a 530-560 grain .45 cal lead:tin alloy bullet. Here in the UK we shoot out to ranges of 1200 yards.

The false muzzle isn't necessary with the match rifle; patched bullets are slightly under bore size and should slide down the bore with little more weight than the ram rod. A false muzzle on these rifles is really a muzzle protector, saving from wear from cleaning and loading rods.

For more information see my Long Range Muzzle Loader web site

David