Paper Patching the 454 Casull

[RPRNY]

So, I finally got around to this little project and thought I would share since there are a fair few 45 Colt barrels reamed out to 454. I have posted this photo frequently before, but here's mine:



I have no previous experience with paper patching, so this effort was based on a few articles, some internet wisdom, and Mathews The Paper Jacket, which was very useful.

I patched two sets of bullets, both hollow based pure lead slicks, one a 380 gr sized .442" and another a 350 gr sized .451". I patched them each out, respectively, into two sizes:

.455" and . 462" (380 gr), and; .458" and .465". I will not be shooting the .465" patched bullets. They don't seat well, there is frequent patch damage, and I have little reason to believe they will work well. I loaded them at 24.5 grs IMR4227 for the 380 gr bullets and 26 grs IMR4227 for the 350 gr bullets.

I patched with a high fiber tracing paper slightly thicker than 9lb onion skin at .002":




As you can see, these are fairly large bullets:



I lubed with a 65/35 mix of Lee Liquid Alox and Vaseline. And they seated remarkably well with a moderate case mouth flare:




They chambered easily and look pretty bloody sinister:




So I shot 10 x 380 gr  .442" patched to .455" (IMR4227 24.5 grs)  and 10 x  350 gr .451" sized to .458" (IMR 4227 26 grs). Counter-intuitively, for me, the 380 gr .442" patched to .455" were extremely accurate, more so than any jacketed of GC's groove lubed bullet I have ever used. Felt recoil was noticeably less than with 26.5 grs IMR4227 under a 300 gr GCLFN hard cast bullet. I had 3 good groups (of three) of 1.2" 1.25" and 1.45" and one flier that I think was probably shooter error. The 350 gr .451" patched to .458" did not perform as well, but I forgot to bring a brush and I was getting a little paper and residue ring at the front of the chamber, so that may explain deterioration. Groups opened up to 1.5" , 2" and the last group was at least 2.5" maybe bigger (a four shot group). IMR4227 left considerably more unburnt residue in the barrel than it would with a 300 gr GCLFN, for example.  Trajectory was at least as flat as that same 300 gr bullet over 26.5 grs IMR4227.

My conclusions are that, if done properly, the paper jacket will work just as well as a copper jacket up to a certain velocity (not yet determined by me but Mathews suggests around 2200 fps), at least in 45 Cal. Paper jacketing (at least in 45 Cal) delivers higher velocities for the same bullet weight vs groove lubed cast or copper jacketed at lower pressures (conjecture - I cannot measure it). Paper jackets work but the process is definitely somewhat of of a PITA. Worth doing for hunting bullets? Yes. Worth it for range shooting? Probably not for me.

For those who own 45-70s, I would HIGHLY recommend giving this a go. 

[Groo]

Groo here
I have read of the use of teflon  thread tape with cast bullets

[RPRNY]

Groo here
I have read of the use of teflon  thread tape with cast bullets

I too have read of people doing that successfully. My concerns is that teflon tape would be grippy, but I suppose lube addresses that. And I don't know it's melting point, although paper ignites at F 451 (thank you Mr Bradburry  ) and that clearly isn't a problem. Ergo, I can raise no reasonably factual concern with teflon tape...

[rdlange]

Nice job!  I guess you cast your own?  What bullets?  Did you need/use a filler over the powder?
 
Thanks.

[RPRNY]

These are 100% swaged hollow base bullets from Buffalo Arms. Once I figure out which ones work best I will likely emulate as best as possible with cast - although these swaged pure lead bullets are amazing. No filler whatsoever. These are 100% density loads slightly compressed. I will try H110 next round to see if it delivers a better burn rate.

[petemi]

I've gotta be missing something here.  Perhaps I need to read up more on paper patching.  Paul Mathew's "40 Years With the .45-70" led me down the primrose path of the .45-70 and the Handi.  He paper patched .45-70's. 

I really don't see what the gain is.  Cast lead as opposed to Jacketed.  All but one of my Handis shoot jacketed better than cast.  The .445 shoots cast .433s better.  All the Handis shoot MOA or very close to it with the the loads I've worked out.  I really don't see the point in going thru the extra drill of paper patching.  I'm retired and have time...but, to me, that time that can be better spent other ways.  If a .405 Remington shoots MOA from a Handi .45-70, why go to the extra work to try to get that accuracy back

Pete

[Goatwhiskers]

The advantage if you're into casting is that you can drive cast at equal velocities to jacketed without leading the bore.  Incidentally you will find that pure is still too soft, WW mat'l is better.  When you hit the right combo of core size and wrap you will only have the powder residue from the last shot in the bore plus speed and accuracy.  I shoot a RD 190 gr cast PP in my Max over a slightly compressed charge of A1680 getting just over 2100fps in a 24" barrel with 3/4" groups.  There is more info than you can digest at one sitting over on the castboolits forum.  PP might be considered unneccessary by many, I get the same results with GC, but it's fun and a good excuse to shoot more.  Can't say I'm saving by not purchasing GC as I make them too.  Read up on the topic, you might enjoy it.  GW

[RPRNY]

I've gotta be missing something here.  Perhaps I need to read up more on paper patching.  Paul Mathew's "40 Years With the .45-70" led me down the primrose path of the .45-70 and the Handi.  He paper patched .45-70's. 

I really don't see what the gain is.  Cast lead as opposed to Jacketed.  All but one of my Handis shoot jacketed better than cast.  The .445 shoots cast .433s better.  All the Handis shoot MOA or very close to it with the the loads I've worked out.  I really don't see the point in going thru the extra drill of paper patching.  I'm retired and have time...but, to me, that time that can be better spent other ways.  If a .405 Remington shoots MOA from a Handi .45-70, why go to the extra work to try to get that accuracy back

Pete

Paper patched IS jacketed. The jacket is paper. So, no reason at all to do it if you like and are happy with copper jackets. Cast or swaged lead bullets with paper jackets are potentially cheaper than copper jacketed bullets, require no GCs like higher velocity cast do, and allow you to tailor bullet fit to nearly .001 exactitude. You can't look at paper patching as Jacketed vs Cast. It's Copper Jacket vs Paper Jacket vs Naked Cast (tumble or groove lubed, GC'd or plain based). If I can continue to get good results, I will never shoot Naked Cast again, it will be Copper or Paper Jackets only 

And, more to the point, it's fairly loony. For those of us who are already aficionados of offbeat, break-action, single shot rifles (that everyone knows can't be made to shoot accurately) and arcane hand loading techniques, this is the logical progression in the pathology of the disease....

[rdlange]

Didn't realize that was a full case load.  Always have been concerned about whether the powder I have will fill case up. 
 
PPBs look really kool in the bench loading block at the range; get some startled looks.  Making them is fun too, simplier and really cheaper than lubing plain cast; no GC, luber setup or pan heating required.  Maybe I'll be keeping my 454 barrel. 
 
Thanks.
 
 

[RPRNY]

So, I cleaned the rifle last night and I can't believe it. There was some powder residue in the barrel from the last shot and a little ring of paper at the chamber mouth, but after running one patch with a little Break Free on it, the barrel was spotless. No leading whatsoever and the paper jackets seem to have cleaned the barrel rather nicely!

[Ol BW]

That sounds about right, the paper cleaning your bore, I'm sure it could be abrasive. Daddy always said to avoid cutting paper with my knife to keep from dulling the blade.

BW

[gcrank1]

The paper will lap and finely polish the bore, it is not likely you will ever 'shoot the rifling out' doing so. Gilding metal is much harder on rifling.

[Goatwhiskers]

The paper ring should not be there.  I am not real knowledgeable about that part but mucho info over at the castboolit forum.  Several factors involved, but easily curable.  GW
 
Looking back at the pics, you probably need to wrap high enough on the ogive so that when the boolit seats against the rifling as it should, if you were to extract the round you would have rifling marks on the paper.  GW

[Ol BW]

Yeah Gcrank, I didn't mean to imply that paper would eat up the bore, but I see now the err of my post as it could have been misunderstood that way.  I was just saying that the dry paper should have the right properties to clean a bore and not leave any residue.
 
I don't think paper takes any metal off a knife when your cutting, it is simply strong enough through MANY cuttings to roll a fine edge.
 
How's that for an over-explaination of a knee-jerk post??  (Posted by the Head Jerk; ME!) 
 
BW

[gcrank1]

No worries BW, it is a good point worth tossin' in the mix.
I know Ive used some pretty 'abrasive paper' on occasion!

[moto357]

slightly different being my colt was reamed to a 460, but both the 460 and before it was reamed using the colt cases I was able to shoot paper patched accurately. I can't recall my specific technique as far as seating depth into the lands or anything of that jazz, I remember learning a lot from the books you mentioned as well as a lot of reading through posts over on castboolits forum. I used tracing paper and flat base bullets I cast. also, I don't recall ever finding a paper ring in the chamber. it was an itch I had to scratch and after doing so decided my time was better spent in other ways
thanks for sharing though, always cool to read peoples experiences

[gendoc]

I pp with my sharps and creedmore shooters.... but witha handi, copper jacketed lead or plated bullets is as far as I go.
no need to try and out-do them in performance.....that's my opinion. but hey, I bet it would be cool to work with pp
in these handi's... 

[RPRNY]

I don't imagine I will patch to better performance than copper jacketed bullets. As moto puts it, paper patching is more of an itch at the moment. Haaving a hell of a time with it for the 30-30. My Marlin 336 will not chamber rounds patched to .313 - just a tad too large, which I am surprise about. Will have to see if the Krag will. Otherwise I will have to resize a whole passle of 150 gr FN down to .308 and patch to .311.

There are definitely better ways to spend one's time but at some point each of us gunbugs have got to try some of this obscure stuff I suppose....

[nanuk-O-dah-Nort]

So, I cleaned the rifle last night and I can't believe it. There was some powder residue in the barrel from the last shot and a little ring of paper at the chamber mouth, but after running one patch with a little Break Free on it, the barrel was spotless. No leading whatsoever and the paper jackets seem to have cleaned the barrel rather nicely!

PP really shines in the bottleneck cartridges, where you can get jacketed speed/accuracy with far cheaper components.  and with the right alloy, a very effective bullet.
one guy on CastBoolits shoots his 300WM at 3000fps.

regarding paper rings, the consensus is your brass it too short, allowing the bullet/patch to expand into the recess area, then get sheared off as the bullet travels forward.

the optimum is to have the brass trimmed to near exact chamber length. 

the exception appears to be the coned chamber, where there is no step, so the patch/bullet gets swaged as they enter the cone/leade, so no step to shear off the patch

also, Black powder works great with smooth sided bullets, BUT with smokeless, you need a grooved, or knurled bullet to hold the patch on, as the bullet doesn't bump enough to grip it.

there are a few exceptions to the above, but for a beginner, those will help

[Lonegun1894]

I just loaded up some PPs for my .44 Mag Handi this morning, but haven't shot any of this batch yet so can't comment on performance yet.  The last batch worked great.  The one before that, with a different paper, well, I won't be using any of that paper again. 

[Groo]

Groo here
 Teflon tape needs no lube and can be rapped around a full size bullet as it is so thin.
 After all--- Its Teflon.