First try at PP

[bobv]

Yesterday I tried different boolits in my Pedersoli 1874 in 45-70. I had some 457125 (500g) and Lee 405g, both sized vdown to .451 and PP'd and resized to .457, The first cartridge didn't fire..click no bang..great ,open the action, the stayed in the chamber and the powder spilled in the action!!! second shot ..keyholed..great again!!! the other 3 shots fired OK but the groupe looked like a shotgun pattern, next I tried the 405's, they shot better but not great. These cartridges were loaded with IMR3031 which works great with my 405's when sized to .457 and lubed with LLA. Then I shot some loaded with BP (62g of FF) and some boolits given to me by a friend that where PP'd to .451 and of course they shot great. So it looks like I'll be getting a new mold for PP boolits and BP. I have a question, I didn't find much of the paper after shooting the PP or I didn't look good enough and some times the paper came out like confetti at barrel end, what am I doing wrong. I believe the best place to get the PP mold is Buffalo Arms...right??? If I can find someone to buy my Lyman 7mm double cavity I'l order one ASAP
Bob

[303Guy]

... some times the paper came out like confetti at barrel end ...That's what you are wanting.

It's just possible that the Pedersoli chamber/throat doesn't 'like' patched boolits sized to groove. (To do with the rifling leade angle). It may be tearing the patches. The idea of bore sizing a ppcb is that the boolit enters the bore freely like a bore-ride and then gets bumped up to fit the bore (as you know). I'm not sure how well this works with smokeless powder but it's what many BP folks do, so .... It might work with smokeless if a buffer is used over the powder - cream of wheat maybe?

[docone31]

Ok, you are using 3031, smokeless.
If you have a mold that works with the powder, then that mold will work with paper.
You will want to be .001 .002 over groove. No crimp on the casting, just a taper crimp. You do not want to resize, or tear the paper in the case.
Forget the LLA, you are firing paper, not bare lead. Use a LITTLE JPW, or car wax. Just enough wax to make it shine. Leave it there.
Essentially, you are substituting a copper jacket with a paper jacket. The basics are the same.
Use start load data with paper for the weight casting.

[6.5 mike]

bobv, hi & welcome. I'm also shooting a pedersoli sharps, my barrel is 0.451/0.4575. I'm using a lee 300 gr with 2 wraps of lined notebook paper sized to 0.459, & a lee 405 gr plain base with 2 wraps of tracing paper again sized to 0.459. Both shoot well, no leading, very clean barrel, & instant confetti when fired. Both loads are 12.5 gr of unique. This does have a filler.
Like 303 Guy says wrap to .001 to .002 oversized, smokeless doesn't "bump up" much. I think your boolits may be to small.

[bobv]

Thanks for the replies, BTW when I mentioned using LLA , I used that on full sized 405g boolits not PP'd and as for the confetti thing that happened with both types of boolits, the 405g PP at .457 and the bore riding at .451 PP 525g that my friend gave me...any paticular reason it happens with both sizes???
Next time I'm only going to try Bp and PP bore riding boolits and see how it goes
Thanks
Bob

[303Guy]

bobv, some years ago a fellow I knew had a 45-577 Martini-Henry . He loaded this thing with a charge of powder close to IMR3031. This stuff went of with a 'Fizz-Bang' effect. Could your problems be related to powder combustion characteristics? The puzzling part is the 'confetti'. Perhaps the powder is burning erratically but still producing enough pressure to form the confetti?