1st Post and Paper Question

[DHDeal]

I remember most of you from Shiloh and other BPCR forums years ago. I've been shooting 600 yard benchrest for the last 8 years and my 2 BPCR's have been towards the back of my rifle safe. I pull them out quarterly for a wipe down with Eezox and decided I needed to shoot up some older loaded ammo. They shot well enough to renew interest. One of the pains for me has always been cleaning brass with ceramic media and the time involved. Since I have an ultrasonic cleaner, I figured I'd give it a try. Yep, works great and takes minutes, not hours.

Back to the mold. I have no problem ordering a Brooks (sad to see Paul Jones out of business) or other custom mold. I have had good luck with BACO though and will probably order one from them unless you all suggest otherwise. Do you find a "Money", elliptical nose, or Creedmoor style nose works better? This will be for 600 yards.

Thanks Brent/Don/Chris and others. Brent, I read your PP site/information years back but figured shooting GG bullets was easier/faster/more accurate/etc...... It seems I should give them a try because I like to test stuff anyway. I've also started wiping between shots (more consistent accuracy for me) so any excuses I may have had are gone. I will only shoot targets and steel with these rifles so a lube wad isn't necessary? Hope not, but will use one if it helps accuracy. I'll say it plain here, accuracy is what I'm after. If my benchrest barrels don't perform as expected (hasn't happened yet as I use Bartlein/Krieger/Brux barrels) I'll pull them and go to another.

The reason I will start with the 40-65 is that after shooting Benchrest for so long (and still will) I don't want to deal with too much recoil. My barrel is a Douglas and they are listed as .400" b and .410" g. I may do a chamber cast as I am interested in how long my chamber is. I've seen where too long of a chamber will cut the patch?? I know exactly what my max case length is for my smokeless chambers and trim accordingly.

I have some Eaton 9lb 25% cotton paper ordered and all I need to do is decide which mold and hit "pay" on my Buffalo Arms order. I have about 500 lbs of 20-1 ingots and still have some pure lead and tin if I need to go with another alloy. Wads, brass, and powder I have probably enough to last many year's.

I'll keep reading and look up some of the books mentioned. Any information is appreciated as I am not one to try and reinvent a wheel. I always fine tune stuff, but if something works for a lot of others I will use it in a heartbeat.

[BrentD]

DJD, while my .40-65 is still under construction, I would recommend 72 gr of Swiss 1.5, a 0.06" poly wad or similar fiber wad (either can be had from BACO), and CCI br2 primers. I would not allow more than 0.1" of bullet inside the case. No lube of any kind.

That should get you started.

[DHDeal]

I have the wads already. I'm going to have to wrap my head around putting that much powder in the case. I usually shoot 59 grains of Swiss 3F, but 61 grains of Swiss 1.5F shoots well also. I've always used a 30" drop tube for adding powder and don't usually use much compression with the GG Money bullet. I haven't chrono'd that load in a long time so I don't remember the data.

My barrel is a 30" 1-16" twist. Won't the bullet mentioned be somewhat unstable? I'll run the numbers and see what I get.

I'll admit the shape of the elliptical nose looks good.

[BrentD]

DJD, while my .40-65 is still under construction, I would recommend 72 gr of Swiss 1.5, a 0.06" poly wad or similar fiber wad (either can be had from BACO), and CCI br2 primers. I would not allow more than 0.1" of bullet inside the case. No lube of any kind.

That should get you started.

[Don McDowell]

DhDeal, if you go with a Brooks mould at a length your twist will be sure to stabilize, ask for his new postel nose.
60 grs. of Olde Eynsford 2f, is shooting very well in 2 different 40-65's that live here.