Shot my first matches with PP boolits

[Nobade]

I took the plunge today and shot a Cowboy Centerfire match and a Long Range Pistol match all with PP boolits. The 30-30 rifle fired RCBS 30-150-CM over IMR 3031 and the TC Contender 7mm TCU fired RCBS 27-130 over AA2230. Both were extremely effective and went the whole distance without a single flier or strangeness. I got a 30 with the rifle and a 26 with the pistol. About normal for my scores, and I had lots of fun throwing confetti all over the range. When I started playing with PP about three years ago I said I hoped to someday get them dependable enough to shoot a rifle match with them. Well, the day finally has come and I won both classes first time out. Yeah!

[303Guy]

:2_high5: Paper patch rocks! :drinks:

[geargnasher]

That's really cool Nobade, congratulations! Now if we could just figure out a way to roll them faster.....

Gear

[Nrut]

Congrat's Noblade...
Maybe you have made some new converts at your club?



That's really cool Nobade, congratulations! Now if we could just figure out a way to roll them faster.....

Gear
Gear,
How long do you think it would take you to train your wife to roll'em for you?? :popcorn: :shock:

[6.5 mike]

Way to go, Nobade. Don't ya just love it when things go right.

If Gears wife is like mine, getting her to wrap boolits will be the same as pigs flying [smilie=l:.

[geargnasher]

I'll teach her to patch boolits right after I finish my book titled Understanding women.

....And in the sky shall abide wing-ed swine!

Gear

[CJR]

Nobade,

Congrats on a cool achievement! The magic of PPCB! With all the confetti flying around you, the other competitors must have thought they were at a wedding celebration!

Best regards,

CJR

[1Shirt]

Way to go!
1Shirt!

[nanuk]

I'll teach her to patch boolits right after I finish my book titled Understanding women.

....And in the sky shall abide wing-ed swine!

Gear

It's been done!

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40816&stc=1&d=1329149517

[Goatwhiskers]

Nanuk, at first glance I thought that was volume one of the US Revenue Code, annotated. Goat

[Arctic Blues]

Congrats Nobade! Way To Go!

[barrabruce]

Hey Nobade well done.
Can you give me an idea how the match works.
The distance and accuracy needed in such a match??

Good to see PPing showing up the others. Heeee Heee.

Barra

[303Guy]

Yeah. I love the fact of PP going the distance. I would like to hear the details of the loadings that did the deed. Photo's and all.[smilie=1:

[Nobade]

Sure, what I shot is NRA cowboy levergun centerfire and long range pistol. Both have the same course of fire so our club runs them at the same time. Full size silhouette targets at 50, 100, 150, and 200M. 10 of each for a total of 40 shots fired. The levergun match requires you use an exposed hammer tubular magazine levergun firing a traditional rimmed levergun cartridge, except 35 Remington is allowed too. Iron sights only. Rounds must be fed from the magazine and all firing is done from the unsupported offhand position. Accuracy requirements are not all that strict, a rifle shooting 4 MOA would be capable of a possible score if all shots broke in the center of the target.

The pistol match requires a pistol with 15 inch or less barrel, weighing less than 5 pounds, with any sight allowed. I am using a Vortex SPARC red dot on my Contender, 7mm TCU. Also fired offhand, it is a lot of fun shooting a pistol capable of knocking over a 60 lb. ram at 200M but with recoil light enough to not hit yourself in the head at the same time. You have to hold on tight.

The guns were nothing special, in fact the rifle had never been fired in a match before. It is a 70's vintage Marlin 336 carbine, all stock including the barrel sights. I bought it cheap with the intent of remaking it into a really fancy silhouette rifle with new wood, nice sights, etc. But it shoots so well now I have been hesitant to do anything to it. Also NRA rules don't allow you to replace the barrel. It can be rebored or sleeved, but the outside must be original. Strange rule, I think. Ammo is the RCBS 30-150-CM plain base "cowboy" bullet, cast form air cooled wheelweights, sized to .303" and patched with 9# onionskin paper. 30 grains of IMR 3031 + .5CC BPI original shot buffer. The bore riding nose comes out at .306" and engraves into the rifling nicely when the lever is closed, and they will hold a 6 inch plate at 200M easily even with the crude barrel sights. This load shoots flat enough that I don't need any sight changes over the whole match. It is actually too powerful, since it dimpled my new AR-500 chickens and was even denting the rams. It would be quite effective on living things!

The pistol is a TC Contender, 14 inch 7mm TCU. Again, nothings pecial except for a very light trigger and the red dot sight. I am finding I shoot a red dot on pistols better than a scope, it seems easier to center the dot than a reticle. The load is surplus Lake City 223 cases, necked up and fireformed. The RCBS 27-130 bullet made for the 270 is patched with the same paper up to .285" with no sizing. Powder is AA 2230, I forget how much, should be around 25 grains. Plus .3cc of the same shot buffer, bullets are hand seated. They chamber less about 1/8 inch which is forced into the throat when the action is closed. With 130 grain bullets at 2300 fps these are also very flat shooting with plenty of power on the targets. Off the bench I have shot groups in the 2 inch range at 100 yards, it may do better but the red dot is 4 MOA wide so the target gets lost under it. Plenty accurate anyhow.

Both of these cartridges can be shot to their velocity potential with normal lubricated cast bullets if they are hard and gaschecked, so this isn't pushing things too far. But I enjoy doing it with paper patched ones if nothing else than to prove it can be done. My next trick is to use PP for high power silhouette in my 260 Rem rifle. I don't know how successful that will be, during testing I have been able to hit clay pigeons on the berm at 500M about every third try. So far groups out there are running about a foot to 14 inches, which really isn't accurate enough. The thing of it is, my old Swedish Mauser will shoot the 175 gr. Cruise Missle boolit into much smaller groups at that range, but the iron sights won't let me see well enough in a real match. I am contemplating a new barrel for my silhouette rifle chambered for 6.5X55 but that won't happen in time for this year's shooting. The 260 is just a bit small since you have to push the pressures up so high to get sufficient ballistics at 500M. But I am going to keep at it and see what I can manage with that rifle as it is. It's still performing very impressively for a cast boolit shooter but it needs to be better to be competitive in that game. We shall see......

[geargnasher]

You gotta love the looks you get from others on the firing line when that puff of confetti comes out!

Gear

[barrabruce]

Good info for me thanks.

[303Guy]

One day I'm going to make my way to an official range with a row of paper patched boolits and shoot 'em off just for show!:mrgreen: They'd better be accurate ones lest I embarrass myself.[smilie=1:

[barrabruce]

One day I'm going to make my way to an official range with a row of paper patched boolits and shoot 'em off just for show!:mrgreen: They'd better be accurate ones lest I embarrass myself.[smilie=1:

Don't worry you'll get used to it:lol::lol:

Then next time you go ..they'll say here comes that "whacko" again.

[Longwood]

Don't worry you'll get used to it:lol::lol:

Then next time you go ..they'll say here comes that "whacko" again.

:drinks:
If you are not living on the edge. you are taking up too much room!
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[bigted]

id be very interested in your process for loading and shooting thru the lever action and from the tube mag. maybe a photo or two for a blind guy to look at. id love to start pp'ing for my stainless gbl marlin 45-70.

[Nobade]

id be very interested in your process for loading and shooting thru the lever action and from the tube mag. maybe a photo or two for a blind guy to look at. id love to start pp'ing for my stainless gbl marlin 45-70.

Sure, I'll try to get some pics next time I load up a box of ammo for that 30-30.

The Marlin 45-70 is easy to make work with PP, it's got almost no throat in it so the patches just barely stick out of the case. Any of the boolits designed to work in the Marlin (like the RCBS ones) work just fine if you size them to .452" or so and patch back up. Just run the patch over the break in the ogive so it'll chamber and set it up so the patch just kisses the rifling. It will still be the right length to feed. I have found the 45-70 to be the easiest cartridge to work with paper patches - the boolits are big enough to hold on to, and the pressures and velocities are low enough to not stress things too much.

[bigted]

cool...sounds like a thing ill have to try...thanks

[versa-06]

CONGRATULATIONS NOBADE!!!!! Many of us out here in Bang Bang land would like to have that rewarding experience. Keep it up, and keep us posted.[smilie=s: