Paper Patch 1-48 .54 cal can it be done?

[Harleysboss]

I have all the supplies for paper patching my 50 cals and they are all 1-28 or faster twist. My question is how well does PP work for a 1-48? I have a 54 cal Lyman trade rifle just sitting in the corner staring at me. It shoots PRB great but I like the idea of heavy lead slugs heading down range. Please lets not turn this into which projectile is better conical or RB..I like both for different reasons. The bore in my rifle seems to be just over sized..I've tried the great plains from Hornady but they load with little pressure and group not so good. Looking at getting a mold made if PP works for this twist rate. Any thoughts from the forum? Thanks.

[mooman76]

I should be able too as long as you don't go with too long and heavy of a bullet. Only trying will tell you for sure.

[johnson1942]

a bullet .85 to .9 long sized down 8 thousands below the top of your lands grooves would be a perfect bullet. i think the real bullets or something like that is that size for your ,54cal, length i mean. all you need is a push through cheap resizer and your in business. doughty enterprises out of montana can do one for you for 31 dollars. you will have to make your self a wad punch to punch out some wads to put beween the bullets base and powder. im helping a shooter right now paperpatch his thompson hawken .45 cal 1/48 twist gun. i sent him a mold from lee i dont use any more for a 250 or less grain hollow base .450 mold. he is going to reduce it to .440 and patch it single wrap. it will shoot holes in holes at 100 yards easily. yours should also. watch old racers vid he made for youtube on the muzzleloading section with target gun and his home made malcolm scope. shows how easy it is to single wrap as you shoot. use 18 pound freezer wrap paper which is poly coated on one side. no need for lube, the paper is tough and the poly coated side is the out side. we got the idea from those guys with 60 or so pound muzzleloaders and a starter. they use a starter but it isnt need. just load the single wrapped bullet on top of a wad and the whole thing goes down together on to the powder. i have several paperpatch guns i shoot that way. a .54 is going to be very very hard hitting. i have a .50 1/23 twist im going to be offering in the future for sale, sidelock. choise of 1 of 2 molds with that one, a 724 grain mold or a 686 grain mold. both hit like a loaded coal train.

[Harleysboss]

I watched the video and that method looks super simple. I also measured some Great Plains 425 grn 54cal conicals and they have an OAL of .83. Is that length in the ball park for 1-48? The lower 2 loading bands measured at .535 and the upper most measures close to .545. I'm thinking of having a .535 sizer made up and sizing the GP bullets down then wrapping with the #9 onion, 2 wraps. I did a test wrap on the lower half of one of the GP bullets and it measured just shy of .545. I slid the wrapped bullet into the muzzle of my rifle and it shows promise for correct thickness. I know that shooting will tell the real story. What do you think?

[johnson1942]

if you can wrap with 2 wraps of number nine why not wrap with one wrap of 18 pound freezer wrap paper? it come off the bullet better than two wraps, ask old racer he is getting fantasitic groups with one wrap of 18 pound feezer wrap paper. the freezer wrap paper i can buy at the local very rural small super market can give me about 30 to 50 thousands patches that come off at the muzzle every time and never sticks to the bullet as 2 wraps of number nine paper does or doesnt. it is poly coated on one side, to be the poly lube out side of the paper. the guys who shoot the 60 or 80 pound slug guns shoot with freezer wrap paper one wrap and load with a starter. good news, you dont need a starter, they taught us how to do it and we simplefied it. load over a wad as you shoot. it seems too simple to do but the good news is, it works. shot after shot after shot. powder. wad , single wrap with poly coated single wrap and it shoots and shoots as you want. gets boreing because their is no tweeking but to find what powder charge your gun likes behind your paperpaptched bullet. i have a 1/18 twist that likes 100 grains, and a 1/30 twist that likes 70 grains. they both are .45 cal. go to ramshot.com and the blog section and read the section on how to paperpatch the inline muzzleloader, that i wrote for them. you dont need a inline, just a muzzle loader with a twist that accepts paperpatched bullets. you can turn a muzzle loader of this type into a rifle that is equal to 45/ 90 or 120 sharps. or 50/70 through 50/90 sharps, easily. or if you have a .54, a freight train that takes anything in any part of america and does it with ease and the very spot you aimed at. when i hit the deer i was zeroing in on with a heavy cal. bullet paperpatched not only did it go down right now but it went down and coughed up a cup of ground bone for the bullet going through its lungs. i like to make kills that are instant as i have feeling for these critters. i have a friend who was in vietnam three times. he has a war record that includes over 50 to 70 kills. he cant stand to shoot deer and not get a instant kill, these big bore paperpatches will do the trick. we are out for meat and these big bore paperpatches will do it. if you go aginst bears, they will keep you alive. bears and hogs are not deer, they like to fight back. if you want to use number 9 paper this is what you do every time like the shooters in the 1870/s did. wrap with two wraps of number nine paper and then slit with a sharp little knife along the seem of the paper down to the lead bullet. the full length of the bullet. it come off as a single wrap would. long distance paperpatched shooters of days gone by did this all the time. never ever use lube on you paperpatched bullets, it only hinders the paper comeing off. paper patching is simple, keep it simple and join the club of the ever growing paperpatch shooters. we could put the sabot people out of business.

[Harleysboss]

Thanks for the info! I'm going to order a sizer and get busy shooting. I'm definitely going to try the single wrap method. I will post results...good or bad. I already PP for my white .504 and I have a gun similar to idahoron with the 1-28 green mountain LRH in 50cal. My son killed a nice fat cow elk this past season with the 460 grn pp bullet...hit her like a freight train, she took 10 steps stumbled and done. I'm hoping that my 54 will shoot as good. Time will tell.

[johnson1942]

everybody should have a hotrod like idaho rons. when i saw his i rebarreled my renagade to 1/18 twist .45 cal douglas barrel. shoots like a long range 45/110. very very accruate. their a several members of castboolits who have hot rod renagades now.

[Good Cheer]

The Lyman thicker skirted .54 minie that was made for heavy charges is another patch possible. It's in the queue of roundtoits for a .54 project target shooting gun that's in the works with a 48" twist barrel. The minie will shoot in my 60" twist GPR with charges heavy enough to get it to seal off. So, it should work well in the 48" twist barrel has this type rifling pattern. (The bullet shown is the maxi-hunter, another that I intend to try patched and pushed hard. It's kinda long for 48" twist.)
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/.54%20maxihunter%2070%20JB_zpsiclstrhm.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/user/SNARGLEFLERK/media/.54%20maxihunter%2070%20JB_zpsiclstrhm.jpg.html)

This RCBS design with the adjustable length thin skirt will be tried out also but probably won't work well with paper patch.
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/.54%20bullet_zpsoox64ghy.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/user/SNARGLEFLERK/media/.54%20bullet_zpsoox64ghy.jpg.html)

I think 48" twist is probably a little slow in .54 for target shooting, better for the medium weight hunting bullets that will be driven harder. But, it's what I have so I'm gonna see how to best overcome the shorter bullet to barrel contact lengths.

Harleysboss,
Something else I'm threatening to try is that old pointy nosed Lyman minie with a plug to make it flat based, paper patched and loaded really hot. Hotter than possible without the flat base. The 48" twist might stabilize it. Paper patched it might provide some nicer down range hunting ballistics. Might shoot flatter than anything else in that caliber and twist. Another of those things I just gotta try.