gunwonk
09-17-2016, 01:15 AM
Thought I'd take a break from all the drama about my .303 not liking paper patch, and report that my .350 Rem likes it fine. It was almost spooky. First try, right out of the box, everything worked. :o
First, a good bullet. Some time ago, I found a Lyman 350457 mold. It's intended for .348 Winchester, but I knew from reading about paper patch (hadn't tried it yet) that the roughly .350" as cast diameter would be about right as a core, to paper patch for my .350 Rem. Here's a pic:
176791
When I got ready to try it, I read the forum, re-read Matthews' book, and found some green bar computer paper. I decided to have the patch wrap twice around the bullet, with the side of the patch angled so that the seam would wrap once all the way around, from the leading edge of the patch to the base of the bullet. (I was thinking to avoid high spots. Hence the steep angle, below.) Here's a pic of the patch:
176792
And here's a patched bullet, before cutting off the twist, and before sizing. (I patch the as cast bullet, and size only once -- to .3585" -- nose first, using a flat punch against the base, which also helps flatten out the spot where I cut off the twist.) The rifle is a fairly new Ruger 77 Mk II, and the throat is still pretty tight, so .3585" makes sense.
176793
I seat the patched bullets so the leading edge of the patch is about where the rifling starts. .350 Rem seems to have a pretty short throat, which I suppose is because a lot of what the 350 Rem was originally about was stuffing a fat belted cartridge into a short action. (Much of the early journalism about this cartridge was about reloaders having to seat the bullets so deep. And yes, the base of the paper patch is down there inside the powder space.) Here's a loaded cartridge:
176794
And holy cow, Batman, it worked! Here's 5 shots on the 100 yard pig:
176795
The load was about 25 gr. H-4198, for about 1400 fps. The bullets were stable and accurate up to 300 yards, the max at my range. The only thing I plan to change is to reduce the powder charge a little, for shooter comfort, as long as things continue to work this well.
Okay, now back to wrestling with the .303 ... ;-)
First, a good bullet. Some time ago, I found a Lyman 350457 mold. It's intended for .348 Winchester, but I knew from reading about paper patch (hadn't tried it yet) that the roughly .350" as cast diameter would be about right as a core, to paper patch for my .350 Rem. Here's a pic:
176791
When I got ready to try it, I read the forum, re-read Matthews' book, and found some green bar computer paper. I decided to have the patch wrap twice around the bullet, with the side of the patch angled so that the seam would wrap once all the way around, from the leading edge of the patch to the base of the bullet. (I was thinking to avoid high spots. Hence the steep angle, below.) Here's a pic of the patch:
176792
And here's a patched bullet, before cutting off the twist, and before sizing. (I patch the as cast bullet, and size only once -- to .3585" -- nose first, using a flat punch against the base, which also helps flatten out the spot where I cut off the twist.) The rifle is a fairly new Ruger 77 Mk II, and the throat is still pretty tight, so .3585" makes sense.
176793
I seat the patched bullets so the leading edge of the patch is about where the rifling starts. .350 Rem seems to have a pretty short throat, which I suppose is because a lot of what the 350 Rem was originally about was stuffing a fat belted cartridge into a short action. (Much of the early journalism about this cartridge was about reloaders having to seat the bullets so deep. And yes, the base of the paper patch is down there inside the powder space.) Here's a loaded cartridge:
176794
And holy cow, Batman, it worked! Here's 5 shots on the 100 yard pig:
176795
The load was about 25 gr. H-4198, for about 1400 fps. The bullets were stable and accurate up to 300 yards, the max at my range. The only thing I plan to change is to reduce the powder charge a little, for shooter comfort, as long as things continue to work this well.
Okay, now back to wrestling with the .303 ... ;-)