Patching Lee 340 grain

[softpoint]

My first attempts were patching the Ranch Dog 350 and 425 gr. bullets. They shot pretty well, too, About 1 1/2 at 50 yards with H322 powder. Yesterday I cast about 70 pure lead 340 grain Lee bullets for the 45/70. I had got some tracing paper, and it wrapped a lot easier than the printer paper I had been using. 2 wraps, and then resized in the Lee die I had honed out. These boolits weighed about 361 grains with the wrappers in place.
I wanted to try a lightly compressed powder charge, so I switched to H4895. Shooting one shot at a time and watching for anything abnormal I went to 59 gr. and stopped. That is a maximum load listed by Hodgdon for 350 grain jacketed bullet. Shooting for groups, now a lot of the 3 shot groups are right at an inch at 50 yards and 2to 2 1/2 at 100meters ( I used to silhouette shoot, so everything on my range past 50 yards is in meters) This is about the best I can shoot with Ashley-XS sights with ANY load.
Out of my 22 inch Marlin that load should be going about 2000+, as Hodgdon lists 2045 fs. with the jacketed 350 gr., I'd think. I may set up the chrono tomorrow, to see for sure what it is doing.
I'd think that ought to make a pretty good whitetail and pig load, that pure lead slug ought to upset pretty good at that speed.:drinks::-D

[docone31]

Welcome to the club!

[leftiye]

Nice results! 2200 fps might be sum fast fer pure lead though (ya think?). Can you say exploding boolit? 50/50 WW/pure is supposed to expand nicely at that kinda speed though. Should be a butt kicking load!

[pdawg_shooter]

Now you are hooked! I like the Lyman 451114. It drops at 430gr and .4515 ready to patch. 52gr AA 2495 shoots about like yours. When I feel the need for speed I switch to 3031, RL7, or H322.

[softpoint]

Yup, Guess I am hooked, evidenced by my getting up early this morning and casting 325 more of those Lee 340's. I have already fixed up a paper cutter exactly like the one Paul Matthews described in his book. And it works! You can bury yourself in patches in short order! I am going to go to a different powder than H4895, as I only have one pound of it left. Hmmm...I have lots of RL7, H322,IMR4320, IMR4895,WW748....If I can get one of those to deliver accuracy at 1900fps. or a bit more, I'll be happy. :Fire::mrgreen:

[pdawg_shooter]

Hell the fun is in the shooting! The more power, primer and patch combos you try the more you get to shoot. You will find patching makes it real easy to get cast lead to shoot good. I never use a bare bullet in my rifles any more.

[softpoint]

chrono'ed 45/70 today, shot more groups, 59 grains H 4895 and Lee 340, patched& pure lead weighs361, avg velocity2058. chrono'ed same bullet, 52 gr H322, avg velocity2025. Most groups were good, but occasional flyers. Change to RL7 powder, 46 gr. , avg velocity 1950, Flyers seemed to disappear. Maybe 2000+ is too fast for this short bullet out of pure lead? Could harden it up some and try it again, but 1950fps will do what I need it to do. This RL7 load is accurate as well. :cbpour:

[pdawg_shooter]

Sure is easier than trying to get a bare bullet to shoot!

[Jeff7mm]

I shoot the Lee 340 grain in my .45-70 rolling block. Although the barrel is a 1-18 twist this rifle does not like the heavier bullets at all. I have tested the 405, 385, 475, 500, and 550 grainers. My previous load used the 340 Lee cast of Linotype which came out at about 318 grains over Alliant #2400 and standard alox lube, and it outshot all others.

I paper patched some of them cast soft, using wheel weights, and WW mixed with softer lead. Accuracy improved significantly and I was sold on paper patching. I had a few hundred of the cast Linotype already sized and lubed when I discovered the paper patching. Not wanting to remelt them and deal with the mess and smoke of the lube I decided to size them down to .452 and paper patch them figuring to shoot them up for practice.

Once at the range I discovered they were out shooting the softer bullets and I was getting 10 shot groups of all holes touching at 100 yards with an occasional flyer. I wasnt sure if it was the lube under the paper patch or the harder lead, so I loaded some PP Linotype bullets without the lube. Accuracy was slightly better and the flyers disappeared. I figured the patches were sometimes sticking to the bullets and causing the flyers. I tried the same bullets with pyrodex and accuracy was nearly indistinguishable from the smokeless load. I doubt the results will be the same with black powder due to fouling issues and a grease cookie will be required. That experiment will have to wait until there is powder on the store shelfs again.

While we all take for gospel that softer bullets are supposed to shoot better, and that 1-18 twist barrels like heavy bullets such is not the case here. You may feel foolish parching a linotype bullet that will never touch the barrel anyway but the accuracy Im getting makes it worth the trouble. This rifle now regularly out shoots my scoped sporters using jacketed target bullets. Dont be afraid to experiment for yourself regardless of the accepted truths out there. Rifles are individuals and act that way at times.

By the way greetings to College Station when Im able to leave the land of fruits and nuts here in Sacramento I make a twice yearly trip to nearby Centerville TX and hunt on a 110 acre ranch.

For those of you wondering about the load, the bullets are linotype, sized to .452 and not lubed, then wrapped in #9 onion skin from Buffalo Arms Co.

Finished diameter is .459 after wrapping and drying I snip the tails and lube them in my fingers with Ox Yoke lube normally used in my .50 Hawkin. This drys to a film that feels like a bar of soap and helps them remain wrapped, water proofs them and prevents the paper tearing while seating the bullets. 27 grains of #2400 pushes them to 1900 fps. This is a Rolling Block #1 black powder action and I wont push the velocity past this point.

[softpoint]

Jeff,
I have a good friend who lives just north of Centerville just off hwy 75. To be honest, I haven't tried to shoot harder bullets than pure lead since I started paper patching, I've been interested in the expansion of the pure lead. I did suspect that that was causing the occasional flier at 2050 fps. with the Lee 340.
Anyway, they seemed to disappear after I dropped the velocity down to about 1950. I changed powder, from H4895 to RL7, that may have had an effect as well.
I may try some water dropped wheel weights patched back up around 2050 fps. to see how they do:drinks:

[pdawg_shooter]

AC WW will handle 2500 easy.

[Jeff7mm]

I agree about the softer lead. I originally decided to PP to use up my softer lead and save the hard to get linotype. Getting expansion is certainly a plus in the smaller calibers. I doubt a deer or hog will need much expansion from the 340 Lee but the rifle still shoots the softer bullets well enough to hunt with them. The linotype bullets sure make it easier to knock down the steel rams and I never get a "wobbler" now to develope a good PP load for my 35 Whelen using the old 385 grain Lyman. That will have wait until primers and powder are back on the shelf.