HollowPoint
01-24-2010, 09:17 PM
I patched some .44 cal 240 grain round nose bullets last weekend. The weather here in my part of Arizona has been so crappy that I haven't been able to get out and shoot until today.
This was my first attempt at shooting paper patched anything. I intended to shoot them out of my Ruger Super BlackHawk Hunter and my Puma M92.
After slugging both guns I found a big difference in bore and groove dimensions so I ended having to size down my cast bullets for both guns.
The SBH had a .417 bore and a .429 groove while my M92 had a .427 bore and a .432 groove. To me that's a big difference.
Since I'm a newbie at this I went by the "book" and sized and patched according to the slugged dimensions of each gun.
I was really curious to see if PPB's would work in my revolver. In my minds-eye I pictured the paper jackets being sheared off at the mouth of the cylinders before they ever made it into the barrel.
This wasn't formal target shooting. I was more or less "stump-shooting." just picking clumps of wood or distant rocks to shoot at.
I could tell from the impact-spray that they were not hitting to far off my point of aim.
Both guns seemed to be shooting high but still centered. The Puma was about 6 inches high at 75 yards and the SBH was about 4 inches high at about 30 yards. I never did find any of the paper "Confetti" that I read about in many of these paper patching threads.
I had about 20 bullets loaded for the Puma M92 and only six for the SBH.
Out of curiosity I fired two of SBH bullets out of the M92 and two of the M92 bullets out of the SBH; just to see if there was any difference.
They did shoot but, from the impact-spray I could tell that they were no where near as accurate as the bullets I'd made up specifically for the individual guns. On the other hand, it could have just been bad shots made by me.
Two fired bullets aren't really enough to determine anything.
Now that I know that Paper Patching will actually work in these guns, I'll do a little more formal load work up the next time around.
And did I mention that the bore of each gun was really, really clean; after 20 rounds through the Puma and 6 rounds through the SBH? Clean up was a breeze.
Just as a side note: yesterday I started tinkering around with my first attempt at making a reamer/cherry for my first PPB mold.
As with many first attempts, it didn't turn out quite the way I'd hoped. I was just eye-balling it. I wasn't sticking to any hard and fast critical dimensions.
What I came up with was a cherry for a .41 magnum that looks more like a boat-tail rifle bullet than anything else. It measured .410 diameter X .826 long.
I might be able to patch it up to Groove size of my SBH but, this was just an experiment of sorts. Now I'm pretty sure I can make one that works if I just take my time and be a stickler with the right dimensions.
I'll just keep plucking away at it till I get it right.
HollowPoint
This was my first attempt at shooting paper patched anything. I intended to shoot them out of my Ruger Super BlackHawk Hunter and my Puma M92.
After slugging both guns I found a big difference in bore and groove dimensions so I ended having to size down my cast bullets for both guns.
The SBH had a .417 bore and a .429 groove while my M92 had a .427 bore and a .432 groove. To me that's a big difference.
Since I'm a newbie at this I went by the "book" and sized and patched according to the slugged dimensions of each gun.
I was really curious to see if PPB's would work in my revolver. In my minds-eye I pictured the paper jackets being sheared off at the mouth of the cylinders before they ever made it into the barrel.
This wasn't formal target shooting. I was more or less "stump-shooting." just picking clumps of wood or distant rocks to shoot at.
I could tell from the impact-spray that they were not hitting to far off my point of aim.
Both guns seemed to be shooting high but still centered. The Puma was about 6 inches high at 75 yards and the SBH was about 4 inches high at about 30 yards. I never did find any of the paper "Confetti" that I read about in many of these paper patching threads.
I had about 20 bullets loaded for the Puma M92 and only six for the SBH.
Out of curiosity I fired two of SBH bullets out of the M92 and two of the M92 bullets out of the SBH; just to see if there was any difference.
They did shoot but, from the impact-spray I could tell that they were no where near as accurate as the bullets I'd made up specifically for the individual guns. On the other hand, it could have just been bad shots made by me.
Two fired bullets aren't really enough to determine anything.
Now that I know that Paper Patching will actually work in these guns, I'll do a little more formal load work up the next time around.
And did I mention that the bore of each gun was really, really clean; after 20 rounds through the Puma and 6 rounds through the SBH? Clean up was a breeze.
Just as a side note: yesterday I started tinkering around with my first attempt at making a reamer/cherry for my first PPB mold.
As with many first attempts, it didn't turn out quite the way I'd hoped. I was just eye-balling it. I wasn't sticking to any hard and fast critical dimensions.
What I came up with was a cherry for a .41 magnum that looks more like a boat-tail rifle bullet than anything else. It measured .410 diameter X .826 long.
I might be able to patch it up to Groove size of my SBH but, this was just an experiment of sorts. Now I'm pretty sure I can make one that works if I just take my time and be a stickler with the right dimensions.
I'll just keep plucking away at it till I get it right.
HollowPoint