DT et al -
shot today at the 200 yard line, hot sun 97f and beastly humid, weird breezes at the line and down at the pits, fired off 40 rounds with the sharps and called it a sweaty day.
only TWO fired cases extracted on the first action opening while the other 38 cases required 2 to 3 snaps of the lever to shoot out the hot brass (which sometimes wasn't fun in shorts and a t-shirt). a few cases required 4 snaps. i guess this is not a good thing for the lever or extractor. maybe i need to try the dropping brass weight down the muzzle trick. snapping the lever seems like it would be faster, and in some of my matches time is extremely important (i.e. - 35 rounds in 45 minutes). fwiw, this was the third firing of this brass in this sharps.
.45-2.1 cartridge build = fire formed starline brass that was once annealed new before reforming to fit the PPB chamber, std federal 210 primer, 83.2 grains of swiss 1-1/2f, .060 LDPE wad, .060 compression, Jim443530e slick with fidelity 9# wrapped dry that pushed into the brass exactly .010 and then run into a die that very slightly makes sure the PPB won't fall out (but will twist and pull out easily w/fangers). all shooting done sitting off cross sticks, out in the open hot sun.
after i lit off about 10 rounds the barrel got crazy hot. 2 shot groups were pretty good (for me), but the accuracy floored me on the last 4 rounds that together aggregated at near 1moa. this isn't the norm for me which is typically more like 3moa, and 2moa on a good day. gave me a happy "woo hoo!" moment, so i'm gonna try to learn to live with battling sticky brass extractions.
while greaser chambers probably work ok for minute-of-deer accuracy, a custom PPB chamber is just plain killer in every other respect EXCEPT case extraction (at least for me). i know that shiloh offers the orville c. loomer sorta/kinda PPB chamber ream as an option - i heard it's not a true PPB chamber (?). one thing for sure, almost any greaser barrel chamber can be breech sleeved and PPB chamber reamed. it would be good to know if other PPB reamers are available, and if so, get a listing together to help out ourselves and brother paper patch way pilgrims.
what the hey, i'll ring up bobby hoyt tomorrow and tell him to sleeve and PPB ream the .45-2.1 roller, too. i guess i like living on the edge. or maybe i'm just a glutton for punishment.