1st attempt

[wonderwolf]

Got home over break and got out to the range on sat. Shot some long range handgun then got to the event of the evening. First shots with PP boolits our of my H&R 45-70. at 100 yards I had 2 clover leaf groups....Velocities were impressive BUT...only 5 shots out of the 25 I shot seemed to go where I wanted them to. I brushed between shots but noticed that I got some "helicopters" going down range as well. I tried 3 wrapped and 2 wrapped. with charges of 777 going from 40-55gr. I had a friend spot and we didnt find ANY paper save for one 1/4"x1/2" pc by the chrono. I can't seem to find my chrono notebook right now but I'll post specs later. I think I was getting confetti because of the throat in that rifle is very abrupt. Sigh...guess I need to sell it and get a sharps ....oh darn

[Buckshot]

..............That's all you'll usually get............ confetti. You might find a couple pieces of maybe 3/16x 3/4" or whatever the length of the patch is. The lands cut the paper and the escaping gas at the crown just blows it to pieces. My Whitworth muzzle loader which has NO lands in the accepted form does the same. Oh you might on occasion find a little larger piece, but usually it's just bits and tatters,

..............Buckshot

[wonderwolf]

Ah. I was under the impression I had things right when I could recover the majority of a patch. I wanted to reload them

http://www.iastate.edu/~codi/PPB/PPB.html The picture of the patch all the way at the bottom had me thinking I had to have full patches. Oh yeah I was also getting leading at the first 8" it looked like of the rifling.

I also had leading on the case mouths?

[powderburnerr]

IF YOU WANT A PATCH TO BE FOUND YOU WILL HAVE TO USE A HEAVY ENOUGH PAPER SO THAT IT IS THICKER THAN THE GROOVES ON YOUR BULLET . BUT FINDING THEM DONT MEAN MUCH IF YOU ARE ACCURATE AND HAVE A CLEAN BORE....sorry for the caps.... poor typer ...Dean

[wonderwolf]

Lol here I am wondering why you are yelling at me hehe

My chrono notebook says

40gr boolit 3 wraps of paper-1215Fps Average
45gr boolit 3 wraps of paper-1286Fps Average

45gr boolit 2 wraps of paper-1260Fps Average
50gr boolit 2 wraps of paper-1315Fps Average
55gr boolit 2 wraps of paper-1400Fps Average

that last load has over 1 ton of energy at the muzzle...got bored and did a little more math heh

[405]

I probably read the same articles written by the folks who read the same articles before them.... and so on. When I started pp I always looked for the "correct" whole patch down range. All I ever saw was confetti raining down after shooting in calm conditions. There may be really tough and thick paper out there that can stand the trip down the bore but I haven't found it. Doesn't seem to matter the shape or condition of throat or leade- confetti is the norm. The only thing that counts is accuracy, normal-for-load velocity and no leading of the bore. A pure lead, correctly paper patched bullet of the right weight and diameter for the bore/groove diameter will shoot truly impressive groups.... confetti or not. Now, an intact cotton patch down range should be the norm for the best muzzlestuffer roundball shooting