PP .452 to .459?

[PhantomJim]

Jpholla: using the .457 bullet and the 9#onionskin pp to fit the fired case would create a projectile diameter of .465. Is this ok to shoot?

[Old Coot]

I'm not jpholla, but if it will chamber I would shoot it. There will be a lot lower pressure with paper patch than with solid bullets, and especially with jacketed. Remember that Ruger used .308 diameter barrels for all their 7.62x39 rifles and have had not pressure problems with .312 to .314 diameter bullets.
Brodie

[PhantomJim]

Using a bore of .450, a groove of .458, pure lead bullets and smokeless powder, how much oversize would you be comfortable paper patching? Would it be unsafe to paper patch to .466 to .468 range?

[Old Coot]

I doubt if the round would chamber. Although most 458 win. chambers were cut very loose and large to prevent over pressure in HOT conditions. It also provided for easy and sure extraction.
Brodie

[Alan in GA]

A nice factory bullet is Speer's swaged lead pistol bullet for 45 Colts, the 250 grain SWC.
Factory on far left. 2nd is patched, 3rd is recovered same bullet after penetrating most of a deer from rear quartering shot. Bullet recovered in front leg against bone.
Other bullets are 325 gr .452", and a couple of factory .357 Hornady pistol bullets I wrapped for .358 Winchester and a .38 Special [run through Lee sizer after pp'g and lubing].

[Notes]

I'd like to try patching a 45colt .452 250gr. Oregon Trail boolit up to shoot in a (approx) .459 Springfield Trapdoor. Is that boolit too light for the Trapdoor? The reason I say "approx" is that when I slugged the barrel I found it has 3 "Flats" so its hard to get an exact measurement. Most 45-70's run around .459. Does the patching technique allow one to adjust dimension more accurately to get the best fit? Based on comments herein, I should be able to patch up to .460 without problems. Am I understanding the technique correctly? Also...what needs to be done for lubing, if anything, on a PP boolit? Any help would be appreciated.

[big bore 99]

That is exactly what I do for my single shot 45-70. Use 45 pistol bullets and wrap to .459 or size .457 down to .452 and wrap back up to .459. Shoots great with light loads of unique.

[scattershot]

For those of you who are worried about a couple thousandths oversize, don't be too concerned. I once had a .45 Colt rebarreled. Long story short, even though the new barrel was marked .45 Colt, it was actually a .44 barrel. Other than kicking like a demented mule for the two shots I took with it, no damage was done.

[Old Coot]

Ruger used to and still may produce all of its 7.62x39 rifles with .308 barrels instead of the .312 to.314 that they normally come in. It caused to problems except better accuracy with some of that old military ammo.

[Nobade]

Just to add to this, I shot a bunch of 45 Colt bullets through my Marlin 1895CB 45-70 today. The Ranch Dog 290, sized to .452" and patched with 15# green bar paper. Then sized in a .459" die for a final diameter of .460". Loaded over 2.2cc 10B101 and a little dacron fluff, they were shooting about as good as I could see at 200M. I tried them at 300M and they were holding maybe 14", so clearly not very useful at that range. Of course with something that is almost a wadcutter shape I wouldn't expect them to work all that great at longer ranges. With that big meplat this would make a great hunting load, and it is speedy enough to not need much hold-off from point blank to 200M. Feeds through the magazine quite nicely as well.

-Nobade