Well poo !!! I got my order today for my .060 LDPE wad material from Baco , looked like it went through a pretty rough trip ha!ha ... Anyway i opened it up and there it was 9 square feet of .060 Veggie material rrrrrh!!!! I sent them a email with pictures and will give them a call tomorrow. Now I'm probably another week out , Oh well that's usually how my luck rolls . As long as they make it right that is all that matters . I've never had a problem with them before and I've made my share of mistakes for sure lol
Far north, I think that .063 LDPE will really help shrink your groups. The heavy hitters here really helped me get going in the right direction. Shooting .45-70, 530gn elliptical 16:1 that harder alloy made a difference. My patched bullets are about a half thousandth under bore diameter. I tried all different sizes of paper from different outlets; carried a Mike in my pocket when I went looking for paper. Lot more choices locally in the lower 48. When I patch I leave about .030 paper rolled over the base and may even experiment with patching just flush with the base. I don’t resize my brass but I do anneal the neck every time. After I dump the powder (81.5gns Swiss1.5) I vibrate my case/powder and it settles the charge. After this I pop in a the LDPE wad then a wad of freezer paper (.003 thick) and Place the shiny side of the paper up , shiny side to bullet base. I then use a Meachum tool in my press that has interchangeable inserts that will reduce the diameter of the neck to hold the bullet at the tension you desire. Fortunately I have the ability to make my own and diamond lap them for a perfect fit for the brass/bullet/tension combination I desire. Overall cartridge length is very important. This is my opinion only so take it with a grain of salt (Morten’s). I don’t think the cartridge case mouth should be any closer than .005”. to the end of the rifles chambers mouth. It is best to do a Cerrocast of the chamber to determine that distance. Also I would not want that distance to be any greater either. I believe from experience, and others here have also mentioned, that upon firing, the wad will stretch the case and that pulls the case beyond the reamed chamber of the barrel caused the case to grab the bullet and do unwanted things to accuracy. If this is occurring you will see a very small rolling over of the case mouth and with a pencil using the point you can feel the inside of the case necking down.My bullets are seated at .120” into the case; this is an area where I’m still fiddling with, and I’m loading some now with seating depths of .100 to .085”. I do put a light chamfer on the inside and outside of the case mouth. I don’t need to bell the case mouth to insert the bullet and the bullet will not fall out of the case either by picking up the round by the bullet or by holding the round upside down. I really want to thank again the people on this PP site that helped me get started, otherwise it would have taken years of going down rabbit holes. Because of them I have a number of billfold groups that are under 3/4” at 100yds 5 shots. Oh! I compress the powder .015”.
You mentioned a 1000 yard range. I have a good friend that lives in Talkeetna and is a rangemaster at times at his club that has a thousand yard range, his name is Mike Sears if so tell him hello from me, Richard Martel.
Good luck, Richard
Thanks Flatsguide for the great write up !!! I have gotten some new loads worked up with the Ldpe .060 wads ....... but haven't had a chance to shoot them yet , i have had lots of irons in the fire lately!!! But maybe this weekend , the weather has gotten warm up here and we are into Break-up (muddy as heck) !!! Lol ...... but the snow is going bye-bye very quickly now !!!!yay!!!
Flatsguide,
What role does the freezer paper wad play?
I’ve also had great success with my PP 45-70 load due to help from a forum member here. With a few differences, it is much the same as yours. I’m at 85 grains of Swiss 1 1/2 in order to get the compression my rifle seems to like.
I bench tested at 200 yards until I got groups down to around 1 1/2 moa. I’ve left the bench and am now shooting off cross sticks to practice for my first BPTR match.
JKR
FarNorth45, glad to share the knowledge and I hope it helps in some small way. Did you read my last paragraph?
JKR, I think it prevents anything from sticking to the base that would slow down the shedding of the patch. I find the shot freezer paper within feet of the bench. To be honest I never shot PP loads without the freezer paper, I started using using veggie wads and thought they would have a propensity to stick. I had problems with the veggie wads and the adage of only changing one thing at a time and only change being going to LDPE , wads I left the freezer paper in the equation. Nice shooting at 200yds!
Best Richard
FarNorth,
This shows the neck reduction using the Meachum neck sizing die that I use to reduce then neck. I neck down after the case is charged and the wads are in place. There is very light tension holding the bullet, the bullet can be pulled out of the case very easy, but will not fall out if the round is held upside down or just held by the bullet.
R
Flatsguide ,
Yes , and sorry i forgot to address that !!! I live a lot further South , down on the Kenai Peninsula and actually have never been up there yet
.... the 1,000 yard range i was referring to is in a town called Soldotna.
I was putting a slight taper crimp on , but have switch to running through a sizing die after loading just enough to keep the bullet from falling out . I did find my groups tightening up . The last time i shot i managed a 1inch 4shot group at 150yrds ..... but i have loaded up some more so i can put a 10 shot group down range and see where i stand now that i have went to .060 ldpe wads .
Last edited by FarNorth45; 04-22-2021 at 12:27 AM.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |