Leading

[cw50-70]

MacRob46, over powder wads are a no-no with smokeless (unless the wad is placed well clear of the powder - but this is a slippery slope to tread). Under bullet wads work the same as a gas check and give better accuracy. This assumes that the base of the bullet and the wad will be in the sized neck area.

[MacRob46]

MacRob46, over powder wads are a no-no with smokeless (unless the wad is placed well clear of the powder - but this is a slippery slope to tread). Under bullet wads work the same as a gas check and give better accuracy. This assumes that the base of the bullet and the wad will be in the sized neck area.

That's exactly what I have said since the original post. I use over powder wads when I load with black powder but never with smokeless.

[4065shooter]

Gentlemen, SPG Tropic will pan lube just fine. Just push out the bullets while the dried cake is still warm. 1 hour or so.

[bpcr shooter]

did you ever slug your barrel???

I wouldnt worry bout those "other" cartridges you tried, every rifle is different even if they are from the same manufacture. just pick a bullet you want to use and set it up for that rifle. I think you have a good idea as to what your doing, ya just gotta try it out.
take an old case an drill a 1/4in hole in the base make sure you get a snug fit on a bullet and chamber it, use a dowel or anything that will fit to push the bullet forward in the chamber, remove and record the measurement, I do this multiple times then load to the longest and if need be compress the powder til I have a good fit. I do this exact thing for ALL my rifles smokless included. Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr get yourself a .443-.444 PP mould wrap up a few to .4495ish its really not that hard, if ya want I could send ya few to try out......

Happy Holidays........Matt

[4065shooter]

By the way, if you forget about it & the cake completely cools, you can cut the bullets out with a brass tube, just larger than bullet diameter of course. You can sharpen the tube using a case debuting tool.

[lefteye]

Woody mentioned VELOCITY. My experience is, the faster the bullet, the harder the alloy must be. Lube is also a factor. Test one gun at a time with one change at a time. I am shooting 1475 fps in my Schuetzen 32-40, 30 " barrel and get no leading, breech seating, with black or H108. Alloy is 18:1. My 45-90 does 1410 with no leading. Bullet alloy 20:1. Having said all that, every barrel is different!

[TexasMac]

Let’s be clear about using wads with smokeless loads. As long as there’s no air gap between the wad & the base of the bullet, using wads to help protect and seal the bullet base works fine. Therefore, when using wads with smokeless loads the amount of powder must, at minimum, be sufficient to fill the case to contact the wad with the wad in contact with the bullet base. If the quantity of smokeless powder is not sufficient to meet the above requirement, one option is to use more of a slower burning powder to fill the case. Another safe alternative is to stack wads.

BTW, several years ago I ran some extensive tests with smokeless powder with cast bullets of various hardnesses in a .45-70. When the velocity approached 1600fps gas checks were required to prevent bore leading.

Wayne

[kenny s]

I pan lube the tropic spg. double boil, pour to the top groove, let sit, push out. clean and ez. reuse all the time...Ken

[MacRob46]

Let’s be clear about using wads with smokeless loads. As long as there’s no air gap between the wad & the base of the bullet, using wads to help protect and seal the bullet base works fine. Therefore, when using wads with smokeless loads the amount of powder must, at minimum, be sufficient to fill the case to contact the wad with the wad in contact with the bullet base. If the quantity of smokeless powder is not sufficient to meet the above requirement, one option is to use more of a slower burning powder to fill the case. Another safe alternative is to stack wads.

BTW, several years ago I ran some extensive tests with smokeless powder with cast bullets of various hardnesses in a .45-70. When the velocity approached 1600fps gas checks were required to prevent bore leading.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne...

Using wads with a light charge is, apparently, dangerous and nearly everything and everyone who has mentioned it said not to do it. And, you seem to agree. 25 grains of 5744 would require that much again in filler and stacking wads would require a lot of wads! 5744 is not position sensitive and some loads I tried last week, with a 500 gr. Saeco bullet, were very accurate in my LRE with no ignition problems. I am still getting leading however, and have some bullets on the way which are much harder than the standard 20-1. While I have not chronographed the loads yet, the book indicates mv of around 1200fps. Would like to find some 500gr gas checked bullets as I do not cast my own. Any suggestions as to a supplier? I probably should cast but frankly that is a whole other hobby and not sure I want to take it on right now. Thanks again....

[MacRob46]

did you ever slug your barrel???

.458 +