Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

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opencountry
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Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by opencountry »

Just curious if anyone is shooting paper patch in the Sharps .45-2.6” casing, more specifically has anyone really achieved good to great success? I personally shoot pp in .45-90 & .45-110. I’m doing ok with both, IMO. I can drop-tube 95.0 grains of Goex Fg into a fireformed .45-90 case (which fills the case), compress with a .030” wad, add wadding, and seat patched bullet. My .45-110, well, I load 111.0 grains of Goex Fg, and I’m pleased with that. I’ve read in history books that the Sharps .45-2.4” was never loaded with anything less than 100 grains of bp. I’m just wondering if anyone is getting better results with loads of 100+ grains of powder with pp bullets out of their .45-2.6” case, maybe better results than they would in the .45-90 with pp?

Thnx,
Robert
Beware of the man that owns one rifle.
BFD
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by BFD »

I have a .45-100 that I have shot exclusively with paper patches for many years. But it has a very loose chamber, long throat and it is a hunting rifle. I've shot it at Creedmoor and silhouette and never done better than respectable. I don't recommend it. I can't shoot it with less than 107.5 grs of 1.5fg. It's more powder than necessary in a 10.5# rifle.

When it comes to paper patches there is nothing that will do better than a .45-70. I had to go through a lot of barrels and gunsmithing before I could believe that, but so it is.
opencountry
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by opencountry »

Thank you for your input,👍🏻
Robert
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by bpcr shooter »

45-2.6 here, not as long as Brent, but for a couple years. Now Im working on a DDPP from Jim and its looking like its going to be a great shooter!!
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bpcr shooter
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by bpcr shooter »

I looked it up and im getting 1440 fps with that bullet as of now. Load is...105.5gr of 1.5 swiss, fed210, .060 poly wad, distant thunder DDPP bullet seated .080 in the case.
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MikeT
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by MikeT »

I sort of inherited a Ballard 45-100, from a fellow BP shooter who has moved on to the big match in the sky. I will develop a load of Fg for it. I believe that Fg works best in large capacity cases.
Actually my current LR rifle is a 45-70 shooting 82.5 grs of Fg Swiss.
For the record, I only shoot PP bullets unless I'm playing the Schuetzen game with a 32-40.

Keep on hav'n fun!
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by SFogler »

I am working on pp loads for my 45-100. I have just started comparing pp loads to gg loads. The pp are doing almost as well as the gg and 200 - 500 yards. Pretty hard to tell the difference. My gg loads are sub MOA at 200 yards and the pp are right at MOA at that distance. I'm using 84-87 grains Swiss 1.5 with good results. I don't think you need to fill every case up to brim to get good results. I don't think an increase in velocity necessarily corresponds to an increase in accuracy either. The gg load worked pretty well for me in the Byers Creedmoor LR match, so I now I'm looking at what a pp load would do.
gunlaker
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by gunlaker »

I have a bull barrelled Shiloh in .45-2.6” with Dan Theodore’s pp chamber. I have rifles with the same chamber design in the 2.1 and 2.4” cases too. The one with the 2.6” case I use 105gr Swiss Fg and the 2.4” case uses 93gr of Swiss 1.5. The velocity and accuracy are nearly identical.

Chris
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by bobw »

Just a theory of mine, but I've often thought that when Sharps moved on from the 44-105-520 SBN load to the 45-2.6 which coincided with the Hartford to Bridgeport relocation they were using lube wads in their ammo. Least they were in the 44-105-520 load as I took one down to see it. I've never found an original 45-2.6 to buy and check out. At about the same time the LR shooters of the era were switching over to wiping every shot and loading all their own, the extra .2" of case was not needed to still get 100 grs. in the case hence the switch to the 2.4" which was never loaded with less than 100 grs. Those old balloon head cases would hold that. As Kenny W says, things were rapidly evolving in LR at the time, Sharps tried very hard to be responsive to the shooters needs, I imagine that when the noted LR shooters of the time stopped buying factory target loads to come up with their own utilizing harder alloys and card -cork wads instead of factory offerings that it got their immediate attn. Factor in that Sharps made some of their own ammo but also farmed out ammo production to UMC ,this would slow their ability to change things at the loading bench faster than the individual can. Lots of possibilities about what happened but not much documentation so those interested today still have to make their own guesses. We do do know the 2.6 was only utilized in the LR guns for about 11 months before the switch to the 2.4" bobw
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Re: Anyone shooting paperpatch in 45-2.6?

Post by semtav »

opencountry wrote: Tue Nov 19, 2019 6:25 pm Just curious if anyone is shooting paper patch in the Sharps .45-2.6” casing, more specifically has anyone really achieved good to great success?. I can drop-tube 95.0 grains of Goex Fg into a fireformed .45-90 case (which fills the case), compress with a .030” wad, add wadding, and seat patched bullet.
Thnx,
Robert
I'm about to start comparing my 45 2.6 to my 45-90 if the wx holds up this winter.
I use 95 gr Swiss 1.5 in the 45-90
Just loaded some for the 45 2.6 with OE and came up with 95 gr
Both have about the same amount of freebore.

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