Putting together my Hot Rod Renegade

[Bardo]

This is my first attempt at paper patching. This is the paper im using it is .002" thick. I believe this is good paper.

Bardo

[johnson1942]

looks like you got really good paper. i used to double wrap but on another site i learned how to single wrap with freezer wrap paper and that is what i use now. comes off in one piece at the muzzle. its poly coated and 18 pound paper. learned it from the guys who shoot the really heavy bench muzzle loaders. they use a starter but i dont, just wrap, load and shoot. never ever any fliers.

[idahoron]

Idahoron what lee shaver insert do you use? Curious what one you find best for hunting.

Bardo

He is right I use the smallest pin.

[idahoron]

i made a 45, 1/30 twist side lock last winter. put it on a stock i carved myself. use a magspark nipple also and blackhorn 209 powder. i swage a hollow base 335 grain bullet and it is .440 in diam. i use a 60 thousand thick poly or hard fiber wad between powder and the bullets base. it shoot best with 70 grains of 209 powder by volume. it shoot holes in holes and is a easy to hold off hand rifle. never ever have to wipe the barrel between shots as you said, i just wipe the bore clean when done shooting. my barrel was made by the oregon rifle barrel co. and is 30 inches long. you might get a little tighter groups with a 300 to 325 grain bullet. 400 grains may get a little wobblie furthur out but then it may not. you will have fun shooting your gun as it will be consistant in accuracy and last and last.

I never got any wobble with mine. I have shot that bullet out to 300 yards quite a bit. I plan to get out to 600 yards this summer but I need a new place to shoot.

[idahoron]

This is my first attempt at paper patching. This is the paper im using it is .002" thick. I believe this is good paper.

Bardo

That should be great paper.

[johnson1942]

i am finding that paperpatching can vary alot from shooter to shooter and still be very accurate. i am finding recently that patched bullets that started out .492 and also .494 and wrapped with the same paper all shoot the very same. those bullets really bump up alot and thats why they shoot so well. i just made 100 485 grain 50 cal bullets today and resized them before wrapping to .494 and will sight that gun my son gave back to me in with those. ron, how much powder do you use behind your 50 cal bullets? never used them in a inline before except a couple of rounds, i really want this one ready for any distance.

[idahoron]

I use 80 gr of pyrodex P. You know when I was testing some bullets several years ago I was using a Lee 459-405-HB. I made some bullets out of lead that was 18 BHN hard lead. That barrel is a .458 do I did most of the sizing unwrapped. Those bullets that hard were picky. If I was on top of everything I could shoot about 2" groups at 100 yards but I mean I had to be on top. The barrel had to be spotless. That was before I had my hardness tester. I finally got sick of them on that day and shot one into a soft dirt mound in front of me. I dug it out and the lead had clear marks from the rifling's. It proved that even as hard as they were they were bumping up. Not long after that I started to play with hardness. I found that in the bullets I use the the 45's liked harder lead than the 50's.

[johnson1942]

i use what ever lead i can find and one time it was 20 to 1. it shot just as good as the soft stuff. also powders other than real black bump up the bullet also. i remember years ago it was said your couldnt ring a barrel with pyrodex but one day i did just that. it was a hard stainless steel barrel and i ringed it good. up near the top so i cut it off below the ring and recrowned it and it shot even better with the shorter barrel. we live and learn.

[Bardo]

So what is a good group at a hundred yards with a peep sight?

Bardo

[johnson1942]

1 inch or less. a peep sight is as good as a scope to 200 yards. this is off of a rest, not off hand. i use the skinner after market marlin ghost ring back sight on several guns ive built. its simple, but strong and adjustable.

[Bardo]

Well with that 400gr rcbs boolits and 80gr or BH 209 it really shot great, but it hits like a mule. I am adding a recoil pad.

Bardo