Paper patched bullets

[Frod733]

Greetings
Shooting a Pedersoli Gibbs rifle that is somewhat new to me. I have a number of paper patched bullets to use. The bullets themselves have no cannelures/grease grooves. I have heard that you should lube them slightly before loading on top of the paper. And, others say not to do so as it is unnecessary. Your opinions please, especially with respect to accuracy. Thanks

 

[SDSmlf]

No lube. Weakens the paper, at least in my opinion. Shoot mine ‘dry’.

 

[fleener]

I have never tried lubing PP bullets. My buddy Brent who sometimes looks in on this forum got me started with PP for target shooting has done quite a bit experimenting with PP over the year. Brent is somewhat famous on the internet for PP bullets. I just stole from him what works. If he sees this I am sure he will jump in.

I have shot quite a few PP bullets through English Sporting rifles similar to your Gibbs.

A lot of the accuracy with a PP bullet will be dependent on the paper, wad, the bullet, alloy of the bullet and the bullet size. Lube will certainly be a variable as well, might help or might not. Like I said I shoot dry, no lube on bullet. I do use a lubed wool felt wad however. Powder as you know can make a difference in your accuracy as well.

Accuracy? I always work up a load at 100 yards. If they dont group at 100 yards it wont get any better at 1,000. My standard is shooting 3 shot groups. I work with a rifle/load until I can shoot 1" or sub 1" groups at 100 yards. I have placed in the top 3 in quite a few matches with a dry PP bullet, including setting a new world record at 900 yards.

Fleener

 

[Zonie]

I apply a thin coating of lube to the outside of my paper patched bullets just before loading them into the gun.
The lube I'm using is approx. 50% petroleum jelly and 50% bees wax.

Once I tried lubing the paper patched bullets right after I made them. That was a mistake. By the time I got to the shooting range, the paper had thickened and softened to the point that it all sheered off when I tried loading them.

 

[fleener]

I know of several guys that lube just before loading, and they have won their fair share of long range matches as well.

Fleener

 

[52Bore]

I used to roll my PP bullets on a piece of felt lightly soaked in Sperm Oil as I loaded - gave a slight film on the paper as I loaded. Stopped doing it and found no difference in accuracy in Matches at 500 or 1000yards..
Your Ped. Gibbs has been a proven shooter.

 

[BIGBEAR]

Good idea - lube when loading..

 

[fleener]

Ford733

Ever hear of the match at Oak Ridge TN? It is coming up end of March.

Where in the World are you located at?

art

 

[Sun City]

Use a LUBE COOKIE!!

 

[cannonball1]

Please don't rip me apart for this question. I was reading another forum and they were ripping a guy with 40 years experience for not knowing what a grease cookie was. I have been shooting a ML since 1972 - Don't know what it is. Please tell me what a good grease cookie is made of and if it is regularly used with PP bullets. Some say you sandwich it between two wads. Information Please?

 

[Walkingeagle]

No expert here. Grease cookie is nothing more than a medium thick, semi-hard greased wad that people sometimes place over/under/or between thin cards.
There, let them slay me if I’m wrong.
Walk

 

[appalichian hunter]

For my sharps ( it is breech loader metallic case) please do not hang me out to dry. I use a mixture of bees wax and olive oil, mixture is combined to allow a dough like texture. Take a sheet of wax paper place it on a flat surface place 2 popsicle sticks about 2in. apart on the paper next take a wad of the lube place it between the sticks and cover with a second sheet of wax paper use a large dowel rod about 1ft. long by 1in.a piece of broom handle works fine and roll the mixture out flat the thickness of the popsicle sticks. ( like rolling pie dough) Then use a punch the dia. of size you are after. In the cartridge I load I will drop the charge compress the charge place a card board wad on the compressed charge then the grease cookie next another card board wad then seat the bullet making sure no air space is allowed inside the cartridge. I would think for a paper cartridge leave off the one of the wax paper sheets of the cookie thus allowing it to stick to the base of the bullet while the bottom of the cookie would be covered with wax paper and a card board disc as not to contaminate the main powder charge in the paper tube. As Walking eagle said it is card board wad, wax paper grease disc wax paper and another card board wad. Hope this helps.

 

[nkbj]

With muzzleloaders you can find lube cookies to be a two edged sword.
Depending upon what a particular gun and bullet likes it might help seal off to inhibit gas cutting and it might make an ignition channel clogging mess. It might help with loading successive shots or it might make cleaning for reloading a bigger chore. It can help or hurt.

 

[nkbj]

Greetings
Shooting a Pedersoli Gibbs rifle that is somewhat new to me. I have a number of paper patched bullets to use. The bullets themselves have no cannelures/grease grooves. I have heard that you should lube them slightly before loading on top of the paper. And, others say not to do so as it is unnecessary. Your opinions please, especially with respect to accuracy. Thanks

Some rifling and bullet combinations (coupled with choice of paper, patching techniques and so forth) do make for stressing the friction fit of the jacket to the bullet enough to create a slippage. A little lube immediately prior to loading can help the bullet slide down without your bullet trying to slip out of the paper jacket.

 

[cannonball1]

Just got back from the range with the intention and time of shooting five shots. This gun is made with a GreenMountain 45-70 barrel tapped and fitted to be a muzzleloader with a Shaver peep sight. I have probably shot a total of shots 50 thru it. Anyway, here is what happened today. I started loading from a suggestion from Fleener. After the first shot, I put 70 grains of Swiss powder down a dirty barrel, then a poly wad. I then cleaned the barrel down to the polywad with a slightly damp cleaning patch, then a dry one. The bullet is a 507 grain, with a single wrap 20# paper patch. The bullet goes down with a small amount of pressure, but not very much. I was shooting at 100 yards with the first shot 2" from the group with the other 4 shots being in a 1 1/4" group. This is the very best I have been able to shoot with this gun. There was no wind, I changed the center of the target to white and the sun was on the target. I found a bullet creep of 1/16" after the five shots. I noticed a very small fraction creep after each shot. Whether I will be able to do this again is anyone guess.
With this improvement, I really think the dirty barrel is helping get a better seal. Before I was cleaning the barrel with a wet patch and several dry ones after each shot. The groups were not even close to this group. I feel a good shooter could get MOA accuracy with this gun and this cleaning procedure.

 

[fleener]

Sometimes it just takes a little playing, and praying to get a rifle to shoot.

Fleener