Paper Patch and Lodi Creedmoor

[Eric Johanen]

Labor Day weekend Lodi match was a good test of this load. Starline 45-90 brass, necksized with Lyman 45-90 die set. Brass length at 2.398-2.400. Primer a CCI BR2 large rifle benchrest . 95.0 grains of Swiss 1.5 fg, .060 poly wad compressed to seat the bullet .150 in the case. Could not find my BACO 530 grain "money bullet" mold (still have not located it!) so I used a BACO 443530 E. From the mold with 16/1 they drop at .444 Wrapped with .0025 100% cotton bond paper and run through a Lee .450 sizing push thru die, the are .4505. Tore a few patches when seating so I got a bit more aggressive with the VLD chamfer tool and had no more problems seating the bullets. ( note for the next time)! Saturday at 900 I posted a 76-0x and felt good about the load. Sunday at 800 a 85-1X. My best so far at 800. First 2 shots were 6's and dropped 7 points for the last 8 shots. 3 10's and 1 X in a string so I feel the load works! Moving to a scope so I can see at 900 and 1000 this load my just have promise!!

[Don McDowell]

It always feels good to have confidence in your load.

[Eric Johanen]

Agree Don! I shoot a lot of greaser's and have worked out pretty accurate loads with them but, I believe that the paper patch bullet is the easiest bullet to get to shoot well. Nothing needed but a good mold and good quality control when casting and proper paper. No observable flaws, sorted buy weight, patched properly and loaded carefully they shoot well. With the bullet seated in the bore there is no run out and alinement is about as good as it gets. Besides, they just look so good! The key is to have a good design matched to your barrel dimensions and twist rate and they really can work for you. Asked my puller if the holes were round at 1000 and he says yes, nice with no evidence of out of round hits at the paper. Most important is the match day focus behind the trigger and a good spotter/scorer who can identify the predominate conditions and relay the correct calls to the shooter. Give them a lot of credit for keeping you in the middle.

[Don McDowell]

I have greaser loads that will shoot better than patched in some guns, but I go with the patched loads, just because I like them.