Designing the 2-diameter paper patch bullet.

[Distant Thunder]

Don,

That's a good looking bullet! I like that transition, Steve did a nice job. He has made a bunch of greaser molds for me but never a paper patch mold. I haven't made enough pp molds to get half as good at it, but I enjoy making them. About every third one I hit the diameters pretty close and every clicks and I end up with a winner. The rest get recycled or toss in a box. I have no idea how many molds I have that I've made or bought that I'll never use again. I should sell a few and have Steve make a mold for me, it's always exciting to get a new mold.

I was wondering if you had it made longer for a faster twist. What twist are your shooting it out of? What kind of twist would a guy need for a 1.35" bullet? Probably 16-twist would handle that length, I think 16 is good to about 1.370-ish. I always prefer to be a little short and better stabilized.

   
Three 2-diameter ppb, left to right, beltfed's Browning ppb, my 18-twist silhouette ppb, my ppb as patched.

Both these designs have proven to be very accurate in the chambers they were made to fit. Beltfed's has the higher BC and is a good paper target puncher. Mine puts a maximum amount of weight in a short bullet for knocking over rams. It has held up very well in some nasty winds.

It does look like you're in the case a ways, which isn't a bad thing as long as your brass isn't short and you have good powder capacity. In my .40-65 I like to be out as much as possible to get 70+ grains in the case. That fixes the one problem with the .40-65, it is a little bit short on powder if you can't seat your bullets out a good bit. It is, to my thinking, the best .40 caliber cartridge when loaded with ppb. I'd love to have one with a pp chamber in a 16 or 14-twist barrel. That should reach out a fair ways. 1000 yards? My 18-twist does outstanding out 600. I just may try it at 800 at the upcoming Lodi match if it works out.

That should be an excellent bullet for knocking down steel or big game. It would be almost impossible to stop that bullet. momentum and penetration should be very high. It should also be pretty flexible as to alloy so would be a good hunter in softer lead. It on my list to use mine for deer this year or next. Those .40 caliber round nose bullet work very well on game.

When you have time to shoot some please post some targets and load info, I'd really like to know what works for you.

Thanks for the picture.

DT