Shiloh inline seater

[Rick Mulhern]

KW has been recommending a .446" as cast bullet quite sometime now wrapped with a thin paper which gives him good accuracy. I initially tried that bullet and I could not get it to work. Kenny was, and is still using I think a 1F powder which is what I was using also along with his rec of around a .375" compression factor. I told Dean Becker in an email that I had done all that but I still could not get that combo to work...out of my Shiloh 45 2 7/8 but THEN....along comes KIK 2F and the whole world changed with this powder! At beginning I tried the KIK 1F but no luck! Couldn't hit due east with the 1F powder. I found some yellow colored patch paper with a thickness of .0018" and now when I dry patch using it the cartridges slide into the chamber such that I can feel the paper just very slightly engraving the lands and it shoots like a dream and is consistent with no zero variability with each distance that I choose to shoot. I think the photo below has also helped improve the accuracy:


Bullstp by Sharps45 2 7/8, on Flickr

IMO having the upper edge of the patch at a consistent location at the ogive has improved accuracy, as well as using the lighter paper which I think gives a consistent 'break-away' factor when the patch separates from the bullet. I can't prove that last statement but it makes sense to me! I DO KNOW that the accuracy has improved however. Mind you....this combo is a TARGET LOAD; not a hunting load. I wipe with two damp and one dry and before I insert another cartridge into the chamber I visually look through the bore to ascertain if there is any left over minute cotton threads there which could disrupt the patch paper as the bullet travels through the bore! For a hunting load I use a .442" as cast bullet with a finished patch diameter of approx. .449" which lets me shoot several rounds without wiping giving good accuracy also but not quite as good as my target load.