Author Topic: Hollow base bullets and wads? (Read 1772 times)

Dakota Confederate · « **on:** September 10, 2003, 05:43:13 PM »

Well, I plan to use Rapine .38 RNFP-HB bullets through my Remington Navy conversions but I have a few concerns. First, I've used my .45 Remington conversions without a wonder wad or grease cookie between the powder and bullet and with black, it works fine but will bind up in short order if I don't use them. Now that's with a flat base bullet so there's no problem here.
The problem is that with the .38 hollow base bullets, if I don't use a wonder wad or grease cookie, I'm expecting the same binding trouble that I had with the larger Remingtons. If I use a wad between the bullet and powder, am I going to have problems with the wad not allowing the skirt to expand like a Minie ball and grip the rifling? If it does still expand, is there going to be problems with the wad sticking in the base cavity and throw off accuracy? Anybody got any ideas here?

Cuts Crooked · « **Reply #1 on:** September 11, 2003, 12:31:06 PM »

I got miserable accuracy with wads in .44 caliber minie type slugs. So I'd expect the same results for yer HB boolits. Best suggestion I can give would be to fill the hollow base with lube and use a wax paper wad between it and the powder charge.

Cactus Cris · « **Reply #2 on:** September 21, 2003, 05:32:47 PM »

I use no wads in my 58's with the R&D cylinder's (38spl) and a Rapine HB bullet. I put in 16gr 3f Ele. Lube with Lyman BP Gold in my Star lube/sizer. I go thru 3 stages then wipe the front of the cylinders with a damp rag while they are out being unloaded, then stick them back in. Can go another 2-3 stages b4 I need to do it again. The Rapine bullet has plenty of lube rings to carry it thru the barrel.

The Shrink · « **Reply #3 on:** September 24, 2003, 01:19:33 AM »

Dakota

Gatefero posted on the Cap & Ball forum that he built a bullet catcher for C&B pistols, and found wads still sticking to some round balls after going through 6+ inches of newspaper! I think you can assume that they will stick to a hollow base bullet.

I think I'd stick to filling the base with lube and see how that works,

The Shrink · « **Reply #4 on:** October 22, 2003, 01:33:23 AM »

Dakota

I think your only possible solutions would be either to fill the hollow with lube as mentioned or use a hard card wad between the bullet and the wad. There is still the danger that this wad would be pushed into the hollow at ignition, unbalancing the bullet. Since you have the bullet, give each a try and let us know how each works!

Harry O · « **Reply #5 on:** December 10, 2004, 11:34:18 AM »

Quote from: Dakota Confederate

Well, I plan to use Rapine .38 RNFP-HB bullets through my Remington Navy conversions but I have a few concerns. -snip- The problem is that with the .38 hollow base bullets, if I don't use a wonder wad or grease cookie, I'm expecting the same binding trouble that I had with the larger Remingtons.

You will have problems with either fiber discs or lube cookies placed between the BP and the hollow. The problem is NO ACCURACY. I have shot a LOT of 41LC in both heel-base and hollow-base bullets. Here is an article that may help:

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/heelbullets.htm

One thing about the Rapine 386185 hollow-base for the 41LC is that there are three wide lube grooves in it. Fill them with SPG (or your own equivalent) and you can shoot for up to 50 rounds before it binds up (you do have to run a wet patch down the bore once or twice to get to 50 rounds if you want any accuracy). The hollow-base Lyman 386178 has two much smaller lube grooves and I am lucky to shoot 25 of them before it starts binding up and also giving poor accuracy. I have not looked at the Rapine 38LC mould, but I would expect it to have a lot of room for lube, also.

Will52100 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 16, 2004, 09:04:17 PM »

I'm getting the Rapine mold pretty soon and have been shooting the ones that River Junction sells loaded with Swiss 3f black powder. The only thing I do is when the gun slows down dip the end of the bullets in some bore butter and load a cylinder of them. The Swiss is a little hotter than the other black powders I've tried and the fouling is a bit softer too. I've put several hundred rounds at a time through them with no loss of acuracy just by every fith or sixth loading out side lubing the bullets like they were balls in a cap and ball. I don't use lube in the hollow because I shoot 38 long colt and with the short cartrige I want all the powder I can get. At the end of shooting a couple of passes with a bore snake and the bore is clean and shinny.