BPCR & Long Range Bullets
Now let's look at the vastly different bullets useful for BPCR Silhouette and Long Range. First off, forget the linotype alloy. Experience has proven that very hard cast bullets fired over blackpowder charges delivering velocities only in the 1150 to 1400 fps range can be accurate, but they leave excessive leading. A very hard bullet doesn't obturate to seal the bore at blackpowder pressures, and therefore gas cuts past its base and leaves melted lead plated inside the barrel. Almost universally, BPCR competitors are using blends of pure lead and pure tin in proportions of 1:20 to 1:30. The 1:30 alloy has a BHN of 9 while 1:20 alloy has a BHN of 10. I favor the 1:20 blend.

Mike's current favorite cast rifle bullets for shooting from 100 to 1000 yards include .30-, .40-, and .45-caliber bullets. (Left to Right) Lyman No. 311299 .30 Cal. 190-Gr. Semipointed, Lyman No. 314299 .30 Cal. 195-Gr. Semipointed, Brooks .40 Cal. 425-Gr. Semipointed, Brooks .45 Cal. 513-Gr. Creedmoor, Brooks .45 Cal. 530-Gr. Creedmoor, Brooks .45 Cal. 544-Gr. Creedmoor

The rules for these long-range BPCR matches do not allow gas-check-type bullets, so shooters protect the bullet's bases in another way. We cut or buy wads that are placed between the powder charge and the bullet's base. These come in many types, such as cardboard punched from ordinary tablet backing to commercial vegetable fiber and even plastic wads. In the old days I used to cut .030-inch cardboard wads myself, but since John Walters began selling his vegetable fiber wads I'll never take wad punch in hand again. Walters's wads come in all the correct sizes for blackpowder cartridge rifles and either in .030- or .060-inch thickness. I've settled on the latter for my shooting.

Most competitors shoot roundnose bullets of one form or another in the BPCR games, but at these low velocities sometimes a pointed bullet also will shoot well. Regardless, we like them heavy. In BPCR Silhouette the two most popular bore sizes are .40 and .45 caliber. For .40 caliber most shooters use bullets from 400 to 425 grains, and .45-caliber shooters like 500- to 550-grain bullets. In the NRA's Long Range matches shooters almost universally use .45-caliber rifles and prefer bullets in the 520- to 570-grain weight range.

I mentioned that my favorite .30-caliber bullets had only two grease grooves. That is opposite of what we want with our BPCR bullets. There the bullet lubricant not only serves to keep the bullet from leaving lead fouling in the bore, but it helps keep the blackpowder fouling soft. Therefore, most of the BPCR bullets seen in competition have long bodies with four and five grease grooves.

And lastly, long-range target shooters want our bullets to be consistent. Conversely from the relatively short-range shooting I do with modern bolt actions where I like to use multiple-cavity molds to increase bullet production, I will only use single-cavity molds for long-range target competition. Most high-scoring competitors report that they weigh each and every bullet. My personal limits are that I keep my bullets within a plus/minus .3-grain spread, or a total spread of .6 grain. My 100-yard bullets for the various military rifles are not weighed at all.

As with the .30-caliber bullets, I'll detail what I think are good designs for long-range target shooting with the BPCR. Most competitors in these two games use custom lathe-bored bullet molds, with the two most popular makers being Paul Jones and Steve Brooks. I should mention that I recently discovered a new maker by the name of Dave Mos.