Looking for opinions & sure this topic will generate some. I am getting ready to start working up loads for a very nice H Scherping D/R
in .450 3 1/4 BPE with very nice Damascuss bbl's. I will be going to 4198 NFB with foam wads between powder & bullet. My question is that a freind is using 350 grn Honady interlock
bullets #5402 in his Lyon & Lyon .450 BPE and say's they should work fine in mine due to the thin jacket & lead core & expecting to keep the velocities around 1800-1900 range depending on regulation. They work fine in his rifle although it is a later gun with fluid steel barrels on it. The barrels on my gun are of very good quality and in great shape but before I start to assemble a bunch of expensive components I thought I would ask for opinions to sort through, please provide your explanation to your opinions if you have one as I am sure there will be some from both sides of the coin.

thanks
M4220

the only BPE rounds I have ver seen used paper patched bullets. Most were lead- box mared as 'hardend lead for large game' or soft lead for reliable expansion and seen examples of copper tube bullets (but never seen original box). All wore a paper jacket.

I have had a great deal of fun learning to make paper patched bullets for my .461 Gibbs and Martini Henry's. I recomend "the paper jacket' by mathews ( I think available from Wolf publishing). Well worth doing it right, learning new things and not risking a fine rifle

Well maintained, quality damascus barrels ought to be a match for fluid steel barrels.

Have you seen the atricles by Sherman Bell in Double Gun Journal where he reports his "to destruction" test on damascus barrels shotguns?

The short version is that he tested guns in variuous stages of decomposition and they stood up to substantial overloads remarkably well.

Can't think of a reason rifle barrels would be different.

JPK

If it were me I'd slug the bore of that rifle and then use cast grooved or paper patched bullets of the proper diameter. Other than fit I don't think there is any reason you couldn't use the Hornady 350. Some people think they will wear the older barrels faster than lead, but it would take a lot of shooting to see any real difference in wear. The old British nitro for black loads used a long, about half the bullet length, copper gas check and they didn't seem to wear the bore excessively. If you plan on hunting with the rifle the Hornady is a great bullet, I've killed quite a few elk with them, but at 1800 FPS they aren't needed. A good cast bullet with a large flat meplat will do the job just as well.

Enjoy your rifle.