Buckshot... Paper Patch Question

[PatMarlin]

Sir Buckshot-

Is it safe to try different paper for patched boolits, or will some paper actually cause damage or premature wear on the bore?

inquiring minds wana know- :mrgreen:

[Ed Barrett]

High rag content papers are the best papers for patching, these are commonly called "banknote paper". stright woodpulp paper contains some other things which are abrasive. "Clay Coat" paper, the stuff used for magazines is coated with a highly abrasive clay. Recycled paper can contain about anything. The paper should be lubricated, the old time shooters were very fond of sperm whale oil and combinations, much in the same way many people today have their favorites. The same thing for paper lube as for bare bullit lube, black powder use vegetable/animal based lube. Smokeless use mineral based lube. From some of the things I've read the "grain" of the paper, the direction of the majority of fibers in the paper is very important when you cut your patches.

If you are going to start working with smokeless patched bullet loads you will either cuss a lot or feel very satisfied, many times in the same day.

[Buckshot]

............Ditto Ed's warning about recycled paper. Don't. I've used many types of paper, but never any coated stock. Most any good quality paper that can be wetted and stretched without tearing will work. Obviously we're not talking newsprint here:D.

Ed mentioned the paper's grain, and cutting patches across the grain is best. The paper stretches further and when it dries it shrinks tighter. Easiest way to test for grain direction is to cut a strip maybe an inch wide across the short direction of the piece of paper, then another the long direction. Hold each between thumb and finger at the very end, pointing away from you. That strip which droops most is across the grain.

I've had a few odds and ends patched boolits I've tossed back in the scrap box for re-melting, and I've learned 2 things. One is just dropping a patched boolit back in the pot doesn't really work well as it takes FOREVER for it to melt. The 2nd is that it's easiest to slit the patch with a razor knife and peel it off rather then trying to unwrap it. Trust me, if it was well patched, it DOESN'T want to come off!

Common patching papers are:

Dress pattern paper = .001 - .0015"
9# Airmail, 25% cotton = .002" (my favorite)
12# Medium typing (bond) = .0025-.003"
16# Typing (bond) = .003"
20# Typing (bond) = .0035-.004"
24# Typing (bond) = .0045"

There are also several drafting papers, traceing, vellum and other art and proffessional papers which will or can work.

The easiest and quickest way to lube a patched slug for smokless is to spray the patched slug with one of the inexpensive machinery dry moly sprays. It's not sticky so it won't attract dirt. Otherwise most any lube which won't soak the patch and turn it transparent will work well.


.............Buckshot

[PatMarlin]

Great tips, and thanks!

I have always wanted to paper patch. I read a post where Veral Smith was talking about using a computer peel label for a patch, and I thought that can't be right. That's got to be some narly stuff in a computer label.

Now there's a testiment to patched boolits if I ever heard one Buckshot-

...that the darn thing takes forever to melt in a lead pot... WOW! :coffeecom

[9.3X62AL]

Pat--

I suggest you obtain a copy of Paul Matthews' book "The Paper Jacket" for an in-depth look at the subject. From its text I was able to understand why my successes and failures occurred in this sub-section of boolit casting.

My positives--Lyman #358430's cast of unalloyed lead and wrapped with 9# bond airmail paper, and run about 1800 FPS from the CZ-550. With open irons, I can easily keep the 200 meter gong ringing at the range Buckshot and I infest. At 50 yards with open irons, 1" groups result. After hunting season, I'll re-test these loads with the CZ assisted by the Leupold 2x-7x now on board to remove a LARGE handicap (aging eyesight) from the equation.

My negatives--the Ruger #1 x 45-70. I did just about everything wrong with these castings......wrapped them "short", didn't snug the boolit/paper radius edge into the rifling origin, and ABRUPT rifling origin combined to create the most deeply and comprehensively leaded bore I've ever been witness to in my life. There's nothing like listening to slugs totally uninfluenced by rifling while they cartwheel downrange. Sounds like The Mosquitoes From Hell.

I will be trying this sort of thing some more. I can imagine how effective a patched soft lead flatpoint weighing 270 grains or so moving at 1800-2200 FPS would be in the hunting fields.

[26Charlie]

Once I have patched some .45-70 bullets (using 16# and 20# used computer printouts - any office produces tons of this waste) applying the patches damp, and then letting them dry & shrink tight, I use fingers to wipe on a little bullet lube and put them through a Lee .457 push-through die. This compresses the paper some, but it thereby enables you to seat the bullets without snagging and tearing the paper on the case mouth. It may need a little more lube on the bullet if you have let time go by before assembling the rounds, because the paper absorbs the lube slowly.
My worst idea was to melt lube and soak the patched bullets in it. It made the bullet slippery inside the patch, so the patch slid off the bullet when seating, and even if using unsized cases the patch stayed in the case and the bullet slipped on out of it down the bore when fired, not engaging the rifling. A full beeswax lube might have worked differently, but the 1/3 beeswax 2/3 tallow mix I use had that smooth-sided bullet slip-sliding away.

[9.3X62AL]

I've used Lee Liquid Alox smeared on the patch prior to seating in both the successful and non-successful experiments in this venue. Unlike others, I've never tried running the patched slugs through a sizer. The shrink-fit action of the paper REALLY holds the patch in place in my experience, using the lube grooves to get "traction", for lack of a better term to describe it.

A few further notes.......the Ruger #1 x 45-70 has 8-groove rifling with land width roughly equal to groove width. The bore measures .449" x .459", so the lands are about .005" tall. The CZ 550's bore is .352" x .366", four grooves about twice the width of the lands--lands are .007" tall. The Ruger hated PP boolits, and the CZ doted on them--both rifles adore conventional cast boolits. Differences? BIG ONE--very short, abrupt throat in the 45-70, with rifling leade in the "government" pattern resembling a concrete city street curb. The CZ has a fairly long throat (.300" or thereabouts) with gentle leade. Most lever rifles have throat profiles like the Ruger, BTW.

One of the occasional Burrito Shooters whose ideas I respect highly advanced the idea that the abrupt throat in the Ruger probably shredded the jacket material, and yielded the "lead mine effect" my rifle's bore created. Mr. Matthews hints at that, and more firmly stated that paper jacket edges running at any leade can be shredded--the jacket edge needs to be snugged into the rifling origin gently. So, without intending it--I set up disaster in the 45-70 and perfection in the 9.3. If ignorance was bliss, I damn sure was sending mail from Nirvana's ZIP Code during that process.

[PatMarlin]

Gotta love Deputy's moving and expressive, uncanny ability to paint such a stunning visual picture in the minds eye.. :mrgreen:

[9.3X62AL]

Aw, shucks........it's all because I'm too damn lame to learn how to post pics--or take pictures of rifle throats!

Thanks, sir.

[Montanan]

Making, Loading, and Shooting Paper Patched Bullets (http://www.iastate.edu/~codi/PPB/PPB.html) by Brent Danielson.

You can also find good bullets to patch with at On Target Swaging (http://www.ontargetswaging.com)

And

You can order bullets already patched or unpatched from
Montana Bullet Works (http://www.montanabulletworks.com)

Very useful and informative for you all. :coffee: