Question regarding patching for a 91-30

Hey Guys,

I have studying up on paper patching here on this forum, and have decided I'm going to give it a go. I have several rifles in which I'd like to try it on, one is a 1943 Mosin Nagant. It's got kind of a rough bore, not so much pitting but tool marks and the like. Am I to assume that this will be detrimental to my early attempts? I have an 03 Springfield that has a nice minty bore, and a Rem 700 30-06 as well. I'd sure like to get the 91-30 to play nice, but should I skip that one for first try? Iv'e been putting things together in terms of boolits & sizers. The bore slugs .3115 +/-, so I'm thinking a .310 boolit with two wraps of the green stripe copy paper, lube with BAC? I have a feeling that I'm about to get into a steep learning curve, but I really want to give this a try. Any advise is welcomed, and thanks in advance for any other tips.

Give the MN a try. You have nothing to lose and a lot of experience to gain. My Mosin Nagant grouped a 3/4" group at 75 yards on my very first attempt, and from my reading online, it wan't supposed to be that easy. I had a much more difficult time getting my 303s to shoot well with paper patched bullets, although they were the guns on which I made the bulk of my beginner mistakes.

Interested in this also. The 91-30 has the advantage of a nice long barrel- plenty of room to pick up speed even with lighter loads.

I am also thinking about patching for my Mosin. I was originally just patching for my 30-30, however I was using onion skin paper on a lee .309 FN Boolit. They came out at about .314, and only about half of them fit in my gun (and that was with a bit of "forcing it") I was feeling like it might be a bust, when I remembered the Mosin with it's .312 bore. Hoping to pick up some brass soon! I've got high hopes!

Shooter, man up and give it a try. It ain't supposed to be easy. Granted,I soaked up all the info I could find, and in addition was EXTREMELY lucky when I bailed off into PP. The Max just fell into place, same with the .444, .44Mag, and .445SM. Not so much with my 30/40AI, did well to hit paper. Actually I don't have the right size core, but I'll get a roundtuit. I'm retired but there's not enough hours in a day. GW

Mr. Goatwhiskers...you are a tad late to the dance. I have been successfully paper patching in several different calibers since that first post. And no, it's not easy...at first. Once you get a grasp on what needs to happen everything pretty much falls into place. Lots of experimenting and patience is needed, but that's all part of the fun.

................My first ever attempt at paper patching was some years back. Some years back means it was before digital cameras were cheap enough for the likes of me to consider, and had to have been in the late 80's? In any event I had obtained an 01 FFL and one of the first buys I ever made was for a M91/30 M-N that had been a Finnish Capture. The Finns had worked on it a bit. The bore had some wear, and it had been counterbored at the muzzle. I'd paid $39 for it and if I'd ever slugged the barrel I don't recall now. I can tell you that not a single 30 cal mould worked :-)

I think it was when I bought a Lyman 314299 that I was able to hit a barn door :-) The main thrust of my wasting your time in reading this (as I don't have the particulars) is that I paper patched a Lyman 311284 boolit over some forgotten charge (would have been a cast boolit load,and I've been partial to H4198 for a long time). In any event that 5 shot group fired 30+ some odd years ago turned out to be pretty darned exciting as I remember all the holes were VERY clannish. I recall that the slugs I'd patched had GC's and I'd patched over the GC.

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

The 91/30 and M44 "play well" with paper patching for me. The paper will actually have a polishing effect on the bore and you may see some improvement in it after awhile. I had a mold made years ago to drop a 165 boolit at .301. I use copier paper to boost it to about .314 and size it after hand applying homemade lube just enough to give a nice shine. Sometimes I rub a little graphite onto the freshly sized and patched boolit for kicks. You get just as dirty from the white graphite but it doesn't appear as bad in your shirt, etc. I tried "the load" of 16 grains of 2400 per Mr. Ed Harris and on the first try, it shot into exactly one inch at 50 yards from the M44. The 91-30 does as well or better, but my eyes no longer do as well with the old military style sights. Incidentally, 20.5 grains of 2400 with regular cast boolits at 200 grains shoots like a dream in at least eight different rifles. I plan to go up in charges of 2400 with the paper soon. Other things have pushed the patching onto the back burner lately, but I will get back to it. Pursue it and don't quit. Enjoy the ride.