Gentlemen,
I am still laughing at my results this morning with paper patching. Let me disclaim by saying I firmly believe that paper patching can, and will, provide great results and am in fine spirits so please read on with that knowledge.
I had not paper patched until a week ago and this represents my second attempt. Results are dismal, nay laughable at this time. It is a good natured laugh though and I am smiling about it. I shot groups this morning (five 3 shot groups) at 50 yards. If any two shots were within six inches of the other I would be surprised. I could have got a tighter pattern with 00 buck. Groups in the 12-18 inch range. Just to make sure the rifle was not at fault I did shoot a few SST rounds (41 gr. IMR 4064 pushing 150 gr .311 Hornady SST) I made and use in my other Enfield for deer hunting. Three shot group approximately 1.5 inch and surrounding the bull. Was firing from a bench, sandbag, open sights. I did try cast (Lee 312-185) in this rifle a couple weeks ago and got 'edit: decent' results. I then slugged barrel and decided I needed to pp up to get a better fit.
Particulars below.
Rifle - 1941 SMLE Mk. III "Lithgow", Bubba got hold of it but metal is all original and unmolested.
Dimensions - Slugged barrel and came up with .315 (Cerrosafe arriving later in the week).
Bullet - COWW Lead, Lee 309-180 at .3095, wrapped twice with lined paper wet with water, 60 degree ends - no overlap with a twist on base then trimmed, lubed with Lee Sizing lube and sized in a push through to .3155. Maybe I need to hone out a bit more on the sizing die, but will wait for the Cerrosafe casting to get more exact results.
Brass - PRIVI (twice fired, neck sized), Used Lyman 31R M die which gives about .310 ID on the brass.
Powder - 14 grains Unique, no filler (Dacron incoming later in week but didn't think I should use it anyway with fast burning powder?)
Primer - WLR
OAL - 2.914 (kissing rifling), no crimp
After investigating the barrel after my first pp experience last Friday I did notice a slight amount of leading towards muzzle end. I deduced (maybe improperly) that this meant the paper was coming loose inside the barrel. I experimented with wrapping the paper further past the ogive. Not sure if barrel leaded today. Will run a patch through in a few and take a look. (EDIT: just put the bore light up to it and don't see any leading in the barrel this time...) The five groups represented different wrappings, etc. All same powder load of 14 gr Unique. The barrel is a bit rough, but not as bad as I have seen. I did lightly lap with some clover leaf when I first got the rifle a month ago to smooth it out a bit. Maybe I should try to fire lap it a few shots but I don't think it is that bad...
One of the loads from my first test last Friday (oal was 2.866, and had a very slight roll crimp, crimp was completely adjusted out for second round of tests):
EDIT: Just took a pic of the bore and maybe it is worse than I thought...
I have read over the last couple weeks virtually every relating post in this forum, so not lazy, just looking for a few ideas before proceeding. Besides I found it humorous and thought I would share!
Thoughts and suggestions gentlemen on my next attempt?
Many thanks for any and all advice,
Kevin