Hi everyone. New to the forum here, but I have read it quite often.

I have just got done customizing my Tula 91/30 and took it to the range this weekend. I fed it some new factory ammo from PPU and it shot less than spectacular...by a lot. In said customization, I replaced the trigger, cut and recrowned the barrel, glass and pillar bedded, and added a scope, so I don't think any of those things are causing it to shoot poorly. But when I slugged the bore, it came out to .314-groove and .301-bore. The bullets I were shooting were .310-.311. So no surprise I was getting horrible groups.

I am determined to get this rifle to shoot well, and after a lot of thinking, it seems the best and easiest way to get some properly sized projectiles is to use paper patched bullets. Now, I don't cast my own bullets (yet), and honestly, this rifle was intended as a long range gun or a hunting rifle, so I would like to use j______ bullets with a higher BC and mushrooming terminal performance characteristics. My first question is, has anyone had success paper patching .308 or .311 jacketed bullets for the 7.62x54R, or just PP jacketed bullets in general? From looking at the forums here, it seems PP jacketed bullets can definitely be done as long as the paper has something to grab on to. I was going to try PP a Barnes TSX or something similar with drive bands so the patch has something to grip. Any input on this would be much appreciated.

My second (and maybe more important) question is about what diameter to expand the case mouth too for a PP bullet. It seems intuitive that if you PP a bullet to a specific diameter, say .314 in my case, and the case mouth was less than that by more than a couple thousandths, say .310 or .311, that you would just ruin the patch or size it to less than groove diameter when you seat the bullet. So what size do you expand your case neck to when using PP bullets? Same diameter as the bullet? A little over? Under?

Thanks everyone for your input. I cant wait to get into paper patching