What is the best patching paper and where can I get some? Thanks for your answer Hank45
What is the best patching paper and where can I get some? Thanks for your answer Hank45
Hank, I have not undertake BP patching yet; only using grease groves. I do patch a lot of smokeless bullets and have found that tracing papers work best for me. Meade Academie, Pacon Artist or Studio 71 papers are the ones I have on hand; purchased from Wally World or the local pharmacy. All of these papers are .002 thick, quite uniform and tough. They are billed variously as 25 lb, Light Weight, Standard Weight, 40g/m2 or mediumweight. The price varies but should run in the neighborhood of $5.00 for a 40 sheet pad. The Studio 71 pad I have has a sticker of $7.41 for 100 sheets.
At these prices, you can try some with out bankrupting your self.
To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, the trouble with many shooting experts is not that they're ignorant; its just that they know so much that isn't so.
Any good 100% cotton paper will do if it is the right thickness. I just purchased 100 sheets of "Onion Skin" typing paper which measures .0015 thick from "Buffalo Cartridge Co." in Idaho for less than $18.00 with shipping. Thicker paper .002 to .003 can be bought from most office supply stores. I don't want/use paper made with wood pulp it tears too easily.
BIG OR SMALL I LIKE THEM ALL, 577 TO 22 HORNET.
Staples sells some 8 lb tracing paper in rolls, it appears to be very similar to Seth Cole 55W. You can order the Seth Cole, and Ubrecht paper from various online sources.
Paper mill used to sell a 9 lb 100% cotton paper that worked well, but that paper is gone now and what they have is a 25% cotton paper.
Long range rules, the rest drool.
At 1 time or another I have experimented with about anything that looks like paper! Tablet lined paper, green bar print out paper, copier machine paper, onion shin paper, tracing art paper and others I can`t remember. At present I am having good luck with a ream package of HP copier paper. All my wrapping is done with damp patches then let air dry for a day before going any further. I lightly JPW lube the wrap before doing a push thru final size before loading.Robert
What are you patching, bore dia groove dia? What is your bullets actual dia cast from your alloy? Paper thickness is determined by the dimensions mentioned before. Seth Cole paper works good the onion paper from BACO also works well. I have a ream of the 100 cotton from the paper store that works well. Find one the proper thickness and stock up. with the double wrap most use .0002 thickness makes almost .001 on dia. When doing paper shopping locally in stores I drop my micrhometers in my shirt pocket and check thickness in the store before buying.
Not sure of the thickness; I'll have to get out the disc mikes. But, has anyone tried drafting vellum?
I have never paper patched. Been watching this thread with interest. I have a few examples here that dad did about 60+ years ago for, I think, the trapdoor. Don't remember the weight, but may be as much as 580 grns.
smokeywolf
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I tried drafting vellum on some of my .22 P.P...very tough almost plastic feel, not as easy to work with as it doesn't stick to itself very well. Lately I have been experimenting with various "slick" dia.'s & papers of varying thickness. Tried parchment paper..the baking stuff .0016" thick. Barely damp it goes limp & tends to curl..but doesn't want to stick to itself..so I tried dry patching..I think I can work with this paper.
drafting vellum is good if you get the cotton rag stuff and again it depends on bullet diameter and where you want to end up. helix still makes 100% cotton vellum at office max
lover of 74 sharps
MYWEIGH scale merchant
" i'll tell the story 10 different ways before I'll lie to you."
My pp paper is 0.002 thick, Hank
Trying different papers is good but steer clear of the Chinese graph paper. Folks will think you got bluetongue.
I kinda went about things backward and got a mould from DanT and then started looking for the paper. I acquired a lot of different papers to test . the 8 lb staedtler paper from staples was the most accurate for my situation. they also carry a 7 lb paper that is kinda orange. I haven't tried it yet.
Semtv, yup I believe we can chase our tail till we fall over , looking for the ideal paper. Only to find out the alloy, wadstack and wiping routine will play a bigger role..
Long range rules, the rest drool.
Many make the mistake of using the wrong side. i.e. (paper's gloss side.)
Going the route I took, paper did show a significant difference, as did different wiping techniques and alloys. but with the Groove dia PPing, wads didn't seem to be much of an issue. I use a .030 LDPE over a .030 veg wad in the 45-90 and just a .030 veg wad in my 45-70.
I suspect with groove diameter patching, no wad would be a viable option.
Long range rules, the rest drool.
Mate, I patch Pritchet bullets for my Pat 53 Enfield using Bienfang 360 linen rag paper. I actually use it for the whole outer wrap of the paper cartridge. It mikes in at 2 thou. I have used the Buffalo arms onion skin paper as well, and found it ok to.
Keep yor hoss well shod an' yo powda dry !
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |