Paper patch a revolver?

[I'll Make Mine]

I recently acquired a ca. 1891 H&R "large frame" top break in .32 S&W -- it's a black powder only gun, several years earlier than the 1904 introduction of H&R revolvers designed for smokeless ammunition. I plan to shoot it with a substitute, because real black is apparently impossible to come by locally and the hazmat shipping pushes it out of my price range. I'll be shooting .310 round balls initially, but I plan to slug the bore and load with boolits of the correct size when I can get my casting setup back in operation.

Someone suggested, however, that I might be able to paper patch either the round balls or suitably light boolits to get as-cast big enough to fill the grooves. I'm well aware of paper patch, first ran across the idea thirty-five years or so ago -- but I've been under the impression since then that paper patching for a revolver wasn't a great idea; the barrel-cylinder gap (and in the case of my H&R, a little pitting just past the forcing cone) seems likely to strip the patch from the boolit, giving the effect of an undersize slug (poor accuracy and leading).

Was my understanding correct, or is paper patching in a revolver at all practical, and if so, is there any gain in it vs. a properly sized naked boolit? My load would be no more than 5 gr equivalent, most likely APP's so-called FFFg (I'm wanting to try this for its reputed easier cleaning and compatibility with petroleum lubes; I've got a jar of toilet ring/paraffin on hand), giving under 700 ft/s, unless I get some S&W Long cases and trim them to .32 H&R Long dimension (that was a H&R proprietary round longer than .32 S&W but shorter than .32 S&W Long) -- those would hold about 7 gr. equivalent, and probably reach near 800 ft/s.

Edit: Just found an article with information on the .32 H&R (aka .32 Merwin & Hulbert Long), which was not .32 H&R Long -- dimensions and everything.

[Dframe]

It probably isn't practical but it sure is fun. I've loaded 45 Colt with patched bullets and it's literally a blast. The confetti is just too much fun.

[johnson1942]

for the blackpowder revolvers why dont you try this. get from lee a push through bullet sizer of the size of bullet you need for your gun. then buy roundballs a little larger than that size and size them to you gun. for my 38 special blackpowder revolver i buy .375 round balls and size them to .357. for my 45 long colt blackpower revolver i buy .457 round balls and resize them to .451. i shoot both the 38 and 45 with a couple of wads i make from milk cartons under each resized roundballs. they are accurate and never ever lead the barrel. it would work great for your gun. the round balls are barely sticking out of the case and i crimp the end of the case to keep them in their. the last three days ive done a large number of both cal. and going to do some fun shooting soon.

[longbow]

While I have not paper patched for a revolver, what got me started in paper patching was an article in an old Peterson's Guns (IIRC) which was about revolver/carbine combos and paper patched boolits. The two calibers chosen were .45 Long Colt and .44 mag in both revolver and Marlin carbine. I was interested in eh Marlin 1894 in .44 mag. so bought the magazine and learned to paper patch.

In any case the author said results from the revolvers was good so there you go. It is certainly worth a try though for BP you may want to use a grease cookie under the PP boolits to keep fouling as soft as you can.

Nothing wrong with the round ball idea either and it should work well and be fun to shoot. Again, I have loaded round balls in .44 mag for my Marlin. I used 0.440' balls sized to 0.434" then loaded into the brass over 8 to 10 grs. of fast shotgun or pistol powder. My first use was Win 452 AA. That worked quite well. Since I had Accurate make me a mould to produce a lightweight boolit (43-165B) which I like better than the round ball because I can push it faster and still get decent accuracy.

All good stuff and fun to shoot.

Longbow

[.22-10-45]

Years ago, I bought a Norwegian 7.5mm Nagant revolver which included a box of original paper-patched bullets. Entire outside of bullet covered in a thick dark brown nasty sticky lube..I never did get around to firing that old gun.