Winchester 1892 with paper patch bullets at the range

[David LaPell]

Well, I think I am onto something.

My old Winchester 1892 .32-20 was keyholing with bullets with .312" which is what the barrel slugs out at, and (115 grain Lyman bullets). So while I wait for .313" bullets to get here, I decided to try paper patching the .312" bullets. I used rice paper which is almost water soluble as delicate as it is. If it's wet and not in place when you want to wrap it, it will tear it is so delicate. I got the bullets with the rice paper sized out to .315" and I used Lee Liquid Alox bullet lube over the paper when it dried.
I took the gun out this morning with a light charge of 2400 and I actually got the gun to shoot accurately. I didn't mess with sighting it in as I wanted to see if the gun would group.

There's no keyholing anymore and while it's not match grade accuracy, it's a definite improvement.

Here's the .312" bullets at 25 yards, notice the start of the keyholing and what is a 4 or 5 inch group.



Here's with the paper patch bullets at 25 yards.

[Kev18]

The old rifles are always special. Im having issues of my own. Glad you could improve the accuracy with paper patching!

[BFJ]

Thanks for posting about your project.

[scattershot]

Any problems with the PP bullets feeding through the mechanism?

[David LaPell]

Any problems with the PP bullets feeding through the mechanism?

No, they fed just like normal rounds.

[scattershot]

Cool! Thanks!

[enfield]

None of my 32-20's are close to .312 , the .315 seems more like what I use ( Lyman and NOE ) are the .313 bullets the biggest you could find ?

[samari46]

Dave, what is the condition of the rifling. Twist would be something like 1x20. Given your groove dimensions you may have to go with a fatter bullet with .314 or possibly .315. Either that or get a thicker patch material and patch up to .314-315 and see what happens. Or you could have the barrel relined with a liner with a faster twist. TJ's has a list of liners in 32 and 30 with varying twist rates.Frank

[yeahbub]

I've been paper-patching for use in '92's for some years now and the results are like your own. I've never had the patch hang up on chamber edges or feed hardware so far. It's interesting that you use so delicate a paper. I've been spoiled by using tougher papers, like bond, plain butcher paper, and my favorite - 100% cotton drafting vellum. Can't go wrong with that one. My process is essentially what you do, wet wrap, roll 'til the ends meet and add a small dab of white glue inside the last 1/4 - 1/2" of patch and dry (no tail), size to finished diameter, tunble lube and off to the loading table we go. Accuracy is improved over bare cast, if for no other reason than the bore dimensions remain the same from shot to shot, rather than having the inconsistency of variable fouling deposits. Another positive aspect is that the texture of the paper grips the boolit over it's entire circumference, distributing the rotational force over the whole surface, rather than just on the load side of the grooves in a bare boolit. This allows a wider variation of alloy hardness which will still produce good results when driven hard. It looks like your '92 wants to group. Does it slug smoothly without tight or loose spots? It might benefit from the gentle polishing effect that dry patches will give. Good luck with your project.

[David LaPell]

I've been paper-patching for use in '92's for some years now and the results are like your own. I've never had the patch hang up on chamber edges or feed hardware so far. It's interesting that you use so delicate a paper. I've been spoiled by using tougher papers, like bond, plain butcher paper, and my favorite - 100% cotton drafting vellum. Can't go wrong with that one. My process is essentially what you do, wet wrap, roll 'til the ends meet and add a small dab of white glue inside the last 1/4 - 1/2" of patch and dry (no tail), size to finished diameter, tunble lube and off to the loading table we go. Accuracy is improved over bare cast, if for no other reason than the bore dimensions remain the same from shot to shot, rather than having the inconsistency of variable fouling deposits. Another positive aspect is that the texture of the paper grips the boolit over it's entire circumference, distributing the rotational force over the whole surface, rather than just on the load side of the grooves in a bare boolit. This allows a wider variation of alloy hardness which will still produce good results when driven hard. It looks like your '92 wants to group. Does it slug smoothly without tight or loose spots? It might benefit from the gentle polishing effect that dry patches will give. Good luck with your project.

I have one loose spot when I slug it, I tried it again today with the same bullets and the accuracy after a few shots goes right out the window. It doesn't keyhole but it's scattering the shots out quite a ways, I talked to my local gunsmith, he relines barrels and in the next week or so I plan on ordering another .32-20 liner, I want to keep the caliber original and then I will take it down to him to fix for me, the good thing is, the gun is not a collector per say but I want to make it into at least a halfway decent shooter.