Which paper to buy?

[Wardo1974]

Sorry if this question comes up a lot, but I didn't see a clear answer when I searched through the threads.

I am getting into patching my .45-70 and .38-55 after reading The Paper Jacket. My plan was to get the onion skin paper Paul Matthews recommended in the book.

But after seeing this site, it seems that guys have all kinds of different paper recommendations. Green bar printer paper? Never heard of that before...

All I want is the right paper thickness that will take my .452 sized bullets up to .460. What paper (that I may buy at Staples or Office Depot) is going to get me there? Should I use the onion skin paper after all? I thought two wraps of onion skin would get me to .460, but now i'm reading that after shrinking and drying, it would only come out to .458, so...that's not really big enough.

If anyone has some clear direction I'd appreciate it.

[Nobade]

Sometimes you have to experiment a bit, but I have a box of Plover brand "sub 9" paper that adds .008". I also have some 9# onionskin from the papermill that adds .006".

For smokeless loading, the 15# green bar paper seems as good as anything and better than most. The batch I have, which is still available and can be found on one of my earlier posts, adds .012" but can be sized afterward to add .008" easily. The place I got it from is in Colorado and they are offering free shipping, as well as selling a case of it for $53. Locally it can be special ordered from office supply stores but it is $100/case. Note there are various weights of green bar paper. You want 15#, not 20#. That is like regular printer paper and adds too much.

It is kind of tough to work with, but regular 15# lined notebook paper can be made to work but it is very fragile and tears easily when wet. Once you learn how to handle it, it does work though. I have a Chuck Norris notebook I use paper from sometimes. Kind of funny I think.

-Nobade

[pdawg_shooter]

16# green bar printer paper will do exactly what you want. This is the paper that comes in long folds and has holes down both sides to pull it through the printer. In 40+ years of patching I have found none better.

[FredBuddy]

Wardo, I'm about one week ahead of you in the same process.

Nobade & pdawg are the experts.

I went to Staples and got a tablet of tracing paper and a tablet of 25% rag vellum and tried those on .452 boolits. Tracing paper made 'em about .459, vellum about .461. They hold together OK when wet. Loaded 'em as is since I have no sizer (talk about anxious!) with some pleasing early results. Plenty more work to do.

P.S. I learned it all here.

[Wardo1974]

Thanks guys. Fred, your post is what I hoped to get...I don't have a sizer either, I want to wrap them and be confident my size is good after the fact.

I may though have to "graduate" to green bar and a sizer...

[Wardo1974]

Ok, I want to "graduate" now.

Can somebody sell me a good supply of green bar printer paper? I am in Canada, and the only suppliers I can find that have it sell it by the $200 carton - yikes! Your help in my pursuit of boolit perfection is appreciated.

[pdawg_shooter]

I can send you some if you pay the shipping. It has printing on it but the bullet dont seem to care much.

[walker77]

I can send you some if you pay the shipping. It has printing on it but the bullet dont seem to care much.

Could I buy some from you?

[Wardo1974]

I want some too...I sent a pm, but please let me know how much I could buy.

[zuke]

Here in Canada I found this paper at Staple's.





And this to cut it.

[FredBuddy]

I found a template on 'marlinowners.com' by a guy named Hudson for .45 boolits. I trimmed the tracing paper to 8 1/2 x 11 and printed the template on the tracing paper on my little hp printer. Then just follow the dotted lines with whatever cutter. Worked for me.

[softpoint]

One of my favorite 45/70 loads is the Lee 340 gr. bullet. It casts about .457, so I use 2 wraps of tracing paper to make it about .461 or so, then size in a .460 sizer. It's been accurate, I use 9bhn. boolits to 1950 fps, dead soft flashing lead to 1600 fps.

[303Guy]

I once found a notepad paper that adhered to itself with wet wrapping. A very useful characteristic for tail-less patching which I favour.

[Wardo1974]

Okay. I got some of the Hilroy onionskin. I'll try it this weekend. I wish it came in bigger pads.

Also though, I found this at Officedepot. Free shipping in Canada over 50 bucks, and this is 62.50 for 3300 sheets. Sparco 15 pound green bar:

http://www.officedepot.ca/Single-par...aper-62191.asp

So is this the same stuff everybody on here talks about? Does it have the rag content, strength, etc?

If this is it - does any other Canucklehead want to do a group buy on this? Because unless I decide to personally eradicate all game in North America over the next 80 years, there's no way I'll use all of this paper.

PS, filling out the customer feedback would be amusing. "I highly recommend this product - this is the best paper I've ever encountered for wrapping bullets. Just enough strength to not tear on wrapping, but I see a satisfying blast of confetti with every shot, and every boolit downrange is right on target. Thanks, Sparco! How well does it work for my financial statements? No clue, I have no job and no dot matrix printer. I'm just a nutjob who lives in a shack, and I reload bullets the way they did 130 years ago. Plus I make pure lead boolits too, but that's a response for another website. HA HA HA!"

[zuke]

Okay. I got some of the Hilroy onionskin. I'll try it this weekend. I wish it came in bigger pads.

Also though, I found this at Officedepot. Free shipping in Canada over 50 bucks, and this is 62.50 for 3300 sheets. Sparco 15 pound green bar:

http://www.officedepot.ca/Single-par...aper-62191.asp

So is this the same stuff everybody on here talks about? Does it have the rag content, strength, etc?

If this is it - does any other Canucklehead want to do a group buy on this? Because unless I decide to personally eradicate all game in North America over the next 80 years, there's no way I'll use all of this paper.

PS, filling out the customer feedback would be amusing. "I highly recommend this product - this is the best paper I've ever encountered for wrapping bullets. Just enough strength to not tear on wrapping, but I see a satisfying blast of confetti with every shot, and every boolit downrange is right on target. Thanks, Sparco! How well does it work for my financial statements? No clue, I have no job and no dot matrix printer. I'm just a nutjob who lives in a shack, and I reload bullets the way they did 130 years ago. Plus I make pure lead boolits too, but that's a response for another website. HA HA HA!"

Where about's are you?

[Wardo1974]

Kingston.

[Nrut]

Okay. I got some of the Hilroy onionskin. I'll try it this weekend. I wish it came in bigger pads.

Also though, I found this at Officedepot. Free shipping in Canada over 50 bucks, and this is 62.50 for 3300 sheets. Sparco 15 pound green bar:

http://www.officedepot.ca/Single-par...aper-62191.asp

So is this the same stuff everybody on here talks about? Does it have the rag content, strength, etc?

You have found the same Green Bar (#62191) that Nobabe describes in this thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...patching-paper

Should work fine..
Another paper that you might try is Velum..
Got mine at Staples, 25% cotton IIRC and adds .011" with 2 wraps..
It is super tuff and almost impossible to tear when twisting tails..

[yeahbub]

Some might want to try 100% cotton drafting vellum. It's .0025 usually and has great wet strength. Like 303Guy, I prefer patching without the tail, using a small dab of white glue to stick the paper to itself. It stands up to being sized very well when dry.

Another which has worked very well is quadrille paper I get from Staples. The .1 scale helps with measuring the width of the strips. It's fairly delicate when wet and I always tear a few if I've previously been patching with drafting vellum. I've gotten very good accuracy, though.

Another is plain white butcher paper, .004 thick, which is great for extending the full-diameter length of bore riders for those fat throats. A nearly lifetime supply can be had for less than $20 at Sam's club, or just Bogart some from the guy at the deli counter to get a sample. Not the plastic coated kind, though.

[zuke]

Kingston.

Little too far me think's.