Newbie Questions

[grullaguy]

I have practiced, paper patching a few bullets just to get the feel of what is involved. That is the limit of my practical experience...
So,..I would like to get started. I don't have any reloading dies, a vernier caliper or a sizing die for my rifle.
I do have a bunch of cast 165 grn bullets at .310 diameter, which I want to patch up for my 303s.
I have been lurking for a while, so am I right in thinking that I could get started with only some fire formed brass, bullets, powder, primers and some suitable paper? I do have a reloading press and dies for other calibers, so I am not new to reloading. I am pretty new to casting my own bullets.
But what I understand is that if you place a patched bullet in the fire formed case mouth with a snug fit, with a reduced load, you should be able to fire it down range without any great risk to yourself or others? Seems pretty primitive, which is right up my alley..
So did I miss some major safety point in my reading?

[303Guy]

... with a reduced load, ...Make that a full load. Use starting j-word loads for patched. Just check that the nose portion of the boolit enters the throat. That's easy. Chamber a seated boolit and extract. If the boolit is still in place in the case mouth then it should be good. I have a rod guage I made that I use to measure the depth the boolit fits into the throat (no case). The boolit base should sit 7.6 inches from the back of the action where the bolt handle fits.

Powders can be from H4227 to H4350 although with the boolit weight you have Varget might be better. I have stoke up my Brit with H4350 and 183gr boolits to get it to burn properly. I also fill the empty case space with wheat bran. That helps burn the powder. It also protects the base of the boolit. I use it with both H4350/AR2209 and H4227/AR2205.

My finding is that weaker papers are better for lower pressure and velocity loads but once you start getting 'up there' it seams that 100% cotton is the way to go. I'm not up there yet. I've only just started on my 'Gem' with the idea of target shooting so I might well end up with cotton paper.

Good luck! Keep us posted on your results and please feel free to ask as much as you want. We all like helping (and confusing:roll:) each other.

[grullaguy]

Thanks!
The two powders I can get my hands on now are IMR 4064 and IMR 4320. If they are not suitable, I will probably not be able to play with paper patching until the winter. It takes a long time to get powder in and I will be leaving the country for a bit of a jaunt in about a month.

My wife always said we should use more bran!

[docone31]

My .303 Brit loves 4064 and paper.
Start load data for jacketeds the same weight. Never mind throat, use an existing cartridge, set the bullet depth with that.
My #1MKIII likes loads at .314, others have stated .317.
Roll them soaking wet, size to .314 when dry. I use a little Auto Wax to lubricate the size die. Makes a shiny patch.
I use either 4064, or 4895. Either of which work real well.
Light loads are very dissapointing.
Don't expect good accuracy at first. The paper has to polish the bore out. They will get better with time, and sizeing.
Good luck.
By the by. I only use patched loads in my Smelly.

[grullaguy]

Two of my .303s have rifling of .313 and .314 land to land. My other is closer to 316, but my nephew is supposed to pick it soon as it was his Grandfathers and I thought he should have it.

So I guess I should buy a sizing die. I know there are number of different schools of how to paper patch, but the question was in my mind whether I needed to size or if the paper could compress without sizing as long as I could start it in the throat, without using undue force of the bolt. Blowing my face off would not be a very good start to paper patching...

[303Guy]

By the by. I only use patched loads in my Smelly. There's another way to shoot a Smelly?:mrgreen:

[303Guy]

I'm of the school that requires no sizing and a fat boolit that sizes itself in the throat and bore.

[grullaguy]

I'm of the school that requires no sizing and a fat boolit that sizes itself in the throat and bore.

I was hoping to try that as well.

I can't remember, do you give the case mouth a slight bell so that it does not catch on the paper when seating the bullet? I tried to seat a couple of empty cases and the patched bullets were difficult to seat without tearing the paper.

[303Guy]

I use a chamfering tool that removes the internal sharp edge. A slight bell would work too but both is better. I find that only the internal chamfer is enough. Tearing the patch could mean the patch is too loose or the PPCB is a little too large or you need a little lube on the patch. The trick is to lube the patched boolit - I roll it on my lube pad - then seat it before the lube can soak away. Others use emulsion waxes to lube the PPCB. I find that the soft and weak paper I use doesn't like that treatment. Maybe I just did it wrong.

To me, the ideal PPCB size is such that it can be started by hand into the case mouth with some twisting then requires that final depth setting in the press. If that is using an unsized PPCB then it will grip that case mouth very firmly as the paper swells out. I think the same applies to sized PPCB's. They too should be seated immediately or they swell and don't fit.