Heat shrink tubing?

[yondering]

Have any of you guys tried heat shrink tubing instead of paper patches? (The stuff for electrical wire connections) My thought is that it would be similar to plastic wad cups in shotshells, and very quick and easy to apply.

I can see a few potential issues with it, like sizing, but I think I'll try it this weekend. I've got a couple different kinds/sizes of tubing, and some of it has the glue inside it, which may help it stick to the boolit better.

I'm hoping it will give some of the same advantages as paper or copper jackets, such as eliminating lead fouling and the need for lube, while also eliminating copper fouling, and the hassle of paper patching. Maybe the slick plastic jacket will allow higher velocities as well, but that's not my primary goal.

I do wonder if the plastic will be strong enough to grip the rifling without stripping. This could be an issue in revolvers, as I normally see a small amount of stripping of hard lead boolits in my 45 Colt. Maybe it will be fine in rifles?

Any thoughts?

[docone31]

I worry, being that heat shrink tubing is very sensitive to heat, that ignition will make a sticky carbon mess in the rifling. Under pressure, the semi liquid plastic might fill pores and be miserable to get out of the rifling.
On the other hand, who knows.
It will be interesting to watch the results.

[Willbird]

I worry, being that heat shrink tubing is very sensitive to heat, that ignition will make a sticky carbon mess in the rifling. Under pressure, the semi liquid plastic might fill pores and be miserable to get out of the rifling.
On the other hand, who knows.
It will be interesting to watch the results.

Yea it all just might get done and out the bbl before that heat shrink even knew there was any heat around :-), the stuff isn't dirt cheap however from what have seen.

Bill

[docone31]

Heat shrink tubing is high nitrate based.
I am not sure that will produce the intended result.
Perhaps though, the compression of the barrel walls, and the projectile, will be enough to dampen any burn through.
Who knows. I have not heard of anyone trying it.
The stuff is cheap enough at fleamarkets.
I might just try some. Might make an interesting sabot.

[yondering]

I played with this a little bit this weekend, and found that the tubing doesn't take sizing very well. I was hoping for something like paper patching, where the patched boolit can be sized. I think this would work if only sizing a little, but since the tubing ends up being relatively thick, the boolit needs to be quite a bit smaller to start with. I'm thinking a 7mm boolit would be a good start for .30 cal rifles, trouble is I don't have a 7mm mold. Same for my 35 cal rifles, I think a .338 mold would be the place to start, but I don't have one. Anybody want to send me a few boolits for experimental purposes? :) Maybe someone else here can try it?

[RMulhern]

There are NO easy and quick methods to successful paper patching other than the tried and true methods already employed since the days of the OLE TIMERS!!

[lwknight]

Wouldn't that be a sabot that just won't let go of the boolit?
Typically we want the patch to blow off the boolit as it exits the muzzle so that it will not affect the boolit in flight. So basically its a plastic jacket instead of copper.

The burning powder will not even scorch magicians flash paper so I doubt that it would melt/burn any plastic.

[303Guy]

The burning powder will not even scorch magicians flash paper so I doubt that it would melt/burn any plastic. The powder won't burn anything but the heat of friction might. I've had copper jackets stopping in the bore from expansion and also captured them so hot they melt fabric and they show heat staining where they contacted the bore (very small powder charge).

[yondering]

So basically its a plastic jacket instead of copper.


That was the general idea.

It didn't work

This was an old thread, guys.