Is cutting the tails important? It might be.

[docone31]

Well, just got back from the range today.
I did not look like a moron. Matter of fact, there were some old school shooters who recognised the rifle, and the paper patching!
At any rate.
With factory Berdan Primed loads, at 100yds., I was getting to where I could hit a clay pigeon. I sighted in on the jacketed loads.
With my paper patching, I got three foot groups. Some to the left, some to the right, some above, some below.
Now, here is where I fine tune it.
First off, I wrapped them backwards. I had the tip of the wrap at the ogive. I have since learned better.
Second, sizing. I am at .3135, with wrap, I am going to size the casting at .309 and wrap instead of .308.
I believe, that is the catch word, believe, that leaving the long tails on significantly contributed to inaccuracy. That would explain the up, down, right, left. That might be all, rather than sizing.
Either way, it is better than 20ft groups with castings.
This time when I wrap, I will start at the ogive, rather than the base. I will also go 45* rather than the 60* I did this time.
I do not remember whether these had gas checks, or not. I did 20 without as well as 20 with.
At some point, I gotta change the trigger. I went from sighting in my Ruger MKII with 2lb trigger, to the Enfield.
The Enfield is paper patched.
It might just be the tails rather than sizing. I am going to try that first, cut the tails.
The bore sure looks shiney with paper patching though.
Next time, maybe I can hit something. That would be nice. It would be boring if everything works out first time. I like mucking about on things. Keeps my mind occupied.

[docone31]

I am cleaning the bore. It is indeed shiney from shooting paper jackets without lube.
This time, I noticed lead feathers on the muzzle. I scraped off five, on the backside of rotation on each land. The lead was amazingly flattened against the muzzle itself. There is some pressure behind the casting.
The rifleing is very distinct. No pitting. The sides of the lands are clear, not rounded.
Perhaps, the leading that was in the barrel prior to firing the paper jackets was a distinct source of the grouping. Rather than size up, I already have to bell the case after depriming it to get the paper in, I will try another session with paper jackets at this size.
We will see.

[docone31]

Another point on the Enfield.
I always presumed it had right hand rifleing. It does not. It has left hand rifleing. I have been wrapping for right hand rifleing.
So, I now have a bore with lead in it, left hand twist, with the paper I shot wrapped backwards.
I doubt I could have hit a deer at 100yds, but it did better than I think it should have.
By the by, people watching on my request, there was no confetti upon firing. Visually, it did not look any different than any other load.
No mess.

[BrentD]

right vs left hand rifling makes no nevermind. You have more problems than you think. If you have lead, something is way wrong and patch tails, direction of wrap and angle of the patch have next to nothing to do with it.

Brent

[BrentD]

How did those bullets chamber?

[docone31]

Brent,
I had the lead from shooting undersize lead castings last session. I had thought I had scrubbed enough, but I guess I did not. They were small feathers that had been pressed against the muzzle in the pattern seen on flat muzzle muzzle loaders. Instead of those black trails, I had lead feathers.
How does it chamber?
Not too badly. When I loaded these, I used an empty case, casting, and left the neck loose. I closed the bolt and then withdrew the cartridge. From there, I set my die to go a little tighter when necking on the casting. They go in without effort, and extract without effort. No marks on the ogive however. I set it so there is a little jump.
I know, the twist should not make that much difference, however, I wrapped these tail first so the tip of the wrap is on the outside on the ogive. I can pry the jacket loose with a fingernail.
I am using 185gn Lee 303 mold. It measures at .313-314 depending on the casting. I size it to .308 and use two wraps of Meade Tracing paper. This gives me .3135 diameter. The base of the casting is level with the shoulder, neck. It does not project below the neck.
The tails were long. About 3/8ths inch. I left those on when I loaded. They were straight below the casting.
I believe, the tails deflected during firing. This would produce an off center base during engraveing in the rifleing. I was unable to recover any fired castings. It also looked like the feathers on the muzzle were mostly on the upper left side of the crown. I scraped off five feathers, but the longest and most visible were on the upper left side.
Jacketed however is quite accurate. I can easily pick off a clay pigeon at 100yds.
They were not like the original cast/sized loads I fired the last time. Those were really wild. No group at all. These were much closer to the target.

[montana_charlie]

No confetti?
Any paper pieces laying on the ground?
Any paper pieces stuck in the backstop?

If it's going along for the whole ride, the paper will probably choose the destination...not your sight picture.
CM

[docone31]

I am not sure, of whether or not the paper stayed. I did not recover any fired rounds.
I do know, the castings were tight to the bore. What happened after firing I have not been able to find out.
There was no visible evidence of paper at time of firing.

[longbow]

I normally paper patch .303" from a 0.303" cast boolit with 2 wraps of 0.003" paper which works well for me. That takes the overall diameter up to 0.314"/0.315". I shoot as cast and wrapped without sizing. Usually I can find pieces of paper in front of the firing line ~ not big but recognizable and often big enough to see rifling impressions.

I recently did some testing for a fellow to try .44 mag PP using a 0.424" boolit patched with 2 wraps of 0.002" paper. All I got was black shreds that were difficult to find. No leading so the thin paper was protecting the lead but it certainly tore into small pieces when exiting the barrel.

It seems to me you mentioned somewhere that you were using pretty thin paper so the bits just may be so small you aren't noticing them.

Longbow

[docone31]

I suspect that is what happened to me. I do not think the paper made it to the target. I did not have that much on the ogive.
The feathers I had, I believe were residue from the previous shooting session with undersized lead.
I size mine from .314, to .308, then two wraps of Meade paper. I get .3135. Might be a little loose even. I also wrapped backwards, with the tip of the wrap facing the bore outside the wraps. They came loose easily.
It looked like the paper patches actually pushed lead up the bore. Instead of spaghetti I had heard about, I had little feathers that were blended in at the muzzle. Very small. The bore from the chamber forward, looked real clean, with the forward muzzle end being with a shadow.
Interesting enough, the lands appear to have chatter the length of the barrel. Not much, but slight and visible enough to see a ripple pattern, almost like lapping will do good. I am counting on the paper to lap for me.
I have considered the sizing at .3135 a little loose, and I am planning on trying initial sizing to .309, then two wraps of Meade.
This should give me .3145. That might bring in the pattern.
Again, I do not know if the loads I shot also had gas checks, or are the ones that did not. I made 20 with gas checks, and 20 without.

[windrider919]

Having had experience with several .303s I think the first thing you need to do is have a chamber cast done to measure the throat / leed diameter and amount of freebore. Some of the old .303s had extreamly bad QC and the dimensions are NOT standard. { Note; They passed the broad British military accuracy standards with military ball ammo but do not do well with soft jacketed or cast bullets.] Also, slug the barrel to check the REAL bore diameter because there is so much variation in both bore and groove size. And is your rifle a two groove barrel? I had one of those barrels with tool marks in the bore and I never did get it to shoot better than 3" groups at 100yds. Wasted a large amount of time and money before I gave up. Changed it with a $14.00 surplus barrel from Interarms parts if I recall and that barrel grouped 1/2 or better with the right load.

The point is, find out what dimensions you really have , then tailor your PP load to the real world / your gun. Everything you describe sounds to me like a size mis-match.

[docone31]

Hmmm. The trail leads on.
I did slug it out, the bore was a clean .303,.311.
After much consideration, yeah, she shoots fairly well with ball ammo, even considering this one came factory stock heavy barrel.
After much consideration, I think I am going to chamber in .303EPPS.
Personally, I do believe, I patched wrong. Backwards, both in wrap, and starting point.
If rewrapping it does nothing, and rechambering does nothing, I saw this rifle, the Enfield Enforcer.
New barrel, probably Adams and Bennett .30cal., chambered to .303/30Epps, a little wood trimming, or, machineing the end of the barrel to fit the nose cap, and trimming down the front wood to accept the nose cap with the 1" shorter barrel.
That is how we learn.

[docone31]

Jacketeds do shoot well.
I suspect, the wrapping is a little loose in the bore. I also wonder if firelapping might level the chatter in the bore. There is not much, just enough to see. Perhaps bore lapping rather than firelapping.