PP in the M95 Steyr

[DanM]

My first attempt went pretty well. I bought some of the walmart-Meade tracing paper (thanks Docone31), made a template from heavy vynal, and rolled up some of my .326" 8mm Maximum boolits. finished diameter was .334" after drying, which is exactly what I size my regular boolits to. So, they slipped through the .334' sizer with no effect. For the first test, I did not apply gas checks. I did apply some LLA to the finished boolits, but that may not have been needed. I cut the template at .45deg angles which seems to work fine. Neck tension seemed good enough without any crimp. These boolits are heavy, 250grs, which is about 30grs heavier than I usually shoot in this carbine. My load was 36grs of imr4350 topped off with COW fill to the top. Boolit seated to compress the filler. They chronoed at 1620fps, and shot into a 2" group at 50 yds. POI was way lower than with my regular 1850fps load which did not help accuracy. I only made 10, so I did not adjust the williams peep sight. I am thinking this was not bad for a first try at paper patching.
So, what to try next? Do I want to try thicker paper that might size a little better? I do want to heat the load up. I am hoping for 2000+fps with this boolit if I can stand the recoil. It does thump on both ends. I will make some up with gas checks, but will need a fatter sizer for that, since the .324" one I have is working well with regular boolits. I have heard that checks might improve accuracy, but would rather not mess with them if I don't need to.
Overall, I am pleased with this first attempt, and will keep on trying to improve my results. Thanks to all for the help given on my first post....

[docone31]

I would try three things.
First, I would load to jacketed start data.
Second, I would go with three wraps and size it.
Third, I would go with the jacketed start data, and the three wraps.
Paper patching is a capturing thing. The more you do, the more you do.
It also is nice to find the rounds go POA. If you get your load dialed, you will not need to adjust your sight.
The bore cleans up real well also.

[Buckshot]

...........Use GC's on half the boolits. Patch them all the same and then load your increasing powder charges in 10 round batches, shooting 5 with and 5 without GC's (on different targets naturally) You'll see whether or not having the GC's on the boolit's base makes a difference.

...............Buckshot

[DanM]

I did not know that it was OK to do a third wrap. Will have to make a new, longer template for that. Not a big deal. I hit the 45deg. angles just right on this first template. Is there any point in using a different angle on the ends? When I check them, that will also size the boolit down to .324" rather than the unsized diameter of .326", so that may introduce a new variable. I have loaded them to magazine length, and they still do not engrave at all. This is a long boolit, and a lot of it is inside the case. I have to wonder if that will jump pressures higher than normal. I will watch for pressure signs, and will back off if extraction gets harder than normal....

[docone31]

Not with paper.
You might want to make a new template, nothing fancy, just something to lay the strip in and cut. I have two templates for my .30s. One is for two wraps, one is for three.
What I do,
I load to factory specs. Same length. With paper patching, I make my patches .001 larger.
Makes it a joy to fire.

[leftiye]

Plus one on what both Bucksnot and Doc said. There is a theory that compressing the paper - even to the place where the boolit gets sized down makes a good wrap. Kinda the obverse(?) of the tracing paper approach - use a pulpy (notepad) paper and compress it. I would prefer going with a thicker paper and staying with two wraps (though I don't have any proof that this is better. Doc started by wrapping boolits that were almost groove diameter, and then sizing everything down.

[docone31]

I have to agree with that.
When I used Meade, it was an hard dense paper. Patching made it harder. On the other hand, the notebook paper, or computer paper, were a little less hard. When soaked, then wrapped, when those two dried, the lube lands were distinctly visible. Sizing was a joy!
Those are my best loads. Rather than the Meade, which I would have to do three wraps with, it is the 'puter paper, or lined notebook paper that does it. A little thicker, looser weave paper.

[Buckshot]

............The angle on the ends of the paper is generally given as 'about' 40*. I'd think the angle should be whatever will let the final end wrap about half way around the slug (there's that 'about' again). Remember, the smaller the boolit OD, the shallower the angle will have to become.

.............Buckshot