Register tape for patching?

[wallenba]

First off I've never paper patched a single boolit. After reading parts of Paul Mathews book. "The Paper Jacket", I started messing around with just some stuff I had on hand. Crudely cutting and trying to wrap, I made one mess after another.
I had a supermarket reciept in my pocket and I noticed it was nice and thin, and having Q-tips and rubbing alcohol on the bench from recently cleaning a new mold, I decided to try something. I cut some of the register tape into rough sized pieces, rolled them dry around a cleaning rod to give them a 'memory'. I then wrapped it dry around a .314 boolit intended for my Mosin, and then saturated it with the rubbing alcohol with a q-tip. Rolling it between my fingers it clung well around the boolit. It dried quickly and the paper shrank tightly and is very tough to remove. It looks and feels like teflon tape. Have I stumbled onto something here? I feel like I must experiment further, but have no idea what or how to challenge it.

[barrabruce]

I have tried a few metho wetted patches to see if they'd dry fast etc.

I figured that the metho would take the oils off your digits and soak into the skin and maybe even poison you with the wrong type of alcohol.

Maybe not the best thing for long exposures.

I maybe wrong but I read it somewhere or other about methanol...wood alcohol.....not the drinking variety.

Barra

[wallenba]

I have tried a few metho wetted patches to see if they'd dry fast etc.

I figured that the metho would take the oils off your digits and soak into the skin and maybe even poison you with the wrong type of alcohol.

Maybe not the best thing for long exposures.

I maybe wrong but I read it somewhere or other about methanol...wood alcohol.....not the drinking variety.

Barra

Barrabruce, I used rubbing alcohol, its made to apply to skin. So I assume it's safe.
Methanol, probably not.

[montana_charlie]

I decided to try something. I cut some of the register tape into rough sized pieces, rolled them dry around a cleaning rod to give them a 'memory'.
First thing I would do is find out if that paper has it's own memory.
Cut a narrow strip from the tape going lengthways...and another taken crossways.

Dip the strip in some water so just one side gets wet, and see if it 'curls up'. If it will curl, the lengthways strip should curl one direction and the other should be the opposite.

That is...one will try to form a long 'tube', and the other will make a 'belt' which will go around a bullet.

I would orient my cutting to produce 'belts'.
When both sides of the paper is wet it will lay flat, but when dried on a bullet it will just naturally 'hug it'.

If the paper does not curl, the grain has no direction. In that case, just cut your strips to get the most from the available paper.

CM

[303Guy]

Have I stumbled onto something here? I feel like I must experiment further, but have no idea what or how to challenge it. This sounds interesting! What is the post wrap diameter if I may ask? Have you tried the alcohol on any other papers to see how they behave? (My interest in 'other paper' is to do with the ability to print the patch form on it.

Looking at my printer, it has two narrower paper options but those are for envelopes. Looking at receipts, I have two widths and three different paper types. One is thicker and softer. Both those widths are don't seem to fit the printer.:-(

Is there some way of conveying the paper type? Is it shiny or matt? What is the thickness - vernier or mic (so's I can measure mine the same way).

Thanks for sharing your discovery - it's new to me and sound worthy of further testing. If I can be of some help in some way please let me know.

My plans are, once I have standardized my boolit (I'm still experimenting with a whole heap of configurations), is make a punch cutter for punching out the patches and that roll paper would be quite ideal!:wink:

[wallenba]

I tried wetting my 24 lb bond printer paper. It came apart quickly. The Kroger (grocery reciept up here) register tape is the thermal type and might be the same as the old fax machine paper. I just grabbed an as cast unsized Lee 314-185-r1. It is .314 as dropped. Being a dumb novice at this, I did not count the wraps, I was just trying to see if I could get it to stick. It is .318 wrapped. I tried the same trick on a gum wrapper, seemed promising, later I found it unwrapped. I checked Office depot, they carry the thermal register tape bulk. I think I'll play around a bit more with it. This is the kind of paper tape 303guy, that feels very smooth and thin, and will darken when heat is applied near it. Hold it on a light bulb for a bit, it will spot gray.

[wallenba]

Update.... after 8 hours, the register tape lost its hold and slipped off. Oh well , back to the book. Maybe some of you guys can figure out how to make it work. Sorry to have jumped the gun on this.

Oh, and it was just shy of two wraps at .318 .

P.S. It still may have merit, the first one I did is still holding fast. The one that came undone was the second, maybe I just handled it too much. Will try to figure this out.

[303Guy]

Thanks wallenba. Well, I had my share of failures today. However, apart from the failures, my day was perfect!:bigsmyl2: Besides, we are not supposed to succed first time! (So why did I load up 35 of them - Doh!):mrgreen:

[wallenba]

303Guy, I think the reason the second one failed was that I did not roll it between my fingers like I did the first one ( it is still intack today). A little experimenting late last night revealed the following: 1. When damp, it likes to be firmly rolled between the finger tips. This seems to iron out wrinkles and expel excess liquid, and begins to act like shrink wrap (might be from body heat I'm guessing). 2. It seems to not work well if there is printing on the tape. 3. Rubbing alcohol is not the key. 4. The ones I did last night with 2% milk (yes, moo juice) is showing very good adhesion. I remembered that the caseinate in milk is a good starchy binder, so I tried it.
Next I need to try it on sized boolits, and see if they will stand up to being seated.

[Good Cheer]

Fellas,
Just something to consider...

There have been news releases recently that the some heat sensitive register paper contains BPA (bisphenol A) in dangerously elevated amounts that can cause you harm just from handling the receipts. Might want to read about it.

[lwknight]

I have some thermal register tape wrapped boolits that have not even been through the sizer that have been holding tight for several months.
I have tried the alox and all other kinds of snake oils and so far plain old water works the best.

The register tape is great for those of us that do not have special molds. Just roll em , dry em , and run em through the sizer.
I suggest a thin alox on the outside dried before sizing.

Once the paper is soaking wet , it has no memory of any kind so pre rolling makes no difference.

[randyrat]

I used some old cig papers, i found dozens in a box. I cut and rolled the paper on a sized .308 soft lead bullet. Let dry and smeared a bit(very small amount) of olive oil and beeswax. There is real close to 2 wraps around the bullet.
Then i sized to .309. No lube mostly spit. So far it works for 30-30 plinkin loads and moderate loads.

I'm a little concerned about abrasiveness in the cigs papers? Bore is clean and shinny after shooting

WOW with a little spit or a wet sponge the paper clings and dries on HARD. No problem seating the bullets either.
I used a C309 170 bullet with no gc. Also not much crimp. User has to experiment with seating depth