shooting pp in my .45

My usual .45 boolits are .452 diameter. I have a mold that drops .444 diameter slugs (it was specifically made for experimentation)... Is this too small to do paper patching? Thanks for any advice....

https://i.imgur.com/WwfAZQv.jpg

If your groove diameter is ..452 and your patch paper is .002, it will probably work. If the gun bore is larger (groove diameter) try for a thicker paper. I use tracing paper which is nominally .002.
Some guys are using tablet and printer paper which is thicker but I find it surely hard to wrap.

^^^
Plus 1
What he said.

Thanks for the help, Dan and barrabruce... I'm going to give them a go and see what happens....

Waiting to see your posts on how they work for you , always good seeing someone do something when they have an idea.

Thanks Flintnfire...

Took three wraps of tracing paper to get the diameter I was looking for...45 degree edges.

Little tedious, but not too bad. No doubt it will go quicker with more practice.

Going to start with some mild loads and see how she does. If well, then I'll try regular loads...

https://i.imgur.com/LxZizBp.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/RBSNI4D.jpg

Looking good!

Mild loads with patch could be a fail if the patch doesn't come off cleanly at the muzzle. This means you may need to work up until it does, at which point accuracy should improve. You may need to experiment with and without patch lube. I got better results rolling the patched boolit on a case lube pad. The lube soaks away.

several tricks to patching. I make a patch board to wrap with. This helps a lot with alignment and tension.using .002 thick paper adds .008 to bullet dia. ( I wrap .4451 dia pistol bullets and with 2 wraps of .002 paper for a .459 light bullet in my rifles. Cut you papers length so the ends wrapped are .030 or so apart this allows for the small radius where the paper rides over.

I like maple for patch boards but any hard wood will do Here's how to make them.

Materials
2 boards sized to whats comfortable for you 1 X 4 x 6 is about the smallest I use
.060 X 1" x 4" metal or plastic, brass steel Stainless aluminum or hard plastics work for this
6" 10 24 tthreaded rod
2 10 24 nuts and washers
1/4" X 2-3" wood dowels
3/4" wood dowel 1" long.

Tools
drill press
2 c clamps
1/4" spade drill bit
3/4" spade drill
3/16" drill bit
combination square. 4" is good bigger will be fine

Here's how.
Cut the 2 boards as square and clean as possible. Also as close to same size as possible.
Clamp together and align as close as you can.
Layout 2 holes on seam and 5/16" apart on center.( if you put the 1st hole 1" from edge then the second is 1 5/16" from edge.
Drill these 2 holes 1/4" 2-3"deep in drill press, again as square as possible. You will end up with 2 boards with 2 half holes on one end
Unclamp the boards. with the square lay out a hole on top face on center of the 2 half holes 4-5" down the line
drill a through 3/4" hole at this point
Polish the 3 dowels and glue in place.
When cured lay out and drill a 3/16" hole thru the 3/4" dowel 1/4" up from board on center line of dowels.
clean up edges to flat and square.
glue rail on 1/8" above top of above top of board
Insert threaded rod in 3/16 hole and nut on each side.

Use
Set threaded rod to use as stop for bullets placement on patch. adjust so when toughing the nose the base is where you want it on the patch.
Lay patch along rail
set bullet on patch nose touching the stop
roll the patch on the bullet.

nice addition is a blind 1/2" hole square bottomed. centered above the dowels an inch or so, this is used when the fold over is rolled set bullet in and twist, it makes a sharp square flat fold over. I drill it a little deep and glue a brass washer in the bottom.

I've shot a few also I have a 430421 that was adjusted to .448 . 2 laps of green bar and a pass through a .454 sizer . They shot well enough but there wasn't in my mind aside from using the 421 SWC any gains . I shot them I a 45 Colts and ACP . I have a few left to try in a 45 Raptor if I get back around to it . That one should really shine if one is going to .

Sonoransixgun, your idea has merit. I've experimented with PP in .357 and .44 revolvers. A paper you might wish to try is 100% cotton drafting vellum. It's a very durable paper when wet, usually .0025 thick and 2 wraps will give you a .009 increase in diameter. Yeah, the math seems off, but 2 wraps is always a touch less than 4 x the paper thickness. There's a lot of patches in an E-sized sheet, but cut the strips from the narrow edge of the sheet, so they'll stretch generously as you wet-wrap them on. When they dry, they'll shrink on tight. I have a simple patch cutting jig and related commentary, post 8 on this page: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...44#post4861844

A particular advantage in pistols is the option to use very soft alloys with PP driven hard, allowing expansion with no leading.