Question about bullet diamete for paper patching???

 Johnny,

  Here's how I do it.......

  First you need to determine what final patched diam. you want. Either bore or groove size. There are proponents of each, and certain venues require one or the other. In any case the procedure is the same.

  First you need to know either the groove diam. or the land diam. if that's the final dim. you want.

  Then you need to know the thickness of the paper you will be using. The only caveat here is that two thicknesses of paper equal or exceed the hgt. of your lands. This is to prevent the lands from cutting thru the paper and pulling Lead off the bullet.

  Then you take four (4) thicknesses of that paper and subtract that from your groove or land diam.

  That will be the diam. of the bullet you need.

  I add a thousandths or two to this final bullet diam. to take into account the various amounts of shrinkage you will end up with due to different amounts of tension you put on as you wrap the bullet. Plus you want about a thousandths over the final dim. just like I want for plain cast bullets.

    I rub a little lube on and run the patched bullet thru a sizing die to make sure the final dim. is what I want and to even up the lube. I've never tried seeing if a luber would put enuf lube on the bullet, so it's something you can try and see. I rub on a very dry lube made from 50/50 by wgt. of Motor Mica and Lithium grease.

  You're correct in thinking that 2 wraps are needed. There is another form of wrapping called a Chase Patch (one wrap) but 2 wraps is done by most except for the slug gun shooters and those wanting to experiment a bit.

  Since the mould diam. you will end up with will more than likely be a non standard size you will have to go to a custom maker. Colorado Shooters Supply is a good outfit and they will make your mould to the exact size you want. I have several.

  Patching paper is as close as your nearest staionary store. It's best to use 100% cotton paper but that's getting tough to find. Another is 9# airmail paper, which is also hard to find I hear. Most people will use any of the standard kinds on paper you use for printing off copies on your printer. Just don't use any of the paper that has a shiny/slick coating on it. Regular paper especially for patching can be gotten from Buffalo Arms Co. From what I've written about paper you can see it's imperative to know the paper thickness before determining your bullet mould diam. The papers above will range from .0015” to .004"+.

  You can use any alloy you want for shooting paper patch bullets. Your wheel wgts. will work fine unless you want/need the best accuracy. I've used everything from pure Lead to Linotype and there is very little difference in accuracy. That's the nice thing about paper patching. Since the bullet itself doesn't come in contact with the bore there is no chance of Leading. Of course different hunting and target situations you'll have to adjust your alloy to suit.

PETE