paper patching has been something I been working on for months, almost an year. finally in the last two days, I am getting real close. I found really old register paper that seems to work great for what I am doing. used masking tape to get down how tight to roll that paper around the bullet.

reason why i am working on this so hard. waiting to buy another lee improved minnie mold in 50cal.

MOLD 500-360-M
Lee Single Cavity Mold produces a .500 diameter 360 grain Minie bullet.



it is about .002 less then my Spanish and about .003 less then my knight barrels. may catch an break and it would drop larger.

I have gotten such an head ache from learning this darn stuff lo


well, I guess I did it. only took me 2 hours to patch 10 bullets lol.

once i get it down I should speed up.

Did you size those? I am wondering why you have the dark rings. When I make mine I will get those when I size. If I can make a suggestion. I would make the pattern a little taller so it covers the bullet up to the shoulder of the bullet.
One thing I can't tell is of your ends are meeting? when you roll them on they should go around twice and finish up in the same place. I use 25% cotton onion skin paper but that is VERY hard to find now.
I have the Lee improved minie for my 45. My rifle loves them. Have you ever seen my tutorial I did on paper patching? Ron

did the paper patching help with accuracy?

yes I did read it ron, in fact I had it in front of me while trying it.
I am using old non thermal register tape. could not beat the price. free.

i think my sizer has an some lead or something in it.

i sized down the bullets from there main size to .451 then after the patch was put on .454 sizer.

I take any advice, i am work on getting it down.

dont know yet dave, going to friday. if it does not rain

ron,
took your advise, I did make my pattern a little taller, did not add much to it. and the dark rings are solved, just a little bit lead. going to pick up an another tc breech plug brush, only nylon brush I can find locally, and an 45cal mop (lost mine some where). maybe a lead remover.

I did an little cleaning on them. went to do a few more. ran them, with out lube. found out that way what was going on.

run an test one down the bore of my gun sized at 454, had to use all my weight (200lbs) to get them to start and go down the bore. end up sizing them to 451 and got the presser I like to set my bullets with, somewhere around 25 to 30 lbs. the lands are at 454 from where I slugged the barrel. makes me think I measured wrong.

I am getting sub 2" groups out of the 45 cal minie. The last time I went out shooting I was having trouble at 150 yards. I dropped the powder from 80 to 70 and shot a group. It was not good so I bumped it to 90 and presto. I shot a 3" group at 150. I went back to 100 and I have the same 2" groups or less I am looking for with a peep sight. I need to test the 150 again and go to 175. this was my last group I shot. Ron

I must be mixed up I thought you were working on a 50.
The dark rings are from lead in the sizer. I don't worry about them for the most part. After a few bullets it goes away. I am not familiar with the tape. I know tracing paper works well for some guys. If you can find 9# onion skin that works great.
I will post to your next post. Ron

Stay with it Corey. You will get it figured out. And IdahoRon is just the guy to help you out. He has helped me with a few questions before also. He seems very willing to spread his knowledge. Good luck with it. And show us some photos of a "wore out" X-Ring. Tom.

going to order the 50. some time. I was worried about the lee .501 sizer being too small after the few test I think i should be fine if I order it.

the tape I am using measure .002". I am thinking it has been around the store for an long time. since we don't have anything it works in or even had anything in the store for it to work in for close to 4yrs. if you want i can send you an roll, tell me what you think.

worst case, I got and get some tracing paper and start over. should be easier since i know more about what i am doing

You will want to get all the lead out of that barrel before you test the paper patches. You can also use it to clean the die to get a better looking patch. I have seen that lead build up in the die and cause the paper to tear when sizing.
My rifle is a .451 green mountain barrel. I am sizing the minies to .451 or.452 and then again to .446. Then I wrap them and size them again to .446 but I size dry. If you size with lube the lube will cause the paper to fail. Anyway I size them to .446 with the paper on and they are ready. Mine will go down with the weight of my range rod. even when I have a dirty barrel.
The problem with sizing that much is some of them will tear at the bottom of the bullet. That will cause the paper to come away at the bottom. I would like to try a sizer that is .449 to do the final sizing before loading but I have already made one custom sizer I don't want to do another. You would like the .446 sized bullets but that custome sizer is expensive. they go down better and they were more accurate than the .451's. Here is a picture of one sized to .446.



Keep playing with them and if you have a question feel free to ask. Ron