patching material other than paper

dont think ive ever posted the results of trying something else in patching smokeless powder paperpatched bullets. as suggest a long time ago on this site i tried poly coated aluminum foil. the poly side out toward the bore. two wraps, have to say it worked as good as paper of various types. also saw a you tube vid a long time ago of the same thing and the guy was ringing a small gong at 500 yards. the poly coated aluminum is better than the plain type. possibly not quite as easy to patch a bullet as paper is but it can be learned. just i thought i would mention it for those to research and try if they have a mind to. never know.

You might try a search in this forum for patched bullets with other than paper. There have been a number who tried teflon tape, and a couple I recall who talked about foil.
Good Luck
Brodie

I've tried Teflon tape on .22 slicks from a Tom Ballard adj. mould. Groups equalled best jacketed match bullets at 100yds. Charges had to be well up into jacketed bullet loads..some even max before accuracy was found. One big drawback though..that patch was so thin and delicate, if you had a flier..better stop and run dry patch thru..tinest sliver of lead would be found on patch..none sticking in bore. But if ignored, and another round fired..you would have a bore full of lead! I believe that sliver of lead was from a torn patch..next rounds patch would be destroyed.

I had one guy claimed masking tape worked well and didnt come off of the bullets. I think that would mess with airflow ans affect BC but he swore by it. I too have heard of teflon tape being used.

I tried everything found in the house at one time or another___ papers.
Didn't want to buy a ream of paper suggested by Buckshot. (couldn't possibly use it all.) and due to size. Bulking out my one & only desk draw was a little concern. What I found to work well. Those little ruler lined (spring held) 3"X 5" or 3.5X 6" scratch notebook papers. That particular paper I found to wrap and shrinks as good as Green Bar printer paper does. As far as trying anything other than paper I always wanted to try Mylar wraps used in shotshell loads to insulate lead shot from the barrels bore walls. Just never got around to trying. And too there kind of expensive for a patching's purpose at 6.00 ($$) a hundred and too require some sort of glue to hold them from un-folding. As far as trying aluminum foil. Yellow Brass: super thin shimming material. Or a couple dip coating of Lucite paint. Nope haven't tried those yet. But you never can tell I just might.

Plain white adhesive address labels work pretty well. HellMart sells "Duck" brand in the stationary section. They won't stand "waterproofing" in melted beeswax since it ruins the adhesive nor will they stick to a bullet with a little lube on it from sizing. I've cut them in square cornered rectangles and used one wrap to decent success.

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Originally Posted by johnson1942

dont think ive ever posted the results of trying something else in patching smokeless powder paperpatched bullets. as suggest a long time ago on this site i tried poly coated aluminum foil. the poly side out toward the bore. two wraps, have to say it worked as good as paper of various types. also saw a you tube vid a long time ago of the same thing and the guy was ringing a small gong at 500 yards. the poly coated aluminum is better than the plain type. possibly not quite as easy to patch a bullet as paper is but it can be learned. just i thought i would mention it for those to research and try if they have a mind to. never know.

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Johnson -

Howdy !

If your situation permits, DYMO label maker tape might work. I use it w/ some .35 calibre swaged boolits.

It's thicker than paper, however; so boolit diam would need a review for such an application.


With regards,
357Mag

im going to stick with double wrap for cartridge rifle and single wrap for muzzleloaders. the reason for the post is i wanted all the various info every shooter has to be made available to those who love to experment. their are a lot of ways to patch a bullet and i know their are many who would like to read about them and even try them. who knows one might come up thats easier that paper. i even tried two wraps of wax paper on my muzzleloaders and it worked very well. i wrapped as i loaded each time. i think the masking tape two wraps thing then put in a swageing die to squeeze it real tight onto the bullet would be great also. maybe just pushing it through a reduceing die after wrapping with masking tape would make a really good stay on jacket for a bullet. hope we can get more input on what shooters have tried and the success they have had.