_____Paper Patching for Muzzleloaders_____

by Bob Schewe

     When I recently acquired a Pedersoli .58 cal  Kodiak double muzzleloader, I right away went to the internet to see what I could find for loading data. Not only did I find very little on some of the new propellants, such as Hodgdon 777, but nobody has even mentioned paper patching conicals. So I thought I would post some of my findings with trying paper patched mini in muzzleloaders. I'm hoping that by posting others will likewise try patching and hopefully pass on their ideas and innovations.

     I have especially found single layer paper patching the mini in my .54 to give excellent results, far better than unpatched, and am in the middle of trying similar setup in my new .58 cal. That is with using cast minis from standard factory molds, probably carried by your sporting goods store in your area. If you don't have already a mini mold and your favorite store does not carry it they may be able to order it in or go direct as per web sites listed below. In my .54, it was like night and day, as to accuracy of patched vs un-patched. Velocity increased likewise by about 100'/sec, but in fairness possibly pressure was up also, due to better initial seal of bullet in barrel. I believe as others have stated in print, there are many advantages to using the paper patched bullet, over the basic grease groove style. Accuracy, velocity, lower barrel wear, less critical lead alloy requirement, are some points that I like. And the terminal performance of an all lead slug on game is excellent.

Before and after patched  cast .54 mini.

     Picture above is .54  Lyman #533476 with and without patch. Note hollow base full of lube, same as used on general patch area, that of 45% (by weight) candle wax with 55% clear Vaseline. Also used the same lube on paper patches in the .458 Mag. The patched bullet on the left is from a batch I did up in 1994, and other than a few scuffs from being loose in small plastic tub with its brothers, and moving from Manitoba to British Columbia, still looks perfectly good to shoot. This patched mini loaded on top of 120 grs. volume of pyrodex RS put 5 shots into 3/4 inch group at 50 yds. Three shots with range chronograph registered 1633'/sec, 1666'/sec and 1634'/sec. Couple of other notes, I wipe between shots and reloading, especially important with paper patched projectile. Also on top of powder, I place a couple of grains of dacron (cotton baton) to keep powder out of lube at base of mini. Seat dacron first before seating mini, as mini will try to 'ride over' and jam half way down barrel as I once found out. My CVA barrel is 28 inches long with 1/66 twist. Also note on my .54 I removed the standard nipple and put on a fusil that takes small rifle primers. With this load I've managed to drop some nice Manitoba whitetails very effectively. I wouldn't hesitate to use this setup on elk, moose or big bear. Also incidentally my mold casts a naked mini of approx 430 grains according to my powder scale. And for those who want to know, I've weighed my powder charge of RS thrown by my volume measure, its 95 grains weight. To me the effort of a couple of winter evenings is well worth it, to produce a batch of deadly accurate hunting projectiles.

________WHAT GOT ME STARTED________

     Some years ago, about 1990 or 1991, I attended a gun show at Brandon, Manitoba. Somebody there sold me a small blue book called "The Practical Paper Patched Bullet" by Paul Matthews. By now my hunting and target shooting had already taken me well into the world of reloading a variety of cartridges, and included also casting my own bullets. I especially liked that, as once I was set up for casting, the cost for plinking and practice dropped quite a bit. Maybe I never really pursued cast loads though as much as others, as I found for me, with my wheel weight and renovation salvaged lead, I never did get that great an accuracy. And the recommended velocity for most cartridges seemed to always be a compromise to it's full potential. So when I saw this book on paper patching it looked too full of good promises to pass up. I had heard just a little about paper patching before, an occasional article in magazines like "Handloader", but really it was pretty foreign to me.

     So after reading and re-reading Paul's book, I decided to try paper patching for what seemed like a natural for it, my BRNO .458 W.Mag. With its generally slower velocity compared to other cartridges, and it's relatively easier, larger, bore size to work with, it seemed to be a good starting point. Plus already it was shooting grease groove bullets reasonably well. And the cost of factory bullets .....ouch. I lucked out with my BRNO. The chamber allowed me to use my existing Lyman grease groove bullet molds without having to size down, if I used 25% cotton paper supposedly about .003 inch thick. Either somewhere I read or came about on my own, to trying a single layer wrap with about a 1/16 inch overlap to keep overall diameter down. With especially Lyman's #457406 cast using wheel weights, it was deadly! Full strength loads using IMR3031 at the range gave as tight as .4 inch group 3 shots at 50 yds. For me and this caliber, that was tighter than I was able to get with copper factory jacketed. Since I'm not a big guy, I have to say they are punishing to shoot at a bench, so I left it at that and decided to move on to my .54 muzzleloader.

     What had got my attention in Paul Matthew's book, was a paragraph on his experience with his .54 and paper patching. Back in the winter of 1986/1987, I had purchased a CVA .54 cal., Hawken style blackpowder muzzle loading  barrel, and also a CVA lock assembly, and proceeded to make my own muzzleloader. As was common in those days, most .54's were 1/66 twist meant really for round ball, as was this barrel I got from S.I.R. in Winnipeg. It shot quite well with round ball and cloth patch, easily staying within about 2-2 1/2 inches at 100 yds. using Pyrodex RS and wiping between shots. That was with a course hunting peep sight. But with anything conical, it was very disappointing. The only thing that even hit the paper target somewhere with some regularity was Lee's cast mold R.E.A.L. bullet ("rifling engaged at loading"). At 50 yds., for me it would not group tighter than about a foot. In hind sight I know a lot of guys do better using grease cookies, dacron and other tips and tricks. Now I wanted to try the paper patch. I already had Lyman's #533476 mold and since that is what Paul was referring to in his book, decided I would likewise. I still didn't have a good micrometer, but judging from how my patching experimenting was going, I must have a somewhat undersized barrel. All I could manage to get to start reasonably easily and seat on a clean or wiped barrel was 1 layer paper patched mini, using the .003 25% cotton paper. I use the angled parallelogram style patch cut to a length, that when wet with tap water and wrapped on the bullet, its ends overlap approx. 1/16 inch.

Before and after patched .54 mini.

     You can see the diagonal overlap in the patch on the bullet on the left, also the faint blue lines from 'school-grade' lined loose leaf .003 thick paper used for patching. Sorry about poor quality pics, don't have digital camera, I used my cheap web-cam focused down to about 3 1/2 inches. When patch is applied and while still wet, where the overlap is over the cast grease grooves, I put a pinhead size drop of white glue on the leading edge of top overlap with a toothpick, and then carefully dab to flatten and remove excess with dry tissue paper. Note height of patch is sufficient to cover all area of bullet that would otherwise contact inside of barrel, so there is no chance of leading. I simply just apply wet paper patch onto bullet with my fingers, however in Paul Matthew's book it describes how to make a patching board to speed up the process. Then I place the mini nose down and leave to air dry. This next pic shows better the slight indents of patch over grease grooves.

Patched .58 mini, yet to be lubed, using 24 lb 100% cotton paper.

     This picture is of patched but still to be lubed mini, cast from .58 cal Lee #575-472M mini mold. Overlap of ends of patch is also visible on mini's side. For this bullet and my .58, the .003 paper seemed to be too thin for one layer wrap and too thick for traditional two layer wrap patch, so I moved on to trying thicker 24 lb 100% cotton computer paper I found at London Drugs in stationary dept. Even though the grease grooves are shallow in this design, you can easily see indent of patch overtop, where I put that tiny speck of white glue on leading edge. Incidentally with the thinner .003 paper I tried first, I also tried adding a band of about 3/16 high, single layer patch underneath, no overlap when applied wet. Then, while still wet, applied over with the 'regular' full single layer patch with usual 1/16 inch overlap. That extra little collar underneath was enough to give me the added tight fit to seal better, also of concern with a double barrel, to help keep bullet of second barrel down, seated against powder charge. Though I didn't have the chronograph set up, the recoil of the 'patch and a half' mini compared to the regular single layer patch of the .003 paper seemed noticeably up, and impact at 50 yds. with the same charge of 110 grains volume of H777 rose about 4 inches. I look forward to someone testing and publishing the H777 extensively in the .58 with pressure reading equipment, such as the Lyman people. I have no idea as to what the pressure was other than it seemed to be maximum for me based on felt recoil. Do not exceed the recommended charge of your gun's manufacturer. On the issue of safe maximum charge level everyone is on their own. My telling of what I tried in my gun is only meant to help explain my system of patching. I should add that I really like this 777 powder, as wiping between shots with a couple of cleaning patches easily removes light fowling. I use first patch slightly moist with rubbing alcohol, followed by a dry patch, then of course loading on a very nearly clean barrel.  With this .003 paper the groups were rather large, 3 to 4 inches roughly at 50 yds. Possibly the pressure was too high for the mini's skirt thickness, and skirts were deforming badly upon muzzle exit or even starting to blow out. CCI #11 magnum caps were used. When I return to the range to test my next batch in the .58, I plan to try regular #11 caps and also reduce the H777 to 100 grains volume. Really in hind sight this seems like my charge level experimenting is backwards. But with the single layer of the .003 paper, pressure seemed ok and I wanted to only change and compare the adding of the underneath small band. I suppose that little band at the base of the bullet was not matched by similar support at top of bullet but to add a second top band would have meant too much seating friction to my liking. Also then I might just as well used a full two layer patch for simplicity of application. However I would really prefer to go with thicker but simpler to apply single layer patch. With the heavier and thicker 100% cotton paper I needed to soak patch in tap water about 15 seconds to make it workable for patch application.

Upside down view of .54 and .58 naked minis.

     Picture above of my naked Lyman .54 (left) and Lee .58 minis. Notice on these casts from factory molds, the different skirt thicknesses. From Lyman's "Black Powder Handbook" extensive data, you'll note that most .54 (and smaller cal) data peaks at about 15,000 cup max, where as for .58 most load data peaks at about 10,000 lup max., with usual working charges somewhat less in each. This book is an excellent source of all kinds of data, trajectories with energy and wind drift etc. devoted a lot to minis. If you can get a copy of it buy it. Of course you don't want to exceed manufacturer's recommended charge maximum for your own particular gun. Also most mini's skirts don't even allow max charge pressures as the skirt will deform excessively or even blow out at that instant of clearing the end of the barrel.

  This is patched .58 mini before being lubed, view of hollow base.

     When I apply the patch on the mini, I use a cast round nose .458 bullet to help 'work' the wet patch into the hollow base. I give a gentle twisting motion to the round nose to help form the patch and tighten it. You will certainly tear a few at first, during application, but practice soon makes perfect. I've also used a standard pencil with an erasure end to help form patch end. With the thinner 25% cotton paper I found that dipping it for a couple of seconds in bowl of tap water prior to wrapping was about right, but with the thick 24 lb 100% cotton it had to soak for about 12 to 15 seconds before applied to mini. At any rate you have to be careful with wet patch. I also push gently down on high spots along edge, pushing into hollow end to help keep patch tight. As the patch air dries, it will shrink slightly to help make tight also. I stand the bullets on their noses to dry. Also I like to place drying minis about 6 inches from small table lamp with the patch overlap facing the light bulb. The gentle heat of regular 60 watt bulb dries that side somewhat first and the patch has some support at its overlap before the rest shrinks and tightens. Then the drying time accelerates to just 3 or 4 hours. I have on occasion tried applying patches without adding the small specks of glue and it works with the small overlap holding together. However I feel that it's a somewhat stronger and tougher patch with those small specks of glue on lap edge.

  Click here to go to page with short 90 sec video of wrapping on the patch. This is about 1.4 meg file so it will possibly take a couple of minutes to download on a slow connection to the web.

     I had once tried to carefully lift wet lap edge with the sharp toothpick, and then place specks of glue along underneath to sandwich between overlap ends, but found some squished in to contact the lead bullet itself and when dried, the patch would not release easily from the mini. I felt that would not be good for accuracy, so I cancelled that experimental variation. Try smaller specks of glue to correct? Maybe that would work, but it just seems easier to add specks of glue along outside wrap edge instead. And I prefer to just place speck of glue overtop where grease groove is, so its not pushed hard into contact with rifling by body of mini.

     Possibly another variation to try, would be to actually glue on the patch to the mini, with the intent of the patch not coming off shortly after exiting the muzzle upon firing. I would assume you would want the patch to only have coating of adhesive on inside wrap surface, as glue would probably not be good for rubbing against rifling even with lube smeared on top. Also the lube seems to somewhat penetrate pores of surface of paper patch, aiding in reducing friction, which would be prevented with glue sealing somewhat the outer surface if applied there also. Certainly this all sounds more "field use hardy" however I wonder what this variation would do for accuracy. For reasonable hunting distances even a small compromise in accuracy might be worth a tougher home crafted projectile. I've usually never had a problem with patches tearing upon the critical loading stage, but a too large a diameter, patched projectile, can cause problems in trying to start the mini in at the end of the muzzle, ending up with a tear destroying accuracy. A good slug starter, even home made helps here a lot. Forster Precision in Illinois I believe possibly still makes these but I'm not sure, I saw reference to this helpful tool in one of Sam Fadala's excellent books on blackpowder shooting.

     After the patches have dried on a batch of minis, I hand lube them with the wax/vaseline mix. The lube is prepared by carefully melting over hot water, candle wax 45% (weight) together with 55% (weight) vaseline (also known as petroleum jelly). As soon as they melt I stir with spoon and then remove from heat and let cool to room temp. You can first pour into shallow can for ease of removal with fingertip at later date when lubing patched bullets or minis. A batch of lube made up of say 1/2 a pound will last a long time, with the hollow bases of minis by far taking the majority of the lube. I just make sure to also smear gently all areas of patch with small lump of lube about size of wooden match head, to make sure there are no dry un-lubed areas.

     At time of initial drafting of this web site, I had yet to get back to the range and try out the next small batch of .58 patches and post results. I also just came across a "too good to pass up" deal, on a partially completed under-hammer percussion .58 with a stout 1 1/16 inch, at muzzle, 1 in 48 twist barrel. Plus I took a spare mini mold and carefully modified the base plug, to create a flat base maxi of sorts, leaving just a slight perimeter rim for folding the paper over and holding some lube. Finally dug out and dusted off the old chronograph for this next trip to the range. 

   Click here to go to page with update of above results with some pics to help illustrate.

     Hopefully what I've tried to explain here makes sense, but I can't stress enough how helpful Paul Matthew's book on paper patching is. I've really tried to just explain a simple variation of the general two layer patching that Paul clearly illustrates in his book. If you can, get a hold of a copy of one of his books, I understand he has published several in regards to paper patching. Wolfe Publishing Co., Inc. of 6471 Airpark Drive, Prescott, Arizona 86301 is shown inside the cover of my copy. Those that have a muzzleloader and a mini mold already, are close to having everything needed. A little paper and home made bullet lube does not cost much for some very rewarding results. I also have on order a hammer swage set with various nose and base punches from Richard Corbin in Oregon, which I requested with a main body diameter of .573 for my .58 cal muzzleloaders. I am looking forward to trying that for patching. I'm thinking I'll try the regular 2 layer patch with the thinner paper on it. There's likewise a link to his site below.

General shape of paper patch.

     Above is outline of shape of the paper patch, with ends angled about 35 degrees. I make a template of sorts by cutting out approximate length and height. Adjusting height to cover the full side of mini, from about a 1/32 inch above start of ogive (front nose curve of bullet) where it attaches to main body of bullet, down and including overlap to inside of hollow base at least 1/8 inch. Don't go up too much more than the 1/32 inch on the nose curve part of the bullet, as the rifling does not make contact here to cut paper upon firing, and the paper should release upon exit at muzzle for sake of accuracy. The previous pictures above help show patch placement on bullet. If a mini were to be placed nose up at the left end of patch above, that is how I would start wrap with the nose sticking up above patch, as wrap is rolled onto bullet. The whole idea is to prevent any area of lead from rubbing inside against barrel. Once I determine the correct height I draw parallel lines onto patching paper and then use my template to draw small diagonal angled lines for correct length. Of course don't forget the overlap of approximately 1/16 inch of the two angled ends with your finished applied patch. After experimenting and determining your correct height and length make sure to cut paper template and mark and save for future use. Ordinary household scissors work fine for the number of patches I cut at one sitting.

     Below is a list of some related links that I found helpful for paper patching. Also added more related links and some pics with last update.

 Fine Tuning A Slug Gun/Muzzleblasts.com         Article I found on net with some applicable tips.

RCE Co. - Home Page                      This is Richard Corbin's site, hammer and press type swaging products, also good info.

Lee Precision,Inc.                             Excellent source of economical molds for muzzleloaders.

Lyman Products                                Another excellent mold line for muzzleloaders.

Mountain Molds Cast Bullet Molds          Guys on the forums have nothing but generally good to say about these molds, they offer some diameters appropriate for paper patching.

CH Tool & Die                               More molds appropriate for paper patching available here.

Corbin Bullet Swaging Systems        This is the other Corbin site also with swaging products and info.

Coon 'n Crockett Muzzleloaders Home Page       Excellent site with tons of good links related to muzzleloading.

Making, Loading, and Shooting Paper Patched Bullets     A great site explaining 2 layer paper patching bullets.

AeroBallistics OnLine                     Another awesome site with calculation formulas etc.

Ballistic Software - JMK's Home Page      Site with free software to calculate the Stability Factor for a given bullet/rifling twist rate.

 mag-spark - hubbards outdoor products   This is the manufacturer of the fusil nipple replacement that uses 209 shotshell primers, similar to what I have on my .54 cal.

mailto:raschewe@shaw.ca             For emailing me with any tips or questions with regards to paper patching, I'll try to get back to you, time permitting.

favorite pic of tools of the trade      Favorite pic of both my dad's .54 and mine.

some end results and misc pictures    A few pics of hunting memories, if you're on a 28.8 connection this will take a couple of minutes to download.  

Just more misc hunting pics              Likewise this may take a couple of minutes on a slow connection, pics of hunting with family and friends, but not really anything related to paper patching. Enjoy.

Happy hunting and muzzleloading.

Last modified April 29,2003