Paperpatching 30 cal lead

[SBSATS]

I have a question about what diameter you guys start with to do a 30 caliber paper patch bullet. What diameter do you start with? I have tried doing it with a .309 only to have the paper RIP off when put through the sizer die afterwards and left unsized measures .314 to .322. My research shows most paper to be .200 thick so with 2 wraps should make them .313 ....a little over sized for 30 caliber even with a lot more practice wrapping. Would possibly starting with one made for the 303 British be the answer? Finding a standard mold may be a chore. I have shot all of my different styles round nose 170 gr, flat nose 150 and 170gr and even a spiral tip 230 gr that I picked up somewhere along the way with and without gas checks at sub sonic speeds and they all shoot well enough to hunt with up to 100yds. But I would like to increase my velocity up to jacketed bullet speeds. Using Varget, IMR 3030 and IMR 4041.
Any advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Been loading for about 40 years but paper patching a new endeavor.

[SBSATS]

Well looked up the British 303 and found that it's bullet die was .312 so that's out.
So I guess my next step will be to look for a sizing die a few thousandths smaller than .309.
Also I thought about lubing the patched bullets before running them through my sizing die to reduce the friction on the paper..

That's what I love most about reloading...no matter how much you know...it's only the tip of the iceberg. Always leaving something new to be learned and experimented with.

[Harter]

Finally able to get in here .....
It's deep and there is a lot of information so this is the Cliff notes version of the Cliff notes .

Paper is complicated . Seek out paper for the old matrix chain printers . Cut your patches length parallel to the curl length of the paper . Cut them with 45° tails of a length such that the tails butt on 2 laps and reach over the ogive and make the preferred base fold . Wrapping may be done dry , damp , or stick glued . Be sure the long end of the tail wraps under the base .

For smokeless you want the core .001-2 over the land dia . US 30 cal is .301×.308 so the core should be about .302 . Finish wraps should bring the OD to about .309 or throat dia . This is only a guide , I had good success with a .312 core in a .305×.3165 barrel that would slip a .321 in a fired case .

NOE made a Lyman copy of the NRA 301618 in both a .301 and .303 dia and 172 and 212 gr versions with and without a gas check shank .

The paper patch will polish your bore and bring it down to bare slick steel , eventually . It will take 50-100 rounds for it to really settle in an start to shoot well , sometimes it doesn't work out , sometimes it comes right together . With 25 rounds I took a 6.5×50 Arisaka from 42" sideways to 3" @50 yd with a 266469 sized .260 and wrapped to .269 dry . The barrel is hard to measure with the Metford rifling but it's close to .257×.268 but will chamber a .277 ...... It shot a .272 cast about as well in initial trial .

Use jacketed start data .
Don't be me weigh your cores make sure you're not loading a 27-130 in a 7mm with 130 gr data for a bullet that weighs 141 gr .
As the barrel polishes , think 2-300 rounds , charges may need to be adjusted to keep the patches breaking up .

Lyman moulds that are small say a 308191U will make good core moulds . It's supposed to cast a .308 dia in #2 but is under sized too , so WW drops like .307 .

[SBSATS]

Thank you Harter. Knew I had to go smaller than the Lee that put them out at .309 but didn't know exactly where to start. Your info helps alot.