Thread: Martini Enfield paper patching?

Hey guys anyone here experimented with paper patching?
I picked up an old artillery carbine, NZ marked great serial number of 2000 lol.

Shot a few 314 215 grain gaschecked cast bullets through it today. Accuracy at 5 yards was sideways 😅

Same bullet shoots great out of one of my no5 Enfields. Admittedly that has a mirror bore on it.

This mark 2 artillery carbine looks a bit average, haven't shot any jacketed stuff out of it. So can't compare.

Anyway long story short, my understanding for one of the possible reasons you get dud accuracy out of a cast bullet is size! I.e under sized.

Anyone had any experience with paper patching to bring up the size? Any good results?

Also just wondering on what paper to use, do I lube the paper slightly etc?

Any tips suggestions?

Love to shoot this old NZ piece of history at my local service rifle shoot 😅😅

Cheers
Sefton

Powder charge was 10 grains of unique, I didn't chrono this today but in the past out of my no5 I typically get around 1500fps

pretty sure @coot has done it in .357mag

Originally Posted by SeftonB

Hey guys anyone here experimented with paper patching?
I picked up an old artillery carbine, NZ marked great serial number of 2000 lol.

Shot a few 314 215 grain gaschecked cast bullets through it today. Accuracy at 5 yards was sideways ��

Same bullet shoots great out of one of my no5 Enfields. Admittedly that has a mirror bore on it.

This mark 2 artillery carbine looks a bit average, haven't shot any jacketed stuff out of it. So can't compare.

Anyway long story short, my understanding for one of the possible reasons you get dud accuracy out of a cast bullet is size! I.e under sized.

Anyone had any experience with paper patching to bring up the size? Any good results?

Also just wondering on what paper to use, do I lube the paper slightly etc?

Any tips suggestions?

Love to shoot this old NZ piece of history at my local service rifle shoot ����

Cheers
Sefton

Try .316 or greater. You might want to shoot them “as cast” and just Alox them. Alternatively the rolls of brown paper tape that you get that you need to lick the other side of work well

Paper patch generally bumps a bullet up 7 to 10 thou

So you are on the wrong track thinking of PP on a 303 bullet

Soft cast lead will bump up to groove diameter

The best way to bump up a bullet diameter is with powder coat

If your 314 was sideways then you might like to try some cast 8mm bullets

Issue u having is it'd an artillery issued item, arty is known for non precision inthe vicinity off... as akaroa1 says go oversize , drop powder load on 1st few , work up load from there

Check the free bore as well, drop a bullet in the breech and gently push it as far as it will go with a bit of curtain rod or similar. Put a rod down the muzzle till it contacts the bullet and mark it. Tap the bullet out and put a dummy round in the breech. Run the rid down the muzzle again till it touches and mark it again. Measure the distance between marks and that's free bore.
I had an artillery carbine with 7 inches of it, it shot acceptably with flat based jacketed bullets and paper patched 311s taken to .318 but everything else including boat tails went sideways. I never tried powder coating but it should work

" Admittedly that has a mirror bore on it. "

Really you answered the question yourself

Some times you have to accept that the bore is buggered

I brought an artillery carbine a couple of years ago for the action.
Exterior was poor due to a miss guided soul " improving it "
But it shot brilliantly with cast powder coated gas checked 170 grain bullets.
So I sold it to someone who wanted a short hand accurate hunting ME carbine.

The cold hard reality is the ME artillery carbine was a short light defensive weapon.
The sight radius is short
The sights are pathetic for accurate shooting over any range.

As sharki alluded too. Artillery carbines are for a very specific task

Have a play Sefton but be prepared to accept that it might never do any better than sideways at 5 yards

Well I'll certainly take it all on board and get experimenting. I've always wanted a shooter, we'll see what happens. Worst comes to worst I'll rebarrel it. Now for those that day I'm a heathen, I'd rather a shoot able old girl than a 'well patinad wall hanger'. Thanks everyone. Gonna take some jacketed stuff to the range today and see what happens. Plus go the over sized route and play around with some paper maybe. Time will tell. Thanks for the information guys