Hello Huvius,

Well, I've read, and heard "that" from a lot of shooters over this past year. But I'm not sure its true. I think this is one of those "urban legends" that got written somewhere, and repeated, and repeated, and then taken as absolute fact.

Granted I'm new to this paper patch game, but I've got a lot of experience with lead bullets having shot well over 50,000 bullets in my various Schuetzen rifles.

My experiences with shooting paper-patch bullets in 4 different rifles has shown this NOT to be true. I've shot paper-patch bullets in these 4 rifles;

1) Alex Henry Single Shot in 450-3-1/4"
2) William Richards 577-500 No.2
3) Jansen 500 bpe
4) 20-.577 Dickson

All 4 rifles have Henry Rifling and in all 4 cases my finished paper-patched & lubed bullets have been "undersize" by .005" - .012", and they have all "bumped-up" nicely, and have shot very respectably.

My previous recently acquired double, the Ad. Jansen in 500 bpe, has a bore dia of .504" and a groove dia of .524". The paper-patched bullets measured .510" after lubing, a full .012" undersize. The bullets were 30:1 lead/tin, used as cast, and patched with 2 wraps of .0025" thick 100% rag. My lube on the paper-patched bullets was "Lee Liquid Alox" that was applied with my fingers. Here is that target.

I will say this, however, in all 4 loadings I have used IMR 4198 powder and 30:1 bullet alloy. Perhaps bumping-up may be a problem with other powders, or with harder bullets, but I wouldn't take it as Gospel that all paper-patched bullets "must be" at least "groove diameter". I think a lot of people run into "neck" - "chamber" clearance problems by using bullets that are "too" big.

I think one needs to "test" his specific rifle to see what works for it.

One of my "Life Philosophy's" is;

".. get as many opinions as possible, throw-out the extremes, and then make your own decision .. "

All this of course is just MHO.