I wish I could post photos here, because when I say the paper patch disintegrated, you could see it yourself. The patches are all already in rough condition. The one I removed was stuck to the inside of the case. The bottom of the patch pulled off altogether and had to be fished out separately. Taking a whole bunch of measurements of the patch on the bullet and off either captured the correct thickness or created a muddle of different results.
The bullet itself is .400”, and appears to be pure lead.
The patch, loosely on the bullet but obviously compressed for measuring, yielded .408-.410” total thickness. When mic’ed by itself, the double wrapped patch measured from .0025”-.003”, which would result in a patched diameter of .405” to .406”, not the .408-.410” with the patch flopping about the bullet. Just finding two wraps to measure became increasingly difficult as the patch fell apart with handling.
Measuring the patch thickness was difficult. It is so light and delicate, just manipulating it into position without destroying it was tough, and each operation caused more of it to flake off. Looking at it, I’m going to hazard a guess it was originally at .408”.
Mike, I hear you on Walsh. But re-reading The Maneaters of Kumaon and Baker’s Wild Beasts and Their Ways for the first time is absorbing my time.
Thank you for the advice to try Brooks. Probably the one mould maker I have not used. Accurate does show pointed bullets in their catalogue.
Of all of this cartridge dissection, the gunpowder was the most surprising.
