'Full-Patch' Bullet & 'Boullet' - "A Little Ball"

"Boullet" to Bullets:

Funny how one thing leads to another eh. - When reading an African hunting book about rifles & cartridges by John Pondoro Taylor - he uses the phrase "full patch - or solid bullet" .. which it seems is likely another term from the period (1948) when he was writing - for a bullet with a full metal jacket. - I don't think he is referring to a solid brass projectile.

So what was a full patch bullet before it became a FMJ modern round ..?

An Old Russian Paper Patched cartridge.

- so far I've only discovered that , for a while, sub-caliber lead bullets were wrapped in a couple of layers of thick paper to seal & assist their passage down the barrel on black powder rifles and to stop smearing of lead into those bores.

Now I am only guessing that there is a direct link between paper patching and the term "Full Patch Bullet" - either way - paper patches are cut 'on-the-bias' to a pattern .. then wetted before rolling onto the projectile - and the surplus 'collar'** at the base is folded onto the bullet's base and then the finished pills are stood onto the base to dry ready for use. Are these then lubed or not? - And are they then "full patched"?

The more I try to find information on "Full Patch" - the more I am told about gang patches & crime!

Link with expert instructions for paper patching (and lubing) metallic cartridges :

http://www.antique-arms.co.nz/ppatch.html

 Bullets:
- So as the early firearm projectiles were 'balls' - the newer cylindrical pills were named "Boullet" from the Middle French for small balls (boulle).

** 'Collars' .. Does anyone else remember celluloid collars (and 'collar studs')? I can remember my teacher at Linacre Road School, Willesden, London ..  'Mr Casey' sending me once a week with a shilling to pay for his dry-cleaned shirt collars .. I think that I must have been "teachers pet" at that tender age 9 or 10 y.o? in the 1950s. Celluloid was VERY inflammable - nitrocellulose & camphor - and is closely related to the explosives and propellants.

Same Stuff as Table-Tennis Balls.

Aint it marvellous what you can remember when you read eh.

Note:A small annoyance with Taylor's writing in this book is his pretentious use of a 'classical' narrative trick of introducing the two characters "Auctor" &" Lector"  as question and answer for a detailed explanation of his thinking process.. I've been a reader since about 1950 and I never have suffered such a bullshit imposition before.😕

Marty K.