Bullet size quandry

[bruce moulds]

bullets might have varied in diameter, but so did barrels, due to engineering capabilities in the day.
the beauty of patching is that things can be married to work best.
did people lap their barrels in those days? this would cause further dimensional variables.
sharps long range bullets have been reported at 0.446 diameter.
using their thinnest paper at 0.0015 would bring them up to 0.452, still able to be loaded in a 0.450 barrel, but pretty tight. or were they seated deeper in the case with the tapered part up against the rifling.
this paper was banknote paper, so was plenty tough and would have withstood handling and conditions much better than the papers we have today.
the other thing affecting this is chamber dimensions.
proper pp chambers would not allow a full groove diameter bullet to be seated in a fired case, or if so to chamber in the rifle.
hence the use of undersized greasers in sharps rifles other than 45/70 and 50/70.
possibly part of the reason sharps recommended grease wads under greaser bullets was to seal gas until the bullet bumped up enough to seal itself.
interestingly they did not recommend a wad under the bullet for this application, obviously point blank hunting out to say 120 yds.
keep safe,
bruce.