Wash patches????

[abunaitoo]

Just saw an add at "Track of the Wolf" selling cotton patches. It the discription it says they can be washed and reused.
Has anyone cleaned patches?????
I've never though of cleaning and re-using them.

[btroj]

Is it worth the effort?

I don't even want to think of the mess they would be to handle once dirty.

My wife would also veto any attempt to run them thru her washer. My dirty shop towels get me in enough trouble.

Patches are a small expense in the overall shooting budget. I might spend 10 dollars a year on them. Not enough to justify the hassle.

[KCSO]

You would have a duece of a time trying to find a patch in the Nebraska wind! I always wash patch material to remove the sizing but I never heard of reusing fired patches.

[1Shirt]

I believe in recycling some things, patches sure arnt on my list! Yah, agre with KCSO on finding them in Ne. winds.
1Shirt!

[Bigslug]

For any kind of life span, you'd have to stitch the edges to keep them from unraveling. Seems a mite overkill for a cleaning patch. Isn't this what old T-shirts were invented for?

[buck1]

I believe it would be more trouble than its worth. But then again I USED to say that about casting , once upon a time.

[.22-10-45]

Hello, abunaitoo. I'm almost embassased to admit it!.. But when I began working with an original Ballard No. 3 in .25-25 Stevens..I decided to stick with real black powder on account of it's cast action. I am using Swiss 3FG. Now to maintain accuracy..it wants 1 barely damp patch thru after each shot..shooting next round thru wet bore. First time out..I had a pile of used patches! Figured I was going to be spending way too much on cloth....so..I drop them in plastic container..at home I squirt some detergent & hot water & shake them up real good..rinse & repeat, & air dry.
Now with black..it's mostly carbon..I wouldn't bother with solvent soaked patches.

[I'll Make Mine]

Washed and reused sounds like something you'd do with cleaning patches (well, you might, but I wouldn't -- oil soaked materials in washer and drier are an unnecessary hazard, compared to the price of patches or cotton ticking to cut them from). I don't think it'd make much sense to try to recover, wash, and reuse ball patches...

[MikeS]

If they're cleaning patches from black powder there wouldn't be oil patches (other than the ones used at the end of the cleaning cycle to oil the barrel), so they could be washed without hazard. I suppose even shot patches could be washed (if you find them).

[Gtek]

Come on guy's, see what the Liberal mind trip has done. You are thinking green and recycling. Fight it man! Flannel is cotton, God will make more. And if you think into it farther- what about chemicals and phosphates used in cleaning and the produced byproduct that must be entered into the eco-system. Also the time wasted on cleaning, time is the one thing we cannot buy. Put them in a can and burn them, I like colored smoke. Gtek

[Jon K]

My BPCRS partner's wife washes and neatly bags for re-use.
I don't, so he gets mine as well...more work, than I want to do, but I don't think he's bought any, since he and I been shooting & spotting together.
BTW...we wipe between shots.

Jon

[Shiloh]

Bulk patches are cheap.
What btroj said. Is it worth the effort??
How would you wash these things??

Shiloh

[Jon K]

Bulk patches are cheap.
What btroj said. Is it worth the effort??
How would you wash these things??

Shiloh

Wash in a zippered net mesh bag, is what my buddy says.

Jon

[I'll Make Mine]

So, no concern over lead from the bore wiping patches depositing in the washing machine and then winding up in other clothes and linens?

[1Shirt]

This just has to be a spin off of the green weenie things that Obozo proposes! Can you just see a recycle story about washing cleaning patches on the ABC news at 5 o'clock, with a postive spin about just what shooters are doing to protect our environment???? Ya, will expect that right after the next vergin birth!
1Shirt!

[Larry Gibson]

I know several BP shooters and a couple HP shooters who wash the 2nd and later cleaning patches quite successfully. It is done with the flannel type patches not the paper based ones. The mesh net bag is used.

Larry Gibson

[MtGun44]

LOL! I'm pretty cheap, but that beats me.

Bill

[Alan in Vermont]

I'm going to try recycling shotshell wads, seems like I remember reading about that somewhere. Seems like they might work fine for backyard claybusting sessions. Gotta try to compensate for the $40+/bag shot prices.

[shooter93]

The way the economy is going you may all find yourselves cleaning patches....smiles. I grew up in a household where NOTHING was wasted if it could be used again. It had nothing to do with being cheap you just used every dollar spent wisely. It gets to be a habit even when things are good.

[Abenaki]

I wash my blackpowder cleaning patches.

Hey.....a penny saved!

There is no lead of any sort to worry about. I just put them in a cut off panty hose, and toss in with my work clothes.

I am one of the guys that wipes between each shot.....and I shoot a lot!
So, it can add up to a sizable savings. Which means, that I have more money for things, like new flints ect.


Take care
Abenaki

[mpmarty]

Wash them?? Hell I don't even pick up the ones I drop on the floor. I'm just not interested in saving the world. I even find my drain oil is a great weed killer.

[geargnasher]

I save my second through patches in a jar for doing wipe-outs after a good scrub, it just doesn't make sense to "waste" a clean patch on a bore full of loose, wet sludge. I even used to make my own triangle patches from bought flannel, but the cost of material was only slightly less than buying Shooter's Choice patches in bulk, so I quit doing that. If times really get hard I have several boxes of old clothes to use up. We never throw away or donate old towels or shirts.

Gear