Wanting to try a new patch material........Wish me luck, or stop me

I want to try NOMEX/KEVLAR 9OZ. Twill fabric as a patch material. My logic is this. 1. It wont burn. Fire suits are made from it for firemen and race drivers 2. It wont blow a patch(shouldn't anyway), Kevlar is stronger than steel 3. Its very soft, .022" thick, and accepts my mink oil lube as well as linen 4. I just plain want to know if it will work, and I picked up 4 yards of it for $16.....lol.

Now my one concern..........Abrasion on the barrel-rifling. I've looked and looked and can find nothing about abrasion tests. I guess I'm still on the fence about trying it for this reason, but it has me very curious. Cutting it isn't a problem. I have telecom snips from work that cut it easily, and I cut my patches square anyway.

Talk me outa this guys............:-?

About like using a fibreglass ram rod, I would rather just push sand down the barrel.

all patch material is abrasive, you just don't know how much this will cause until you try it. A few shots won't hurt.

it may work but if you want patches that wont burn and stay together enough to be used over go to a pure linen site on the internet and get medium weight tight weave pure linen cloth and their is none better. ive never done it but they are so intact after shooting them you could relube and use over. its the only patch material i will ever use now that ive tried it.

I don't know if there is any need for something better than good linen (which isn't going to be cheap either), but I can't see why it would be any worse. The thing about glass fiber is that it contained glass, but I can't see why Kevlar, meant to be used as a fabric and preferably a non-itching one, would contain anything but Kevlar.

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Originally Posted by johnson1942

it may work but if you want patches that wont burn and stay together enough to be used over go to a pure linen site on the internet and get medium weight tight weave pure linen cloth and their is none better. ive never done it but they are so intact after shooting them you could relube and use over. its the only patch material i will ever use now that ive tried it.

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I use linen with mink oil now. I love it, its accurate, and have no trouble with patch durability or condition.

I got the material figuring there would be something I could use it for(and I'm sure there will be), not really for any specific purpose. My thoughts, as they usually do, went to muzzleloading. I didn't know if it would be abrasive. I wanted to get some more information, thoughts, and input from those more knowledgeable than me, before stuffing it down the barrel. I love my rifles too much to do anything to harm them.

I'm also thinking of making vests out of it for my Springer Spaniel and Golden Retriever. Or should I say getting my wife to do it for me..........I cant sew. So when we go pheasant hunting they don't get ate up as bad from briars and such.

Do your own abrasion tests. Take the kevlar material and rub it 100 times on a block of steel or aluminum, then repeat with your current patch material and see what happens. I don't think kevlar is abrasive. It's main positive property is that it is tear resistant. But it cuts and wears the same as other durable fabrics. It will catch a bullet because it wont stretch or tear, but hit it with an arrow with a broad head and it's useless because the arrow sails right on through. I ride motorcycles and have read articles testing the wear resistance of kevlar and comparing it to other materials and it really doesn't come out any better. Add to this the cost of the material and you will realize why racers still use good old leathers. Based on this, I say use it and see what happens.

We tested a bunch of fabrics for abrasion and strength several (20) years ago. Kevlar does have a lot more abrasion resistance than fabrics like cotton when woven appropriately. Kevlar thread was also more abrasive than cotton thread on some material.

I had kevlar material in all my motorcycle gear.

Kinda like any other fiber. Depends a lot on how it is woven. Basically Kevlar had much more strength in tension than most other materials. Kevlar also degrades significantly when exposed to UV for long periods.

I'd rather use cotton for patching and save the kevlar for something else.

Nothing with plastic or any derivative in it......polyester, nylon, etc. No. No. No.

Why do it, when pillow ticking has worked so well for so many for so many years?

I like 100% cotton twill. It's tough shoots well, never seen a blown patch and I never have found a smoldering patch on the ground. I sure wouldn't want to start a Tennessee fire when hunting on dry fall leaves.

Just speculating.
Kevlar is 5 times stronger than steel. Stands to reason if anything bad takes place with Kevlar use. This: I think'in a Kevlar patch would be transferring its usual imprinting wear and tear to your barrels rifling. "Just my opinon."

Given some thought >I'm with waksupi with what he wrote. > "Why bother."

I am with the "if it ain't broke,don't try and fix it " boys.
My observation has been that the majority of ML shooters have used cotton drill or pillow ticking. Apart from the teflon treated patches that appeared and then disappeared its been the same for the last forty years.

to me, that's the same as using teflon patching, yuk. as the saying goes, "to each their own" ... :roll: [smilie=1: [smilie=f:

from the time it was discovered somebody's always been tryin' to re-invent the wheel so, I guess you might as well take your shot. let us know how it works for ya.

I'm thinking I'll task it to somehow make vests for my two gun dogs. It will probably do better at protecting them from briars, barb wire and the like than for shooting patches. I know there's no "holy grail" for anything involved with muzzleloaders, and for the record much prefer traditional practices. You'll all have to forgive me. I often go through the "I wonders" and think out loud. I don't feel it could work better than the linen I use now, but I get curious and want to tinker.

Tinkering has brought many innovations. Never stop trying new things.

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Originally Posted by dondiego

Tinkering has brought many innovations. Never stop trying new things.

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Exactly. I'm sure the first person who tried selling the idea of an occasionally flammable propellant stuffed down a tube with a lead ball on top as superior to the long bow was laughed at a bunch too ;) I am happy with my old school patches, but trying something new is almost always worthwhile.

Please post your results when you try this. a friend of mine tried this when nomex first came out as a wildland fire fighting uniform.
He said that he had a hard time getting the melted nomex out of his barrel.

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Originally Posted by Patrolman

Please post your results when you try this. a friend of mine tried this when nomex first came out as a wildland fire fighting uniform.
He said that he had a hard time getting the melted nomex out of his barrel.

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I'll be sure and let you know if I try it.