Rb and patch question

I have a Renegade that I enjoy shooting but I neglect it because I have an issue with the ball/patch relationship. I am using a
.490 ball and want to use a .015 patch or so which gives me the best accuracy but it is a total pain to get started and stuffed home. And after one or two shots it's nearly impossible. I mic'd a few balls and both my hornady swaged balls and my cast balls measure a few thou over .490 more like .493-.494 is this common? I can somewhat deal with the swaged balls as they are softer than my cast balls but they still kill my palms after a few shots. A thinner patch results in worse accuracy and torn patches. What am I doing wrong?

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Torn patches are usually sharp edges in the rifling. Is this a new gun barrel?
True, and my experiences are that a tighter ball fit yields more accuracy, but how do you get there?
Is yours a very deep rifling, or a relatively shallow rifling. The deeper the rifling grooves, the thicker the patch.
Pillow ticking runs about .015". Muslin about .010". you may have to adjust ball dia. along with patch thickness.
I have .45cal Douglas barrels .451 bore, deep grooves, and I shoot from the bench with .451 ball + pillow ticking.
For easier loading out in the field such as hunting, I use .445 balls.
And, you say after a couple shots it is hard to load, are you cleaning between each shot?
Shooting consecutive shots from a firing line, I clean every shot with spit patch, and seat ball with spit patch.
Hunting out in the field I use grease patch, and that is usually a 1 shot trip.

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Originally Posted by kens

Torn patches are usually sharp edges in the rifling. Is this a new gun barrel?
True, and my experiences are that a tighter ball fit yields more accuracy, but how do you get there?
Is yours a very deep rifling, or a relatively shallow rifling. The deeper the rifling grooves, the thicker the patch.
Pillow ticking runs about .015". Muslin about .010". you may have to adjust ball dia. along with patch thickness.
I have .45cal Douglas barrels .451 bore, deep grooves, and I shoot from the bench with .451 ball + pillow ticking.
For easier loading out in the field such as hunting, I use .445 balls.
And, you say after a couple shots it is hard to load, are you cleaning between each shot?
Shooting consecutive shots from a firing line, I clean every shot with spit patch, and seat ball with spit patch.
Hunting out in the field I use grease patch, and that is usually a 1 shot trip.

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I always swab between every shot. I went out shooting this morning and had a revilation, started using spit patches and it made everything sooo much smoother it was great. I had been previously using BB for patch lube and cleaning between shots, so time consuming and messy. I was happy with my cast balls and .013 denim guess I'll keep using the BB for hunting how long will a spit patch keep in the bore for small game hunting?

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Get rid of the BB, and go to moose milk. If concerned about leaving it loaded for a long period, soak the patches in moose milk, then let dry. BB causes terrible fouling in most conditions, and is totally unworkable in cold weather shooting.

Also, many folks use a wood mallet for loading tight balls. Really saves the palm.

what waksupi posted.

it makes sense to work up a good load. that means "pure void free lead" ball diameter, patch material and thickness, patch lube, powder brand and granularity and volume. i'll add in uniform powder compression (how well the patched ball sits on the powder charge), which for me is where bouncing the rod comes in. i'd add blowin' down the tube but then the muzzleloader police would lock me up. i never need to do between shot fouling control and i thumb seat patched balls with no need for a "short starter". messing with fouling and starters and hammers and range rods just ain't my idea of how a traditional muzzleloader should operate. assemble some different components, take the time to do some load testing, allow the gun to tell you what it likes (not what you want it to like), and do enjoy the results. the onus on how a gun should operate best for you is on *you*, not anyone else.

[QUOTE=aarolar;4177147]I have a Renegade that I enjoy shooting but I neglect it because I have an issue with the ball/patch relationship. I am using a
.490 ball and want to use a .015 patch or so which gives me the best accuracy but it is a total pain to get started and stuffed home. And after one or two shots it's nearly impossible. I mic'd a few balls and both my hornady swaged balls and my cast balls measure a few thou over .490 more like .493-.494 is this common?

is your alloy pure lead? I have a 50 renegade and mine do not load that hard.

[QUOTE=triggerhappy243;4178128]

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aarolar

I have a Renegade that I enjoy shooting but I neglect it because I have an issue with the ball/patch relationship. I am using a
.490 ball and want to use a .015 patch or so which gives me the best accuracy but it is a total pain to get started and stuffed home. And after one or two shots it's nearly impossible. I mic'd a few balls and both my hornady swaged balls and my cast balls measure a few thou over .490 more like .493-.494 is this common?

is your alloy pure lead? I have a 50 renegade and mine do not load that hard.

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Yes this is with my cast balls and hornady swaged balls.

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wow, my 50 is tight but not that tight..... and I use bore butter as a patch lube too. I also swab between every shot.