Patches

[lead chucker]

I got some pillow ticking from Walmart, washed it twice and let it air dry. It measures thicker than i figured it would In a 54 cal with a .530 ball its pretty hard to get the ball down, with a .520 ball i can push it into the barrel its hard but dont need a starter. Accuracy is decent but could be better. How tight should it be? With the .520 patches i picked some of the fired ones and they look like they could be used again. Thats with 80 gr 3f. The barrel was a 50 but sent it to Hoyt and he made it into a 54 60 inch twist. I dont like the .530 balls im afraid of breaking my ram rod. My 50 with .490 balls same thing too tight. Tried bed sheet that was .0010 but burnt patches. Any one else get pillow ticking thats this thick.

[lead chucker]

The .520 balls are pleasure to shoot. I can run 20 shots or more with out swabbing. Its easy to load and shoot but think accuracy and velocity could be compromised with it not being real tight. I do have to put in some effort to push the ball all they way down. If i use the .530 balls its hard and kind of takes the fun out of it when you are worried about breaking something. I use a range rod and dont want to break it. I dont have a lot of places where i live to get different thicknes of patch material. I use a mix of lanoline bees wax caster oil and bear fat for lube.

[LAGS]

On the .54 cal pistol I just built in another thread,
I am going to be shooting .535 RB's
I usually use a .015 patch that I coat with Bore Butter.
They do load Snug.
But I no longer have my .530 mold.
I thru that in with a .54 rifle that I sold just to Boot the deal.

[waksupi]

I shoot .526 rb in my .54's. If you need a short starter, they are too danged tight.

[Rockingkj]

At .025 that material is a lot thicker than I have gotten a fabric stores. Ticking I have gotten has been .015 and .017. Several of my rifles like the .017. I precut and wonder lube the patch. I have found if you need to use a thin patch, put a felt wonder wad in then patch n ball. Prevents burn thru on the patch and so gets good accuracy

[LAGS]

I shot that .54 pistol today with the .535 balls and a lubed .015 patch.
They loaded pretty good.
The short starter got the down the barrel great.
Even after 4 previous shots.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Cotton shrinks when you wash and dry it. As it shrinks it probably gets a wee bit thicker.

[LAGS]

Funny thing is ,
For thin patches I just cut up cleaning patches that I have.
Most are only .010 to .015.
I lube them up and let them dry a bit.
Then just use an old chewing tobacco can to keep them in.

[lead chucker]

I shoot .526 rb in my .54's. If you need a short starter, they are too danged tight.

Not sure what to say. Some guys think the ball patch need to be real tight and some people think it should be real snug. I like what im doing with a ball patch that i have but think i might be sacrificing velocity and maybe accuracy with a easier load. Its hard to explain without having a more experienced person seeing how i do it you know what i mean. I love shooing black powder more than center fire stuff and i really like that. When you shoot a black powder rifle it shouldn't be a chore trying to get the ball down and also it shouldnt be too easy. It is what it is and having fun trying to figure out a good compromise. I think im there but would like to do better.

[triggerhappy243]

there is different thicknesses of patch material. I have 3 different sizes. The blue stripe, (the thickest), the tan stripe, and the red stripe( the thinnest).
I started an experiment last year, I melted a tube of bore butter in a tuna can and dip the precut patches in it. Then did a 2nd batch with added bees wax to it for use during the hot summers. I think washing it twice did your patches in.

I got all 3 colors at walmart fabric section.

[2152hq]

I use old Denim from worn out blue jeans.
This for my .50cal F/Lock.

I cut the patches square by eye with a scissors. First by strips, then by the small squares. About 7/8" square.
I use a .490 RB
Lube with 1/2 n 1/2 Bore Butter & Crisco melted together and colled.

Cold lube the patch but rub it in good to soften the patch matr'l. Don't skimp on the lube.

A Short Start is needed but once placed into the bore it is an easy ride to push the ball&patch down onto the powder.
No strain on the ramrod or me at all.

I normally can shoot 25+ shots before feeling some buildup down at the breech end when loading so the bbl gets a wipe out at that point.

I don't care for an extremely tight fit of patch&ball to bore when doing range shooting. It's supposed to be fun not a chore requiring a hammer and worry about breaking a RR
off in the bore.

Accuracy is fine. I only shoot 55gr 3f.
50yrds 5shot grps avg 2+ inches.
Standard plain trigger, no DST

[DaleT]

I have used some really thick ticking (measured about .021) in my smoothbore when I had to get by on some undersized balls. They shot well but it was a little snug going down.

[indian joe]

I got some pillow ticking from Walmart, washed it twice and let it air dry. It measures thicker than i figured it would In a 54 cal with a .530 ball its pretty hard to get the ball down, with a .520 ball i can push it into the barrel its hard but dont need a starter. Accuracy is decent but could be better. How tight should it be? With the .520 patches i picked some of the fired ones and they look like they could be used again. Thats with 80 gr 3f. The barrel was a 50 but sent it to Hoyt and he made it into a 54 60 inch twist. I dont like the .530 balls im afraid of breaking my ram rod. My 50 with .490 balls same thing too tight. Tried bed sheet that was .0010 but burnt patches. Any one else get pillow ticking thats this thick.

Pillow ticking where I shop seems to come in two different thicknesses - you could try a little more lube on them might help - if a small amount of juice squeezes out at the muzzle wont hurt at the range

Drill (what they used to make work pants from) is effective for patches - I reckon its about in the middle of the pillow ticking for thickness but its a tighter tougher weave. (If you use this its got a pattern on one side I always load the pattern side to the ball and the plain side to the bore)

I dont measure at all - spent 25 years working as a wool classer - still have a good feel for this stuff

[Boerrancher]

Not sure what to say. Some guys think the ball patch need to be real tight and some people think it should be real snug. I like what im doing with a ball patch that i have but think i might be sacrificing velocity and maybe accuracy with an easier load. Its hard to explain without having a more experienced person seeing how i do it you know what i mean. I love shooing black powder more than center fire stuff and i really like that. When you shoot a black powder rifle it shouldn't be a chore trying to get the ball down and also it shouldnt be too easy. It is what it is and having fun trying to figure out a good compromise. I think im there but would like to do better.

All of my PRBs are started with my thumb, and go down the tube with no effort at all. My 32 and 36 cal rifles all shoot 3 under a dime and 20 under a quarter without being swabbed. My 50 cal at 50 yds will shoot the first 3 cutting into each other and 10 under a silver dollar before being swabbed. The small guns are running 1200 and 1350 fps and the 50 is averaging 1550 fps, I don’t consider any of that to be a loss of accuracy or velocity. It took a lot of shooting to find the right loads for them but it was worth it. I won’t keep a rifle that I have to shoot a tight load out of to get good accuracy.

[725]

with that .54, have you ever tried to shoot FFg grade in lieu of your FFFg? wonder how the different pressure curve would act on your accuracy, etc,?

[gunther]

Walmart here also has small pieces of material that looks like a bandana, about twice the size. It's cheaper and 100% cotton. And 0.010. Was down this road trying to load a flintlock pistol without breaking the stock.

[JustinP]

I've given up on bulk material and just buy precut patch material for that very reason. I know the thickness is what I want then. I know it's possible, but every time I've tried buying fabric it ends up being shop rags because it doesn't fit the way I want. I'm to lazy to work that hard loading.
I did have some that was a little loose and I shot a few with a nitro card on the powder. My thinking was I was getting a better gas seal. But I never tested enough to know if my theory was valid.