Seating the ball after trimming patch

[stronics]

I find after seating the ball on a 45 and trimming the patch at the muzzle, the patch around the ball covers most of the ball. The ball is just seated deep enough so I don't cut the ball with the knife. The seater wants to sit on the patch in front of the ball. How do you do it?
Thanks,
David

[DIRT Farmer]

Yep, that is how it works.

[NSP64]

I cheat and use those pretreated circular patches from T/C that already are saturated with bore butter. No trimming necessary.

[grullaguy]

It doesn't matter that the seater is pushing on the patch above the ball. The important part of the patch is wedged between the barrel and the ball... Right where it should be.

At first I worried about how the rod sat on the material in front of the ball. As far as I can tell it has not effect at all.

[waksupi]

Wad it all together, and jam it on down. If you are using a short starter, your load is already probably too tight. Shouldn't need one. The ball should be seated flush with the muzzle, if you are cutting there. I pre-cut, so don't have extra stuff to fool with.
I just use the ramrod to load, and poke around at it, until it goes down. Extra material is no big deal, it leaves the ball, as the ball leaves the muzzle.

[HARRYMPOPE]

I find after seating the ball on a 45 and trimming the patch at the muzzle, the patch around the ball covers most of the ball. The ball is just seated deep enough so I don't cut the ball with the knife. The seater wants to sit on the patch in front of the ball. How do you do it?
Thanks,
David

Sometimes your short starter can get caught between the patch and the barrel and get wedged in if your patch is too big and it wads up over the seater.it has only happened to me in smaller bores with close to bore dimension short starters but it can happen.
And a short starter is needed for many accurate loads.Don't be afraid to use one.In TC shallow groove button rifled barrels a large ball and a thick patch is often needed to get them to shoot their best.

George

[mooman76]

Sometimes your short starter can get caught between the patch and the barrel and get wedged in if your patch is too big and it wads up over the seater.it has only happened to me in smaller bores with close to bore dimension short starters but it can happen.
And a short starter is needed for many accurate loads.Don't be afraid to use one.In TC shallow groove button rifled barrels a large ball and a thick patch is often needed to get them to shoot their best.

George

I only have this problem with my 32s, like you said just the smaller bores. I use precut patches because it's easier in the field.

[Boerrancher]

I know many folks use the pre-cut patches. I just never could get the accuracy out of them that I could by cutting my own on the gun. I will say that there was not a lot of difference, but more than enough to miss a squirrel regularly at 35 yards. I do a great deal of squirrel hunting even with my 50 cal. A very light charge and most of the time I don't even shoot through them, nothing damaged but the ribs or the head, depending on what I have to shoot at. For deer hunting I wouldn't hesitate to use a precut patch, + or - and inch in any direction at 35 yards makes no difference on a deer.

Best wishes,

Joe

[missionary5155]

Greetings
With my caliber .58 Zouave I found the most accurate RB load was with a very tight patch /ball combo thus a short starter was needed to get it ball started down the bore. I tried looser patch / ball combos but none could compare in accuracy with a .575 ball with a .010 linen patch. But I have to also say that .58 (Navy Arms) has very shallow rifling. The tight patch / ball combo gets good enough bite to shoot cloverleafs at 50 yards with 85 grains 2F.
Mike in Peru
Mike in Peru

[Dirty30]

Don't worry about a little extra patch. Pick one up after you shoot, if you can see the grove marks on it it's doing it's job. Try a slightly thinner patching, or a smaller ball and lose the short starter if it's giving you trouble.

[waksupi]

I will agree for bench shooting, you can get a bit tighter group on a target with a tighter load, but for general use, there isn't much difference. Shoot some groups each way and see.

[HARRYMPOPE]

I will agree for bench shooting, you can get a bit tighter group on a target with a tighter load, but for general use, there isn't much difference. Shoot some groups each way and see.

I have to agree the difference is small and not worth it for walkabout field shooting.

George