Lessons in Pillow Ticking and Muslin

[DCP]

Lessons in Pillow Ticking and Muslin

With all the gas and time it might be cheaper to just buy the pre cut

This is truly an adventure

I bought some Pillow Ticking and Muslin

.010 muslin at fabric store 100% cotton permanent press
Tightest weave of the 2 muslin
Wife washes it in cold water and dries it in the dryer

Now .015

.016 muslin at fabric store 100% cotton permanent press
Wife washes it in cold water and dries it in the dryer
Not as tight as the 010(.015)

Now .018

.016 Pillow ticking at fabric store 100% cotton
Wife washes it in cold water a dries it in the dryer

Now .020

So here is what I learned[smilie=b:

[grullaguy]

I find many fabrics gain loft as they are laundered. When compressed tightly as they would when wrapped around a round ball in the bore, they come out about the same thickness. As long as you get a good gas seal and the material holds lube well, don't sweat the caliper readings too much.
This isn't rocket science.

[405]

I find many fabrics gain loft as they are laundered. When compressed tightly as they would when wrapped around a round ball in the bore, they come out about the same thickness. As long as you get a good gas seal and the material holds lube well, don't sweat the caliper readings too much.
This isn't rocket science.
ditto!

[DCP]

"This isn't rocket science"

Well to a Machinist .003 to .005 is a country mile

I am new to Holy Black and dont want to make a mistake or hurt myself or a bystander.

So are you telling me that if I have been using a .015 patch store patch.(That works good) I can use the.016 now .020 pillow ticking and it wont get stuck trying to load it and the .010 now .015 muslin will be to small.

Thanks for the reply

[Mooseman]

My rule of thumb ...
I take a greased patch on the muzzle and press a ball into it and if it starts into the bore with medium to hard thumb pressure then it will ram home with the ramrod and be just fine.
If the ball will not start to enter, the patch is too thick, if the ball pushes very easy into the bore, then it is too thin, but will still shoot.
Takes some trial and error testing.
Rich

[mainiac]

i gave up on pillow ticking along while ago.Its gotton to thin,and to loose the last few years.
I now use pocket drill from joannes fabric,,its tough,and consistant in thickness.

It will measure .018,,and loads pretty hard,,which is what i want for accuracy.Probaly to hard for hunting purposes.

If your patch thickness is off,its not gonna be a danger situation.Only problem youll have is that with to thin a patch,the patch will blow,,turn ragged and burn up.Not dangerous,but not conductive to good accuracy,either.

[grullaguy]

"This isn't rocket science"

Well to a Machinist .003 to .005 is a country mile

I am new to Holy Black and dont want to make a mistake or hurt myself or a bystander.

So are you telling me that if I have been using a .015 patch store patch.(That works good) I can use the.016 now .020 pillow ticking and it wont get stuck trying to load it and the .010 now .015 muslin will be to small.

Thanks for the reply

A while back I got some brushed cotton drill that I cut up for patches. It had a lot of loft to it. When I brought the caliper jaws down on it, I first felt resistance at .028" but with some force, could mash the jaws shut to .0165". I called the patches .018" and used them up.
I was sorry to see the last of them as they shot great and carried a TON of lube.

On a related subject...

Others may disagree with me on this, but here goes.

I use grease type lubes and depending on the patch - lube combination (normally tight patches with inadequate lube), fouling has occasionally been a problem after several shots.
Twice now, I have had balls stick part way down the barrel. Rather than fiddle fart around with trying to get back the ball back out of the muzzle, I used a fair amount of force and smacking with the ramrod to get past the sticky point. I then seated the ball on the powder and shot it out without incident and comparative accuracy.

Just my experiences.

[mooman76]

"This isn't rocket science"

Well to a Machinist .003 to .005 is a country mile

I am new to Holy Black and dont want to make a mistake or hurt myself or a bystander.

So are you telling me that if I have been using a .015 patch store patch.(That works good) I can use the.016 now .020 pillow ticking and it wont get stuck trying to load it and the .010 now .015 muslin will be to small.

Thanks for the reply

I agree with the others and think you may be over thinking things. If the patch is a couple thous too loose, it will still shoot. The accuracy may drop off a hair and for most it may not even be noticeable. A little too tight and you just have a little harder time getting it down the barrel. I don't even buy patch material. I just get old clothes out of my closet and shread the material. Old dress cotton shirts work good. I'm not shooting from a bench and don't need bench accuracy but it still shoots well.

[Boerrancher]

Don't sweat the patch thickness too much, it is not a super big deal. You have a nice selection of material ready to go, so smear some lube on them and go to the range. Find one that loads easily and shoots relatively well. Once you get the hang of things then you can worry about a few thousandths of an inch in patch thickness. I can promise you this, your loading practices, i.e. powder wt consistency, seating pressure, ball wt consistency, and ball roundness, will have more of an effect on your accuracy then the thickness of the patch. The name of the game is the same... every time the exact same.

Best wishes,

Joe

[shdwlkr]

patching material I have used old jeans that are just not fit to wear anymore.
As Joe said it is more important to pay attention to other things than the patching material. I have used thin patching material that I used two thicknesses of just to see what it would do worked fine. I have tried some thick patching material and it worked fine.
My rule is if it gives me a snug fit then it is fine and I will use it if it is loose then I figure out how to make it thicker and give me a more snug fit.

It would be far more dangerous to double charge your rifle than to have patching that doesn't meet a certain thickness.

I watched a guy double load his rifle once and we all told him he had done it and he said he understood and put it in a truck tire and a long string and fired it and yes it did go up in pieces. He was going through a divorce and his ex had claimed half of his firearms and he just wanted to make sure what she got was tested for safety before handing them over to her. Just wonder what she said when she got all of those tested firearms.