Real Pillow Ticking

[heelerau]

 Gents, know this is an old thread, but you can get pure cotton ticking from this mob, ETSY.au

Cheers

Gordon

Just got a yard of old time ticking from my mother, she will wash it and send it west. This is decades old so should be down proof.

[hanshi]

I use to get blue striped "pillow ticking" which measured .015" - .0.17" squeezed with calipers.  I later found blue striped and brown striped "mattress ticking" which measured .024".  That's what I buy now and it works in all my guns except for one which needs the .015".

[Hungry Horse]

 If you find it hard to get pillow ticking, try cotton pocket drill. It is woven like denim but is lighter in weight, and thickness. It is tougher than a burnt boot, and resists burn through very well.

  Hungry Horse

[Daryl]

Around here, the pillow ticking I've seen available is too thin to be used as a patch for a round ball that is a whole .005" smaller than the bore, ie: .495 in a .500 bore. I've never seen any locally I could get over .016" compressed, thus about useless, even for cleaning.

I like .0225" compressed, which I measured and found labeled as 10 ounce denim. The railroad mattress ticking we had here at .0235" compressed was wonderful in all my rifles except for the 14 bore - it likes 12 ounce- go figure.  For me it measures .025" with my Mitutoyou mic and .030" with calipers - both compressed.

[Roger B]

One of the problems that we have with ticking these days is that the weave isn't "down proof".  Back in the day most pillows were made with goose down which easily migrates through looser weaved material, so the ticking had to be tightly woven.  Now pillows are all made of foam so the ticking doesn't have to be that tight and the manufacturer's quality isn't what it used to be.  We used to use a flowered and striped pink pattern ticking back in the 70's that was probably around 0.018 but wouldn't blow out with nearly any powder charge.  The stuff you get today in that pattern, if you can find it in 100% cotton, blows out very easily.  I get mine from vintage fabric shops on ebay where you can find the old time ticking.
Roger B.

[hanshi]

Roger, good idea and something I may look in to.  The mattress ticking I buy does "tighten up" when washed.