Fliers due to cutting/blown patches.....

[Roger Fisher]

Discovered this weekend that my old shooter (with tons of rounds thru her) gave me shots that I couldn't call and some were out of whack by 5 or 6 inches at 50 yds offhand.  Went to the spacee age patching and she came back in.  I found that a fair number of the first patches used were holed at what lined up with at least one land.  A few were torn all to $#*!. Not burned but torn.  I had not changed a thing - .454 ball .016/.017 spit patching (no seperate wiping) 62 gr 3 f goex.  Last night I used the Q tip trick to find a hook or hooks on lands at the muzzle.  No luck.

Suspected roughness at the breech.  Used v tight patching on steel rod to 'feel' for any such roughness.   Everything both at the muzzle and the breech (and in between) smooth as a babies butt!   Hmmm....So I used the 4/0 wool v tight on the jag and steel rod and worked this combo up and down in breech area 50 plus times and abt the same at the muzzle.  Tests will follow....

What am I missing here?  I was certain that I would find hooks at the muzzle but did not.  In past few months I noticed at least one occasion where I leave a smoking patch and another in which my group at 100 yds s/80 3 f was poor til I went to the space age patching then shot a 48 x at the 100 yds on the 8 ring black bull...   The problem patching is good tight woven twill.  This is kinda like when the ol lady won't function as planned...

[SCLoyalist]

I have a .40 that will totally disintegrate a .020 patch if I'm not careful, although I get burning and tearing, and that's with 40 gr charges and .395RB.  If I put about two .380 cases of Cream of Wheat between powder and ball, the patches come out so pristine I could no doubt use them again, and accuracy comes back.   My best guess is some roughness down in front of the breech - maybe the gun's previous owner let it set for a long time with a charge down there,  and the Cream of wheat moves the patch further up bore away from some roughness in the barrel.

Good luck on troubleshooting yours.  SCL

[Frizzen]

Also check that your patching is not old and rotton.

[Simon]

You might try polishing the crown. I know you said you could not find any "hooks", but if this is a new batch of patching, sometimes the fiber type can change and you can't see it.  Polishing the crown can change the shape of the edge of the land just enough to let you seat the ball without cutting the patch.

Worked for me when I used up all my old patching and had to by a different lot.  I think the new stuff I bought was from China. 

[Lon Baugh]

Push a patched r/ball down barrel and then use CO2 discharger so you can inspect the patch for holes or cuts. Try it first with a clean bore and then after a few shots have been fired.                      LB

[Daryl]

I like Lon's suggestion, Roger - it's a good one.  I have difficulty with integrity using .020" patches in my .40 with a .397" ball using 3f powder, but they're just fine with a .400".  Even a .017" stretchy twill works perfectly with the .400's, but not with the .397's.   The .375" is round at .397"x.397" as well as the .400" being round at .400"X.400".  For the .395" ball, I have to use a .0215", 12 ounce denim.  I've not found a twill that is heavy enough for the smaller ball.  This is with 65gr.3F.  GOEX 2F allows me to use the thinner patches, with good accuracy and no cutting or burnouts.
I think to get a burnout, one needs one of three possible problems. 1/. Loose ball/patch combo. 2/. A cut patch on loading will also result in a burnout.  The third is kinda scary - a crack starting in the interior of the bore.  This may require a hawkeye bore light to see.  Pulling the breech may be all that's necessary.

[Leatherbelly]

 Take that barrel back to Getz and tell him ya shot this one out and you want a new one!

[billd]

That barrel's not even broke in yet. Probably the loader, not the load. 

Bill

[Roger Fisher]

Take that barrel back to Getz and tell him ya shot this one out and you want a new one!

Jeez, think that would fly??

[Daryl]

One nice aspect of being a long-time BP shooter, is new barrels are easy to find accurate loads for- normal perscriptions generally need very little tweeking before the work of load development is over and you can get on to the serious work of shooting X's.