Patched round ball for pleasant shooting?

[Naphtali]

I've been corresponding with Tom at Accurate Molds. He's going to try to shoehorn a substantially lighter conical for me. In the meantime I've borrowed a Lyman .715-inch round ball mold to try out, keeping in mind that I have shot only pan lubed conicals in my muzzleloading rifles.

I've talked myself out of trying TeflonŽ coated patch cloth. What patch cloth is worthwhile to try? Rifles' bore diameter is .731 inch. I reread Roberts' The Muzzleloading Caplock Rifle on my back porch over the weekend. I think I read him recommending that a patch shaped as a cross or two retangular pieces, again, shaped as a cross. I think the purpose is to center patch and round ball more uniformly than a round patch.

For lubricant I have a couple of brands of commercial patch lube to try. I'm also going to try to try using SPG, although I suspect using it as patch lube will be challenging. I would also be interested in trying a dry lube. I hope someone has experience to pass on to me on dry lube of any type. Would dry lube used on cast bullets be worth trying?

So I request not only your experience regarding dry lubricants as patch lube but also what dry lube(s) to try. And where to obtain patch material, including what type of material, would be great help.

Results wanted is to expand my rifles to be less punishing than with the 775-grain conicals I have been shooting.

[smylee grouch]

A pure lead 715 in a 731 bore I would try a washed denim around 20/1000 +. I use Bear oil and I'm sure someone will chime in on a good dry type of lube.

[Dphariss]

First off cloth patches are not the same as paper patches.
The cross paper patch (4 and even 6 strip) was used with false muzzles made for the cross patch and a guide starter and a bullet often 3 calibers long. The patches were made with a cutter than was specifically designed for the bullet. The barrel, bullet moulds (often 2 peice bullets), the swage, patch cutter, false muzzle and guide starter were a set all made to work with the other parts. Round balls in rifles use a cloth patch, usually round but any shape will work or cut at the muzzle.
If you have a .715 ball you need a heavy patch for a rifle with your bore size. I would try cotton patching like a 10 or 12 oz Denim from a fabric or craft store but some of the fabric today is very poor quality coming all to often from communist China. So buy 1/2 a yard of 2-3 different ones to test. Some fail when the ball is seated and goes unnoticed until accuracy fails or recovered patches show tears.  Use PURE Neatsfoot Oil from the hardware or farm store or Mink oil or some such lube from a ML supplier as patch lube. I would recommend fabric-store.com and IL091 linen canvas but they are sold out right now but the stock number IL090 may work as well and linen is much tougher than cotton. Wash, dry and if needed iron any patch material before use..
In a rifle of this bore size (or any for that matter) a conical is a complete waste of lead in my opinion. A ball this large will kill any creature on the planet at 1400-1600 fps if the proper alloy is used for the game hunted. Back in the day nobody used a conical in heavy game rifles, assuming the survived after trying them if they did. For large game like Elephant and Rhino they used hardened lead balls. Conicals (they were called "expansive bullets" back in the day) could only be soft lead and would fail to penetrate properly even when as large as 4 bore. Soft lead balls would fail as well Turner Kirkland found this out in Africa in the 1960s. But for any purpose in the Americas pure lead is fine.

[Daryl]

I would add to Dan's last sentence, "in a bore that size".
I would restrict my choices in patch material to 12 ounce or 14 ounce denim for a .715"(545gr. in pure lead).  There are some canvases in those weights as well.
These "weights" should run from .025" to .034" in thickness.
Dry patches do not allow successive loading/shots & the barrel must be wiped before it can be shot again.
My buddy has a rifle made by Taylor, that is a .75 cal. For plinking, he uses 100gr. 2F, a 12 ounce denim patch and .735" ball that weighs 600gr. It's a nice shooting rifle.
In hunting camp, 3 of us, myself and 2 English Chaps made a 2 3/4", 5 shot offhand group at a measured 50yards with that rifle.(I/we, were a lot younger) One of the chaps
fired only one shot, while the other and I, 2 shots each. There were the 2 Daves, from the UK, both getting moose with modern rifles. (2005 or 6, I think)
Keith uses 125gr. now for hunting, with that rifle, with a WW alloy ball.(12brinel) At 150gr. and over, the balls exited, no matter the angle shot.
It, like my .69, staggers moose. His staggers them a wee-bit harder with the heavy loads.

[Daryl]

 Naphtali - what is the rate of twist?