Linen Frabric...

[flinchrocket]

I would consider the weave is to loose and burning through some.

[Daryl]

Yes - strange. The uneven powder burning also shows some scorching out the grooves.
The weave is definitely too loose on the material, even though it seems to measure thick enough.
The light coloured material in the holes has me kinda baffled, though.  If happening during loading,
I would have expected it to be crispy-burnt from the flame front.
Different material needed, imho.
Beautiful - FUNCTIONAL rifle. what a perfect style for a hunting rifle. Yes, I am biased.

[Herb]

This in a very close copy of Jim Bridger's Hawken I built.  I like linen.  Don't remember where I got this.  I found only two good patches of this group, hard to find them on the ground I shoot over.  That flyer may have been a torn patch, or maybe it was how I saw the sights.  That rifle is shown in my post above,  ".54 Bridger Hawken with a  1-48" twist barrel".




It takes a really good patch to stand up to loads like this.

[stretchman]

Went back to the Booth Draper web page and saw that they were selling 12oz hemp ticken.  Hemp is an extremely durable material, so I ordered a 1/4 of a yard for testing.  When it arrived I measured it with a set of calipers and as best I can tell its right around .025” thick.  When I have a chance to get to the range, I will post the results.

[BillF/TRF]

Happened to find some light weight denim at Walmart (clerk didn't know the weight).  So I bought 1/4 yard, brought it home and it measured, with squeezed caliper jaws at 0.0225 ".  For a whole $2 what's not to like--except now I have to cut all those little 1 1/8" circles out!

[Daryl]

Bill - sounds just like 10oz, denim, my favourite.
You  can rip denim  into strips at about 1 3/8" wide, pull off the 'strings' of thread then the strip will end
up being about the right width, then cut the strips into squares with scissors.
Square works just the same as round.  If you push one into the muzzle from a strip of cloth, then pull it out, it will be square with rounded corners.