Pre Lubing Patches?

[Marcruger]

Rifleman1776,

I have to respectfully disagree with your statement, "patches do not need to be lube soaked through, only need lube on side that contacts bore. Soaking with lube wastes lube and you benefit nothing."

I switched from "dampened on the side contacting the bore" to thoroughly saturated recently, and my barrel woke up.  It went from moderate accuracy to grouping really well at 50 yards.  The only change was saturating the patch.  I believe that the extra lube was doing a better job of shoving the fouling down onto the powder charge, and softening the remaining fouling.  This is for range shooting of course, as I would not wet-lube in the field. 

A comment about wasting lube seems a little unusual considering the price of guns, powder and balls.  Lube is mighty inexpensive compared to a longrifle. 

The photo below was shot recently at 50 yards when I switched to fully saturated patches.  The shot out of the group was the first shot out of the clean barrel, but it could have been me or the light as the cause.   My eyes are not that great as I get older. 

Just my 2 cents worth.   Best wishes,   Marc

[Bob McBride]

Virtually all of my guns shoot better with fully permeated patching and like others have noted, I have little trouble with hard fouling.

[Candle Snuffer]

One thing I have found over the years... I usually carry an eight hole ball board with my patches pre-lubed in it... If I'm target shooting I will put spit on that patch before loading that patched ball combination out of the board...

If I'm hunting - no spit obviously...

I shoot way more lubed patches with spit added - then I do just a straight lubed patch with no spit... This has worked well for me, and I doubt I'll ever stray from this technique since I've been doing it for so long... It's just an embedded habit at this point, and I don't really find any difference in accuracy with target shooting and hunting.

Whatever works for a person - they should stick with it. 

[Daryl]

Snuffer, what lube are your board's patches lubricated with?

[coupe]

I got achance to hit the range yesterday and used patches lubed last summer with lamb tallow and they did fine against 85grs. 3f goex. My biggest takeaway was the change in loading with the tallow over pure mink oil, the .018 pillow tic and .535 ball would require a two hand stuff in 6" pushes but the tallow could be planted with one hand. Even a patch change from ticking to pocket drill had no affeact on the accuracy which did occur with mink oil. When working with new components I do swab each shot, just to even the playing field. But man what a difference, I think I'll stick with the tallow.

[Rifleman1776]

Rifleman1776,

I have to respectfully disagree with your statement, "patches do not need to be lube soaked through, only need lube on side that contacts bore. Soaking with lube wastes lube and you benefit nothing."

I switched from "dampened on the side contacting the bore" to thoroughly saturated recently, and my barrel woke up.  It went from moderate accuracy to grouping really well at 50 yards.  The only change was saturating the patch.  I believe that the extra lube was doing a better job of shoving the fouling down onto the powder charge, and softening the remaining fouling.  This is for range shooting of course, as I would not wet-lube in the field. 

A comment about wasting lube seems a little unusual considering the price of guns, powder and balls.  Lube is mighty inexpensive compared to a longrifle. 

The photo below was shot recently at 50 yards when I switched to fully saturated patches.  The shot out of the group was the first shot out of the clean barrel, but it could have been me or the light as the cause.   My eyes are not that great as I get older. 

Just my 2 cents worth.   Best wishes,   Marc

Whatever works for you. Do yer own thang and enjoy.

[Daryl]

Rifleman1776,

I have to respectfully disagree with your statement, "patches do not need to be lube soaked through, only need lube on side that contacts bore. Soaking with lube wastes lube and you benefit nothing."

I switched from "dampened on the side contacting the bore" to thoroughly saturated recently, and my barrel woke up.  It went from moderate accuracy to grouping really well at 50 yards.  The only change was saturating the patch.  I believe that the extra lube was doing a better job of shoving the fouling down onto the powder charge, and softening the remaining fouling.  This is for range shooting of course, as I would not wet-lube in the field. 

A comment about wasting lube seems a little unusual considering the price of guns, powder and balls.  Lube is mighty inexpensive compared to a longrifle. 

The photo below was shot recently at 50 yards when I switched to fully saturated patches.  The shot out of the group was the first shot out of the clean barrel, but it could have been me or the light as the cause.   My eyes are not that great as I get older. 

Just my 2 cents worth.   Best wishes,   Marc

Whatever works for you. Do yer own thang and enjoy.

I agree, you should use what works for you.   Like Marc, I show what works for me, for those who are having problems or trouble.
Obviously his change to soaking of the patches, worked for him & others as well.
This shows there are very few "absolutes" in this 'game' & making absolute statements can be misleading to people seeking answers
to their questions.
 

[utseabee]

    I switched to using saturated patches that are pre lubed and the results are better for me. No two rifles are the same and what works for one may not work for another. The real fun is the time you spend on the range figuring what your rifle likes best. 

[Daryl]

I have thought about this considerably and I feel there are multiple 'combinations' of powder (F-rating and amount), patch(thickness and material) and ball (diameter and hardness) that will give good and perhaps equal accuracy. You can add to those components, wiping and method of wiping. 1 or more wet, damp or dry patches, followed by 1 or more dry patches - or not wiping at all.
I feel there are no absolutes in this game & one could almost work on an accuracy load almost or literally, indefinitely. A constant "work in progress".

[hanshi]

I'm another shooter/hunter that likes well lubed patches regardless of whether it's liquid or grease.  Main advantage is that they load easier.  And accuracy is as good as I can shoot.