fired patch question

[Dowrat]

These fired patches are from a .54 caliber rifle using a .530 round ball, and 70 to 100 grains of 3fg Goex powder. Patch is about .020 thick and is patching I have had good luck with in other rifles. They load snug all the way down. The patches don't seem to be cut on the lands, but have a hole through them right under where the ball is seated. I've never seen this before. What's going on here?

Thanks for any ideas.

Darryl

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Show me a close up photo of your muzzle...I suggest that your crown is too sharp and abrupt, and your material is getting stretched tight and cutting as the ball is seated into the bore.  So, photo of barrel's muzzle please.

[okawbow]

Try a tighter weave material such as denim from an old pair of jeans. Can’t buy good pillow ticking any more.

[Dowrat]

Taylor- Ha. I knew either you or Daryl would want to see the muzzle. My other rifles are smoothed into the lands real well, but this one needs work. Just started building (re-building) this double rifle. It's a tight load, and may be stretching the patch under the ball?

[RichG]

Looks to me like the patches are tearing when you load them. How old is the patch material? It might not be as tough as it should be.

[smylee grouch]

Sometimes the patch lube will deteriorate the fabric if it has been lubed for some time. Smoothing the crown and maybe a different material and lube will help. Change only one component at a time as you experiment.

[alacran]

Pillow ticking aint what it used to be. A lot of folks at different clubs that I shoot with, are using stuff they find at Walmart. Mostly the patches I find on the ground to service my targets look as bad as yours or worse. The weave isn't very tight and the consistency of the thickness is not very good.
There is better stuff out there.

[Bill in Md]

if your combo is proper you should be able to reuse old patches.....as for 100 grains of 3 in a 54?....A good .20 cotton patch and 70 grains should get the job on any prey animal in North America.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Dowrat, you might get away with a change of patch material, without working your muzzles.  I use 8 oz and 10 oz denim that I purchase by the bolt at a fabric store.  They are .018" and .021" respectively, and hold up to shooting really well.  I precut my patches though that shouldn't make any difference.  Buy a yard of each and give it a try.
If you still have these issues, you will need to polish the muzzles in the manner that Daryl has described so many times here...abrasive cloth or paper pressed into the muzzle with the tip of the thumb and the rifle rotated back and forth.  After a time, turn the rifle 180 degrees and do it again, so that the muzzle receives even wear all around.  You will be polishing the sharp corners off the edges of the rifling as they exit the bore.  Having done so, when you seat a ball on the muzzle, the stretching material will not cut but mold itself into the soft lead.  Your loading will instantly become much easier and your accuracy will improve too.  Many guys here have tried this and have reported a dramatic improvement in everything dealing with loading.

[Dowrat]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I planned on working the muzzle down to the lands (this was originally a cartridge rifle) and I will try the denim for patching. I agree that this patching is probably getting old and has weakened.


Darryl

[recurve]

 should not have cuts in center of your patch you may have to steel wool barrel(Mr Dixon suggested)  the above is after 100 strokes oiled wool on a brass brush

  here is before
also try a thicker patch and a good lube like tallow

[RichG]

most of the Wal-Mart ticking is made in China and the only similarity with the old ticking is the stripes

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

I recently helped a friend sight in his .54 cal flintlock rifle.  He had pre-cut patches advertised at .018" but they were so thin, you could easily see light through them.  They were not the double link weave that mattress or pillow ticking should be...it has to keep feathers from poking through, after all.  It has the stripes, but as you say, there the similarity ends.  It is useless for anything to do with a longrifle.

[Semisane]

Here's a five-shot group I recently shot with my .58 caliber H&A Minuteman, and picked up the patch after each shot. I forgot to lube the patch on the 3rd. shot.




[/img]

[Daryl]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I planned on working the muzzle down to the lands (this was originally a cartridge rifle) and I will try the denim for patching. I agree that this patching is probably getting old and has weakened.
Darryl

My guess, looking at the patches, is the material was weakened, perhaps by being lubed for too long.
 I've had this happen myself and nowadays, I lube only the patches I am going to use for that shooting session, if using a grease or oil.
If using a water based lube for target shooting, if I have patches left over, I leave the tin open so the lubed, precut patches can dry out.

[Daryl]

Semisane, every one of your patches show cutting by the lands. I would smooth up that crown if I were you.