Do patches make that big of a difference?

cayugad · 04-06-2011, 10:25 AM

I was going through my wall of stuff looking at what I have in stock for the new rifle that will be coming in. The new rifle is a Lyman Great Plains .50 caliber Flintlock HUNTER with the 1-32 twist. While looking at the supply of conical bullets I came across a brand new unopened pack of 100% cotton .54 caliber patches that were not lubed.

I have often read of other people using patch material other then pillow tick. And also shooting pre cut patches. I got to wondering... could my pillow tick patch make that much of a difference? Or was I just being lazy and not wanting to keep pre cut patches around?

So I checked the wall and selected a Lyman Trade Rifle Flintlock in .50 caliber. It has a 1-48 twist. The card on it says 85 grains of 2f black powder and patched ball. So I decided this would be a good test rifle. Also noted on the card is... 50 yards sighted in.

The weather was over cast, cloudy, no wind really to speak of. The snow had gone soft, so walking in it was a real PITA on my knees. But I got out to 50 yards according to the range finder.

I decided to shoot the cotton patches first, to give them the clean rifle barrel.

I used a true 6 o'clock hold with the primitive buckhorn sights on the rifle. Shooting 85 grains of Graf's & Sons black powder and my home cast .490 roundballs. Moose milk was spritzed on the patches and then they were allowed to sit to somewhat dry.

Shot #1 I forgave the patches. It was a clean barrel. I had put a new flint in the jaws. And ignition was instant with that Lyman lock. The other five shots were not all that bad in my opinion.

I then did a spit swab of the bore, and let it dry. I wiped out the frizzen, the pan and the nose of the new flint. When all was dry, I switched over to the pillow tick and moose milk, with the same powder charge and ball.

Since I did not want to shoot at the red circle more, I picked out the small green box on the side of the target (I am sure some of you know this target I use.) and proceeded to shoot at that. Again.. a true 6 o'clock hold was used.

To say I was not pleased with that five shot group would be a lie. It was more then I could have hoped for. Then I started to really wonder... was that pillow tick that much better of a patch? Did I get lucky? What was the difference?

So I swabbed the bore again. Spritzed some more of the cotton pre cut patches and picked out the turkey image on the target.

I was not pleased with that at all. Also I was about out of ball. So I figured to stop for the day and then save some for the new rifle. And would have to plan a day of casting again.

When I cleaned the rifle I again was amazed at black powder. All too often I hear people complain that black powder is messy, hard to clean, stinks, etc...

I removed the barrel from the stock. Made up a hot water bath with some Murphy's Oil Soap. And started cleaning the rifle barrel.

This is what it took to clean my rifle barrel. After it was dry I treated it with Montana Xtreme bore conditioner, wiped it all down, and it was done. I like black powder to shoot.

Muley Hunter · 04-06-2011, 11:59 AM

I've never found anything magical about pillow ticking. It's just a tight weave cotton that's bee available for a long time, and has gotten popular.

I think I know what might have happened in your case. The precut patches you used come .010-.015-.020. I've never seen them any other way. Most pillow ticking is .018. I'm guessing your white patches were .015 and the looser fit didn't agree with your gun.

Measure both patches, and see what you come up with?

cayugad · 04-06-2011, 02:01 PM

I am sure your right. And that was kind of the point I was trying to make. Someone new to this sport might purchase pre cut patches and ball. They take Their rifle out and shoot. And the groups while OK are not impressive. So they think.. maybe this rifle don't shoot well with patch and ball. When in reality, all they need do is change something in the mix. Be that a different thickness of patch. A different texture of patch. A different lube, or even a different powder. All these traditional rifles have a sweet load. I knew the load for this rifle and proved it to myself. But then, pre cut patches are out there. Are they the right patch for you?

Muley Hunter · 04-06-2011, 02:27 PM

Yeah, every gun has a sweet spot. It's funny how a little difference will bring it together.

It even works on inlines. When I tried the 300gr Thor with 110 gr of BH it put a huge smile on my face. I won't bother to use anything else now.

I wish my gun had liked a cheaper combo, but oh well.

bronko22000 · 04-06-2011, 02:38 PM

Dave you never did say what thickness the precut patches were. But no nevermind, looks like the pillow ticking may be your best bet anyway. BTW, I've always found BP to be and easy cleanup also.
Love that group with the pillow ticking.

cayugad · 04-06-2011, 02:45 PM

The pre cut are .015 and the pillow tick I got .017 and .018 when I measured them. I have some blue jean material I want to try also. I measured .020 so that might be interesting to try.

Muley Hunter · 04-06-2011, 02:49 PM

Try it. Usually, the tighter the better. If you can get it loaded.

mountaineer magic · 04-06-2011, 03:58 PM

I have found that the thickness when compressed makes a big difference. I have had some material that was .020 but compressed all the way down to .015. The tighter the weave ( like pillow ticking) the less it usually compresses. try mic-ing some different material sometime and you will see what i mean. I tok a mic to walmart once to find material. You should have seen the lady in the fabric dept watching me with a weird look on her face.

50calty · 04-06-2011, 05:32 PM

Well I'm not going to lie about this. I have new pillow tick that I havn't even used. I've just been buying the pre cut patches that are lubed. I know that alot of you guys use .18 so I bought .20 and its worked out pretty well for my .54. Now I don't know how thats going to work in my .50 and .54 flint. We will just have to wait and see.

Semisane · 04-06-2011, 05:42 PM

That's a very good example of the patch variable Cayugad.

But why the heck is it that most of my ball guns like the .018 pillow tick? There's just something special about that stuff. I've tried .013 linen, .016 very tight weave cotton (an old table cloth), .018 pillow tick, .020 denim and .022 denim in most of my guns, and the pillow tick almost always comes out on top, usually followed by the table cloth.