OK another question on ticking

[bronko22000]

Ok, now that you guys have taken me down the "dark side" and have me shooting a .54 with PRBs rather than my lesser calibers and conicals or saboted bullets I have some questions.
1. Do you cut your strips of pillow ticking or just rip them at the proper width? (I found that the perfect width for .54 is 1/2 way between the white with 3 stripes in between)
2. Do you lube each strip or do you lube a section first then strip?

[lemoyne]

I bought a 1.25 forged circle patch cutter. i just fold the ticking 6 times and hit the cutter with a hammer I found it best to use a piece of oak wit the grain end way to the gutter for a back stop. I knock out about 300 patches and they last me a year or so.

[Landngroove]

I buy red, or blue stripe pillow ticking at Wal-Mart. For my .54's I cut approx 1, 1/2" square patches. I use the stripes on the material as a guide, and cut long strips. Then, I cut the individual patches from the strips. A sharp pair of scissors makes this an easy task. I store the patches in plastic bags, and lube each patch as I use them.

[Semisane]

I cut mine with scissors, and cut them into squares. At the range I lube up as many squares as I plan to shoot. (Then I usually have to lube up another dozen because I always seem to shoot more than I'd planned.)

[bronko22000]

lemoyne - where did you get that patch cutter? That sounds like a neat idea.
I would snip the edge of the material about an inch then rip the strips off the sheet. Then I lubed the entire strip with heated bore butter, laya dry strip on top, another lubed strip, dry, etc and rolled about 5 - 7 of these alternating lubed, dry strips up into a tight roll and give it a good squeeze to remove excess lube and to coat the dry strips.
During loading I would lay an end of a strip on the muzzle, start a ball with the short starter then lift the strip up and cut it off with my pocket knife. My strips are about 18" long so it lasted about 10 shots before I had to get another one out.
Sounds like a good subject for a Youtube video. Maybe when I get back home I'll do that.

[nchawkeye]

I just rip them in strips about 2 feet long...I then take a putty knife and smear lube on both sides, roll up and microwave about 15 seconds...This helps the lube penetrate through the cotton fibers...

I then roll up a strip and put in my patch box and load up my loading block, cutting patches as I load...This way I can cut at the muzzle or just use the pre patched balls in the block...

[cayugad]

I purchase the material by the square yard. Wash it in the washing machine and line dry it. I count off four stripes and it will tear in a nice straight line. You can pre lube it, but really as soon as you lube your cloth you have started it to rot. So for dry patches I lube a strip of it. Then let it dry. That is a dry patch. On the range I spritz a section at a time and just load it.



you can see the moose milk on the patch.




lay the strip over the muzzle and place the ball in the muzzle. Notice it will be a centered patch exactly the fit you like.




Set the ball just under the muzzle of the rifle barrel.




pinch the cloth around the ball and cut between the fingers and the muzzle of the rifle with a patch knife or scissors, and then finish setting the ball down the barrel.

[lemoyne]

http://www.possibleshop.com/s-s-patch.html
I bought a set of them 35 years ago at Friendship IN at a booth there for 5 dollars a piece.
I looked around and the 3 on on the left is like I use for my 54.
The pictures are at the bottom of the page so you have to scroll down. I am sure if you can find a better price these were just handy pictures to show you what to look for.

[arcticap]

Go about half way down this page and you'll see individual arch punches for sale by a Maine manufacturer of leather tools. These come in metric and English sizes.

http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/tools/tools.html