Then I pinch the cloth in my fingers, while the ball in the barrel holds it nice and tight. Then with a scissors or pocket knife I cut that strip away from the muzzle. I normally cut half way between the actual rifle muzzle and my fingers. Then with the long nose of the short starter I drive that perfect centered patched balldown the barrel. And of course finish it off with the ramrod. It slides down real easy actually.

With the patch material wet/damp like it is, it swabs the bore for me, slides easy, and since I am going to shoot it off right away, there is little harm in it contaminating the powder charge. I actually like the damp patch on the target range. And because of the alcohol it will not freeze up in our Wisconsin winters on the range. I have shot as many as 20 rounds shooting black powder, without having to swab.
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Cayugad,
I made a patch knife out of an old hack saw blade many years ago, it works great. It's flexable and cuts thru the ticking I just ground down the blade put a edge on itand pinned it between 2 slabs of oak. Still use it.