Well, I had wanted to get a Lyman Great Plains Hunter. Unfortuantely She Who Controls the Money had an absolute fit over the price(I never knew she could turn purple like that, is it possible to choke when you're not eating?). Anyhow, my local gunshop had a T/C New Englander at a good price($175, brand new) and She Who Cannot Be Named waso.k. with it. I bought some Hornady .490 round ball with it, but no one seems to have patches around here. I've read any number of you talk about cutting and lubing your own out of pillow ticking and figured I would try. Is there a particular measurement you use? I read the Lube and Cleaner thread below and may try one, but frontier.gander's Crisco intrigued me. Does it really work well as a patch lube? It is starting to thaw a little here and I would love to go shoot this week if I can.

Go to Wal Mart or any fabric store and ask for 100% cotton pillow tick, blue or red stripe. They will know what you mean. It will mic out at about .015-.018. A couple yard for those that do not shoot a lot will last a long time. There is no difference between the two color stripes I was told. I just bought three more yards as there was a scare that the local Wal Mart was closing their fabric department. Thank goodness they are not going to as of YET. Wal Mart in my area is closing down their gun department and that means no more black powder supplies there... [&o]

Anyway, wash the cotton pillow tick in the washing machine. Then line dry it. Or if you're in a real hurry, the stuff tears into strips real easy. Tear off two or more 2" wide strips length ways from the bolt. Take that to the sink and in some dish water, slosh that around to remove the sizing. Then rinse it under some cold water and wring out as much of the water you can with your hands. You can now use that. Just apply your lube to the damp strip, lay that over the muzzle, set your ball center of the muzzle and with the short nose of the starter, drive that under the muzzle edge. Take a scissors and cut that off and you now have a perfect centered patch. Then just load as normal...

You have a great rifle. Start out with 70 grains of Pyrodex RS and a patched roundball and work from there. You should have a lot of fun. Good luck. And be sure and give a big wet one to She Who Don't Know What Fun Is .. for letting you have the rifle..

**** The only thing I don't like about Crisco is in hot weather or if you shoot a lot and the barrel gets hot, it starts to break down and can be a mess. Other wise the stuff works really good.