I bought some .015 patches the other day as i wanted to try out the thinner patch in the CVA Hawken. This rifle has been a real pain in the butt on these thinner patches. I would lube them with bore butter, crisco, elk tallow and nothing would work. Shredded patches up the rear end and ok accuracy.

Some time ago you may remember me using the Birchwood Casey Barricade rust protector spray on some .018 pillow tick and the patches came out looking like new. Well i did the same today with the .015 patches, shot 3 shots with 80gr JSG 3F and came out with a 3" group @ 50 yards. Pretty normal with JSG in this rifle. I collected 2 out of 3 patches and then went and reloaded with 80gr APP 3F and did it again. 1" group @ 50 yards with my first 2 shots touching. I'll blame that due to it getting dark out

APP patches on the left, JSG on the Right.

Powder side,


Ball side,


Santa Fe Trail rendezvous is the june 13th so i may just head out there for a day of fun and see how it does. I modded another new nipple for it today and tried a new style of dish. I plan on opening up the flash hole just a touch bigger to allow a bit more flame.

I almost forgot, but while shooting and handling the patches, the Barricade pretty much dried up on your fingers pretty quickly, no greasy mess.

All of those patches look like they held up well Devil. Are you opening up the flash hole because you're getting misfires? If you're not getting misfires I wouldn't enlarge it.

I agree with Semisane. If you're not getting misfires, I would not enlarge that flash hole. The patches look good. And the accuracy seems good. Were you getting misfires?

i just want to make it a touch larger so i do not have any hang fires if i shoot at the rendezvous. No hang fires at all today, all were instant.

I have found the size of the flash hole makes a difference in accuracy in all muzzleloaders. Check your records, some nipples start out giving there best accuracy to start and some follow a predictable path or curve where as they flame wears the hole bigger they get more accurate then after a while as the hole gets bigger the groups start opening a bit then at a certain point all at once they get really big and you have to change the nipple. I found the Ampco nipples have a bit to small hole for max accuracy even though I have hardly ever had a misfire with them. Lee

I tried the same thing with opening up the flash hole on one of my guns and started getting enough blowback thru the nipple that it would reset the hammer, put a regular nipple back on it.

well guys i got 17 shots off yesterday at 50 yards with 80gr American Pioneer 3F and 13 more shots at 100 yards. The Barricade patch lube has turned this patch blower into a mean machine! I recovered a great deal of patches yesterday before the rain/hail hit us out on the range and no patches were burnt or had holes in them. Never swabbed for cleaned the barrel between shots, never had any tightness at the bottom of the bore or near the muzzle.

I'll upload pictures as soon as i get home.

With a cool barrel, the Hawken will do a 2" group @ 100 yards with patched round ball.

Hey MD, quit messing with the make believe stuff and get the real deal black powder. My realiability, accuracy and piece of mind went way up doing so pal!

I only use subs (BH209) now in the Knight Vision and Sidekick!

How did you go about lubing the patches. Did you squeeze out the excess or just let them dry. I want to give this a try. Let me know how you lubed them up and how you're storing the patches.

i used an empty #11 percussion cap tin. filled it less than half way and put in a stack of patches, let it soak for a few minutes, then sprayed the top of the patches until foam formed on top and just leave them in the tin. The patches suck up the oil and its not messy. You can handle the patches all day without having your fingers all greasy like with bore butter.