Patch issue
 

Hi all

Shot a .54 Renegade today that I had not shot before and used a PRB with .18 pillow ticking, .530 round ball and olive oil as the patch lube. Two patches look great but the rest were obliterated. I have a theory of why this is happening but want your take.


Thank you in advance!

Mark

What powder and how much were you shooting?

The first two things that come to mind are the ball size since I have had to use a .535 ball in all my Renegades, and if you were using 777 powder it is not compatible with PRB and in order to make it work you would have to use wads under the PRB.

Sorry, 70 grains of pyrodex.

Just a guess mind you. When I shot 777 with patched ball I had to put a wad under the patch our it would destroy the patch. Accuracy was still great but the patch was blown. That's because 777 runs hotter and with more pressure. Now I am not saying that is the reason. Its just a ... what happened to me.

Also the more fouled the rifle becomes it can lead to a tighter bore, and maybe that had some effect on it. Hard to say. If the accuracy was good, I wouldn't concern myself. But if you want ... and have no wad, try taking some cotton patch, roll that up. After you dump the powder 777 then push that patch down first on the powder. See if it helps.

70 grains of Pyrodex? Wow, I am surprised it did that. Pyrodex is such a forgiving powder in most cases.

I swabbed every other shot. My theory is I got the the patches too dry as I really worked to get the patches as dry as possible. My other Renegade doing the same program with had patches that looked great but I believe the patches were not as dry.

Why do you think you need the patches dry?

I never was very happy with olive oil as a patch lube. That pic is super tiny so its impossible to really help with that.

Change both your patch lube and patch material. I switched to Bumblin' Bear Grease prelubed pillow-ticking patches (.018) / 50-59 caliber.

Go to Octobercountry.com and put '''lubed daisy ticking patches''' in the search box there.
I use .018 thickness and check 50-59 caliber (for my 50-cal Shenandoah)

I apologize for the small picture. I have used olive oil with the other Renegade and it worked great. Looking at the patches lubed earlier that worked well they definitely have more lube on them so I think this batch is too dry. To answer an earlier question about wanting the patches dry I am still learning so I just took too much lube out of the patches after lubing them. Lesson learned.

On another note shot some Hornady Great Plains conicals and was very happy how they performed, used the same 70 grains of Pyrodex.