Centered patch question

[Jimbo47]

I just take a strip of patch material ticking and on one end, trace one of my precut patches with a ballpoint.
Fold the cloth several times under the traced patch and borrow my wifes heavy duty scissors without her knowledge :nono: and cut about 5 or 6 at a time.
Doesn't take long to fill up a tin.

 

[Kansas Jake]

:thumbsup:

 

[russellshaffer]

Try wrapping the patch around the ball and hold it with your fingers. When you put the ball on the center of the muzzle the patch is automatically centered. Not my idea at all, but I can't remember where I read this so I can't give credit. It works especially well with square patches - you hold the corners of the patch. Wish I could remember who told me about this.

 

[M. De Land]

Keep the edge sharp. Every few hundred patches lick the edge up with a stone or diamond file.
The backing plate in the picture is aluminum.
When you feel the punch go through the cloth, rotate the exterior patch cloth collar a bit to shear off the edge clean.

 

[Dr5x]

The point I was teying to make but whcicj Clyde of Colorado either mised or I failed in making it was that the patch goes off center when the short starter pushes it into the barrel. Approximately 5 or 6 inches away from easy viewing but which Clyde can still see if it is centered or not. Even when I could see I would have been hard put to recenter an off enter patch shoved completely out of sight.

I simply lack Clyde's Bingo!

Dutch

 

[George]

I don't think off-center patches are any problem so long as the entire equator of the ball is covered.

Unless you start with a patch several inches square it can't be off-center by more than part of an inch, and there is no reason that is a problem.

This is an old argument, and I've always thought it falls into the category of solutions to non-existent problems which are so popular in the hobby.

Spence

 

[Rifleman1776]

Muzzle cut patches usually have a ragged tail and frayed edges on the off side unless the patch knife it kept razor sharp which my pre-cut patches never have.

So wat? Makes no difference to the ball. Even excess material does not affect the ball flight. I have seen tests by one of the best (in modern times) to ever shoot a muzzle gun.
I cut at the muzzle for several reasons: material is cheaper than purchased pre-cuts; I can lube as I want; never a problem centering; and, for me, it has become just part of my shooting routine to cut at the muzzle.

 

[coloradoclyde]

The point I was teying to make but whcicj Clyde of Colorado either mised or I failed in making it was that the patch goes off center when the short starter pushes it into the barrel. Approximately 5 or 6 inches away from easy viewing but which Clyde can still see if it is centered or not. Even when I could see I would have been hard put to recenter an off enter patch shoved completely out of sight.

I simply lack Clyde's Bingo!

Dutch

Can't say as I've had that happen...Once the ball is fully in the barrel, the patch does not move...It can slip when entering though....The easiest way to evaluate if your patches are centered is to look at your fired patches....The ball mark and rifling will be evident.

 

[M. De Land]

I really like the divergent methods and ideas and am very glad we don't all do things the same way!
It would be so very boring! :rotf:

 

[Griz44Mag]

I really like the divergent methods and ideas and am very glad we don't all do things the same way!
It would be so very boring! :rotf:

:metoo: :thumbsup:

 

[SgtMaj65]

:thumbsup: Me three

 

[Dr5x]

If you cut patch strips at the muzzle you don\tt have hold a post mortum to see what happened.

For what it's worth I have issued a slightly new edition of The Book with additional paragraph about Larry Pletcher's wen site.

I don' know just a whole heck of a lot about Chunck Gun shooters but for some reason I am hearing from some of them. I tell them that perhaps they are a bit beyond me but they still want to compare their practices. Go figure


Anither thing about cutting at the muzzle, I don't think anyone started that practice whiteout cutting their thumb,

Percussion people should all hsvr s nipplr wrench because when you dry ball and you will, the nipple wrench is very valuable.

I spent an afternoon and $400 on special glasses intended for people with fading vision.. I have been working with them forever a week and I must report that they are totally useless.

Hang in there and take care of your vision.

Dutch

 

[meanmike8665]

Ok, I bite. Who is the mystery shooter? What was the testing?

Michael

 

[coloradoclyde]

I really like the divergent methods and ideas and am very glad we don't all do things the same way!
It would be so very boring! :rotf:

If muzzleloading was one of those sports where everyone dressed the same, used the same gun, shot the same balls, and did everything else the same....It would be very boring and I would not find it very interesting....
It would be like watching sheep graze.

 

[Mr. Troll]

Everybody has a "trick"...some work, some don't. I spent some time with one of my rescues yesterday. 30 shots and I finally got the groups down to under 2" at 50 yds....

Gradually shrinking the spread as I changed one thing at a time...it's a pre lawyer 50 cal CVA with a 28" long, 1" barrel. 1:66 twist. My normal pillow ticking patches were turned into little puffballs of fibers, but the commercial .010 CVA precut patches were just fine, and the groups tightened right up...maybe I'll go watch some sheep grazing and contemplate why a thin patch worked so well

 

[azmntman]

Anither thing about cutting at the muzzle, I don't think anyone started that practice whiteout cutting their thumb,

I have yet to cut myself cutting patches at the muzzle but have a few rifles that love to collect caps in the hammer. i ALWAYS come home with a sliced thumb when shooting them. You'd think I would start using something other than my thumb to dig em out :youcrazy: :shake:

 

[Rifleman1776]

Ok, I bite. Who is the mystery shooter? What was the testing?

Michael

I guess that was mean of me. But, I have name dropped in the past and didn't want to again. Enneyhow, here is the story (true) I lived near Friendship, Indiana for almost seven years. That is where I got started with this ml avocation. On most weekends when a big shoot was not on there was almost always a gathering and informal shoot. Most of the participants were well known champions (except me :redface: ). Among them, Webb Terry. Webb was a known experimenter and almost every week he would show up with something new. One weekend he hypothesized that using an oversize patch did not affect the flight of the ball. To test this he used increasingly larger and larger patches then shot from the bench. He got up the point where he was shoving rather large hunks of cloth down the bore. Sur 'enuf, the extra material did NOT affect the flight of the ball. I was convinced that having to use a pre-cut patch of perzactly/exactly a certain size was unnecessary and a bit silly. Don't fret it. Use an oversize pre-cut or shove the ball a 1/2" or so down the bore with a short-short starter before cutting at the muzzle. It will not affect accuracy at all.

 

[meanmike8665]

Thank you for the info. Mr Terry was a great shooter and I have read some of his articles about shooting and competing, really good stuff.

Michael

 

[SgtMaj65]

Very interesting story. Thanks! :hatsoff:

 

[coloradoclyde]

...maybe I'll go watch some sheep grazing and contemplate why a thin patch worked so well

I too have noticed that a tight patch ball combination does not always provide the best results....