Mike, I've used thick wool (old sweater, shrunk up) and leather for patches in heavy loads of .54 and .58. I use a set of gasket punches from Harbor Freight Tools, they cost about $15. The thing to punch them out on is a kitchen cutting board, some kind of rubber or plastic? I just got a rotary cutter and board at WalMart for cutting patches. That board is labeled "self Healing". For the .58 I cut the over powder wads 7/8", and the .54 probably 3/4". Smaller ones you have to be careful they do not go down edgewise. Then I tried cotton balls, regular size. They work better than anything. Got mine at Western Family groceries, 300 for $1.59. They are dime-size in diameter, about 5/8", and one inch long. Just push that in the bore and no worry about having to cup it. I used about 15 so far with 120 grain Goex 2F loads in my .58, and mostly the cotton blows into small bits, but one stayed together and caught fire, smouldering. If that were a problem, one could dampen the wad in the mouth before loading. I think in a .54 you could probably cut this patch in half (1/2" long) and it would be effective and disintigrate on shooting. WalMart also sells these, get the regular (smallest) size. My overpowder wad search is over.