• This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.



    Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades
  • Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.

    We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.

    Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103

Patch Cutter

Muzzleloading Forum

Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
brett sr said:
Swampy said:
I too cut strips then square patches cause I don't have a fancy dandy tool like Brett. He did ask about round patches and I knew of Bretts home made tool and mentioned it. Hell if I had that I just might cut mine round too. :v


I was thinking of making one for the .58

Do I need to make 2 of them?

I surely wouldn't be against saying yes to that. :haha: If you don't mind I'd use it for sure. :thumbsup: Can I pick the ball #? :haha:
 
Somewhere around 2.5 times the ball diameter is fairly close to my way of figuring patch size.

My method is based on the idea of a patched ball inserted into the muzzle so the top of the ball is flush with the face of the muzzle. Then, in theory someone comes along and cuts off the material that is sticking out above the muzzle with a patch knife.

Given this scenario the material is wrapped around the lower half of the ball so the size of the patch would be half of the circumfrence or Pi times the diameter divided by 2. (remember, the material only covers 1/2 of the ball).

Then, we have a short leg coming up one side of the barrel from the center of the ball to the muzzle so that is 1/2 of the diameter of the ball long. We also have the same situation on the other side of the ball so we have 2 half balls worth of distance which equals one ball diameter.

Adding this length to the part that is wrapping around the bottom of the ball gives us the equation: 1 ball diameter plus 1/2 times Pi times the ball diameter or: ((Pi X D)/2) + D where D is the diameter of the ball.

For a .50 caliber we have ((Pi X .50)/2) + .50 = (.785) + .50 = 1.285 = about 1 1/4 inches.

If I were to use the 2.5 X D I would get 1 1/4 inches. Close enough for government work. :grin:
 
Zonie said:
Somewhere around 2.5 times the ball diameter is fairly close to my way of figuring patch size.

My method is based on the idea of a patched ball inserted into the muzzle so the top of the ball is flush with the face of the muzzle. Then, in theory someone comes along and cuts off the material that is sticking out above the muzzle with a patch knife.

Given this scenario the material is wrapped around the lower half of the ball so the size of the patch would be half of the circumfrence or Pi times the diameter divided by 2. (remember, the material only covers 1/2 of the ball).

Then, we have a short leg coming up one side of the barrel from the center of the ball to the muzzle so that is 1/2 of the diameter of the ball long. We also have the same situation on the other side of the ball so we have 2 half balls worth of distance which equals one ball diameter.

Adding this length to the part that is wrapping around the bottom of the ball gives us the equation: 1 ball diameter plus 1/2 times Pi times the ball diameter or: ((Pi X D)/2) + D where D is the diameter of the ball.

For a .50 caliber we have ((Pi X .50)/2) + .50 = (.785) + .50 = 1.285 = about 1 1/4 inches.

If I were to use the 2.5 X D I would get 1 1/4 inches. Close enough for government work. :grin:

I need to see if my calculations are correct, so what diameter do you get for a .62 cal patch?
 
With the 2.5 X ball Diameter I get 1.525 diameter

With the ((Pi X D)/2) + D I get 1.568.

I was using a .61 diameter ball to figure these.

The bottom line is the size of the patch used isn't very fussy. A patch that is just close to either of these sizes would work just fine. :hatsoff:
 
Look up Brettuns leather supply. They sell arch punches in SAE and metric sizes in any size you would want along with punch pads and leather hammers.
 
Zonie said:
With the 2.5 X ball Diameter I get 1.525 diameter

With the ((Pi X D)/2) + D I get 1.568.

I was using a .61 diameter ball to figure these.

The bottom line is the size of the patch used isn't very fussy. A patch that is just close to either of these sizes would work just fine. :hatsoff:

Yep I get those figures too. :wink: Thanks Zonie. :grin:
 
Swampy,Zonie,
Now I know why I either cut at the barrel
or buy patches for a particular caliber.I always
liked pie till they started math stuff using it.
:wink::haha:
Seriously,that is some great info.Honestly me and Pi math always got along well,just have not used it for years.
These days I use pie cherry or pie apple :idunno::rotf:
snake-eyes I know I am :eek:ff :nono:
 
I just checked my arch punch for cutting patches for my .62 English sporter. It is 1 3/8" and cuts an ample patch. I got it and others from Brettun's leather supply.
 
I do corn bread in the round too. A cast iron fry pan makes a dandy corn bread pan. Heat it up in the oven and pour the batter into a hot pan. MMMM crispy crust.
 
Thanks for the tip. I ordered a 1 3/8" punch. Using the 2.5 X ball diameter formula, the 1 5/16" was a shade on the small side, so I went the next size up. The formula says I need a 1.35" patch. The 1 5/16" punch would cut a 1.3125" patch. The 1 3/8" punch will cut a 1.375" patch. I hope I made the right decision.
 
If you folks are done with the size of the pie,im going to start us a batch of moose milk. :rotf:
 
I've got a Forster patch cutter that I use for .45, .50 and .54 and the patch dia. is 1-1/4". Plenty big enough for .54 but don't think the 1-1/4" patch would do for .58.....Fred
 
Back
Top