New to patched ball - what are these patches telling me ?

[Sudsy]

Cotton, soaked and well wrung out with melted Bore Butter
Shots all within a 9" circle at 50 yards (so needs work)
7 shots in order...........

 

[user 36911]

Need more information. Patch thickness, ball size, powder load and make of powder.

The patches are horrible.

 

[sawyer04]

Need more information. Patch thickness, ball size, powder load and make of powder.

The patches are horrible.

Looks like a muzzle cut I saw several years back, but the above info would be needed.

 

[user 36911]

Looks like a muzzle cut I saw several years back, but the above info would be needed.

Could be or a combo of cut and bad setup. I always smooth out the muzzle crown before even shooting a gun for the first time. It lets me load a tighter ball/patch easier and of course doen't cut the patch.

 

[mooman76]

Ideally they should look good enough to use again. Like the others said, need more info. Some look like the patches burned through. Is it a new gun? New ones need broke in to smooth out, the crown and bore.

 

[GoodRabbitPilgrim]

In terms of group size it would be handy to know what your rifle is, calibre, ball size and patch thickness.

I just use canola or Peanut oil for mine.

Mine look like this

 

[Sudsy]

New old stock never fired .45 Armi Sport Kentuckian

.430 ball. Cotton patch compressed at .010 wit hthe micrometer, 45 gr GOEX FF
Strip patch, ball pressed down with the short part of the starter ball, then cut off with a patch knife

Shot #9, swabbed the barrel once up and down with a wet patch and tried a .15 patch lubed with bore butter, went about halfway down and stuck tight. Had to bring the gun home and hammer the ball down with a leather mallet.
Shot it out, was actually one of the more accurate shots

 

[user 36911]

How did the .015 patch look after firing?

 

[Eric Krewson]

I suspect your crown needs polishing as well as the rest of the bore, unfired barrels have a lot of little burs that destroy patches and make the gun very hard to load after a shot or two.

Look at your crown and see if you have any sharp edges, bet you do. Look up "Thumb smoothing crown" to see how to smooth the rough spots.

As for the bore, a small piece of green scotchbright pad used like a cleaning patch ( you will need a smaller jag) run up and down the length of the bore 50-100 times with smooth everything out.

I used the thumb method of smoothing a crown with good results but my last attempt was visibly off center just a hair. I saw one of these homemade "crown cutters "and made one to use , it cuts a perfectly smooth centered crown with 220 grit paper. I rotated the drill from 12-3-6-9 every 5 seconds to have even pressure all the way around, I only used the weight of the drill to cut.

 

[Bob McBride]

Thicker patches. Use a small jag on a range rod along with some burgundy scotchbrite to the tune of about 50 strokes the full length of the bore. Smooth your crown as above.

 

[Sudsy]

I suspect your crown needs polishing as well as the rest of the bore, unfired barrels have a lot of little burs that r. I saw one of these homemade "crown cutters "and made one to use , it cuts a perfectly smooth centered crown with 220 grit paper. I rotated the drill from 12-3-6-9 every 5 seconds to have even pressure all the way around, I only used the weight of the drill to cut.

View attachment 80647

Good stuff there.
I'm pretty good on my wood lathe so whipping up one of those will be no problem
Question, what hardness of wood should I use ?
Soft / Pine, cedar,
Medium / Poplar, Oak,
Hard / Ironwood, rock maple

Also, that looks like it will cut a 45 degree angle, is that the correct angle or might shallower be better ?

 

[Pete G]

Looks like your patche is too thin.

 

[hanshi]

1. Ditch the Bore Butter. 2. Polish the crown. 3. Use a thicker patch. 4. Use a decent patch lube. The prb should be a pretty tight fit but still seatable using the wood rod. A tight fit and good lube allows almost unlimited shooting without swabbing the bore. My .45 shoots a .440" or .445" ball, .024" canvas patch with either TOW's mink oil or Hoppes #9 BP Lube. Tight loads are almost always more accurate.

Patch lubricant substitution is allowed, but run it by me first.

 

[rafterob]

All good advice here. The patches look like they are getting cut but also burnt. the burning comes from blow-by with too thin of a patch or not tight enough combination of patch and ball.

 

[Eric Krewson]

I will have to check the angle, the guy who initially posted it here gave the angle but I forget, my angle isn't exactly like he stated but close.

I checked, my angle is 40 degrees, I turned the other end to be slightly under bore size and wrapped a piece of painters tape around that end so it would touch but not abrade the bore. I ran my drill on the slowest speed I could manage.

For the wood I used a stock cut off from a piece of hard sugar maple.

 

[Hatchet-Jack]

The patch is too thin.

These are what mine look like.

 

[leadhoarder]

Any chance the patches are a cotton blend instead of 100 percent cotton?

 

[Sudsy]

Any chance the patches are a cotton blend instead of 100 percent cotton?

I read the tag before purchasing (the smallest amount possible) It said 100% cotton

Every time I went out to pick up the just shot patch I had to step on it to stop the smoking, so who knows.

I'm hitting the Hobby Lobby for a few different patch samples tomorrow

 

[Sudsy]

As for the bore, a small piece of green scotchbright pad used like a cleaning patch ( you will need a smaller jag) run up and down the length of the bore 50-100 times with smooth everything out.

Another question, after cleaning I ran a patch soaked in Ballistol down the barrel before putting it away.
Do I need to wash that out before doing the scotchbrite thing ?

 

[ohio ramrod]

I would suggest you try to smooth the crown and polish the bore. Then try some shoots with an over powder wad to prevent burning the patch. A simple over powder wad can be made by simple folding over a cleaning patch.