Help finding Patches

[totonap]

I'm not new to black powder ,not an expert, but pretty good. But I need to know something from our members. I was out shooting my 50 TC hawkens yesterday, and wanted to find my patches, to see how they looked like. Shooting at 50yds. I couldn't find a one. Plus i was shooting my kibler .32 no luck
Can anyone tell me how or what to do. The range was freshly cut.
Thanks

 

[64Springer]

Increase your search radius.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

I'm not new to black powder ,not an expert, but pretty good. But I need to know something from our members. I was out shooting my 50 TC hawkens yesterday, and wanted to find my patches, to see how they looked like. Shooting at 50yds. I couldn't find a one. Plus i was shooting my kibler .32 no luck
Can anyone tell me how or what to do. The range was freshly cut.
Thanks

5 to 15 yards out, right to left 5 yards either side of your POA should get you in the ball park. Bring a kid or grandkid and pay them a buck for each patch, and I gurantee you will have some patches to see.
Larry

 

[necchi]

Was there a cross wind?
Go back out and shoot again,, just point the gun at the target bank for a safe shot but focus your eyes 10-15 ft in front of the gun,,
,you'll see it flutter an drop.
They go out aways, but drop pretty quick.
If you find one, the others will be near

 

[deerstalkert]

then there is the real possibility that the patches are shredding to the point where you won't find any. i have a .30 that i have only found threads. the more i shoot it the more patch i find but for a while it was threads. i even dyed the patching blaze orange trying to make them stand out. no joy. and it didn't matter what thickness the patch was.

 

[nchawkeye]

Put a tarp on the ground about 10 steps ahead of your muzzle

 

[totonap]

Thanks everyone, some great idea's. Especially the grandkids idea, I will try the tarp. And it could be shredding them.

 

[lostsmenfive]

I had the same problem the other day with my 50 cal. TC. Never found a single one. The range master ran me off from continuing my search. The patches were 40 years old and wetted with spit, maybe the just disintegrated.

 

[deerstalkert]

I had the same problem the other day with my 50 cal. TC. Never found a single one. The range master ran me off from continuing my search. The patches were 40 years old and wetted with spit, maybe the just disintegrated.

that old favorite shirt?

 

[lostsmenfive]

LOL - no. Just got back into shooting again after all that time. They were old TC round patches I had in the box with some powder and balls. No caps, had to use the toy caps, worked fine. Used up the balls, and one film canister of powder one left. So I'm in search of supplies.

 

[ColonialRifleSmith]

5 to 15 yards out, right to left 5 yards either side of your POA should get you in the ball park. Bring a kid or grandkid and pay them a buck for each patch, and I gurantee you will have some patches to see.
Larry

My patches usually end up exactly as Larry has said. Semper Fi.

 

[tenngun]

I’ve had days where I couldn’t find them and days that it looked like it snowed. I’ve had ‘perfect’ patches and sucky groups and bad patches and tight groups.
All and all good patches are best groups, but God alone knows where they disappear to some days.
After finding the fist or second your eyes get used to seeing them and suddenly you find a dozen that were invisible a few minutes before. I wonder if they are not trans dimensional and spend time in the absolute elsewhere and then come back to our universe since they are often in spots I just looked at

 

[hanshi]

I've often thought dropped (etc) items dematerialize and choose on their own when they wish to re-materialize so you can find them. As for patches, yes, they will be 15 to 35 feet from the muzzle, maybe more or less. The slightest wind will blow them about so reading the wind helps. And, yes, if you find one you'll likely find the rest.
I now use thicker patch material than I did years ago. But I still have plenty of mattress ticking and use it from time to time; it's the thinnest material I'll use in a rifle. These mattress ticking patches held up very well in the rifle (?) I fired them in. I have, in the past, occasionally retrieved the fired patches and used them a second time

 

[Mad L]

I have times I could not find any, especially shooting out to 60-100 yards on an uphill slope; aiming high and a little wind the go.....?? Somewhere.
And I have times I return to same spot and run across one or two while setting up my target - pretty sure there are no other BP shooters here, and they look lime mine. Even ran across a couple after I had not shot for at least a month (might be those pesty chipmunks, or that collard lizard telling me "Hey Bud, CLEAN UP YOUR TRASH!")

Also it depends on what your using for patches vs what your ground cover is; I shoot in the desert and white patches seem the hardest to find while patches cut from stripped ticking seem to stand out.

And on long uphill shots I have found them up to 20 yards out or more, also depending on wind.