Learning from mistakes

[Phil Coffins]

In this case from a friend, he was trying out a new heavier load in preparation for a 200 yard match and it was going poorly. He kept reducing his load till he was down to the light load that has worked well in the pass. Now that same load scattered shots all over from the bench rest. He also tried a different patch lube and could hardly pound the ball down. Nothing was going right. As we talked it came out that his patch material was a fresh batch that he had washed as usual but they were ragged black fragments laying on the ground. He had bought this at a Hobby Lobby that I had been in yesterday. I said I saw that and read the end tag on the bolt, it is made of polyster! He will have to get some cotton ticking and start again after he cleans his barrel.

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

In this case from a friend, he was trying out a new heavier load in preparation for a 200 yard match and it was going poorly. He kept reducing his load till he was down to the light load that has worked well in the pass. Now that same load scattered shots all over from the bench rest. He also tried a different patch lube and could hardly pound the ball down. Nothing was going right. As we talked it came out that his patch material was a fresh batch that he had washed as usual but they were ragged black fragments laying on the ground. He had bought this at a Hobby Lobby that I had been in yesterday. I said I saw that and read the end tag on the bolt, it is made of polyster! He will have to get some cotton ticking and start again after he cleans his barrel.

He must be new to muzzleloading. It was beat in my head............cotton, cotton, cotton, micrometer, micrometer micrometer.
Hope he didn't slime his bore up.
Thanks for sharing.
Larry

 

[Col. Batguano]

Mistakes and lessons learned the hard way are the ones that stick with you.

 

[azmntman]

Yep, clean up gonna be a chore

 

[Grenadier1758]

He must be new to muzzleloading. It was beat in my head............cotton, cotton, cotton, micrometer, micrometer micrometer.
Hope he didn't slime his bore up.
Thanks for sharing.
Larry

I also heard the cotton, cotton, cotton mantra. But I also succumbed to the siren call of linen, linen, linen when 100% cotton patches were reduced to shredded flakes of black threads. It's hard to find 100% linen from flax with a tight weave. It took several years of shooting with linen patches to take the sharp edges off the lands.

 

[2 shots]

silk will get you further , faster

 

[Phil Coffins]

I think “ read the label “ is the key here.

 

[Coinneach]

I think “ read the label “ is the key here.

And burn a patch after you take it home, just to make sure there's no melting.

 

[ETipp]

Mistakes and lessons learned the hard way are the ones that stick with you.

Like an old captain I used to fly with would tell me after I made a mistake "better than a college education".

 

[Sun City]

Experience is a good teacher......but she's MEAN!!

 

[ETipp]

Experience is a good teacher......but she's MEAN!!

I've been known to call her much worse names.