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Patch or lube issue

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No Britsmoothy I haven’t tried that yet. I ran out of time and I’m down to five round balls. Now I wish I’d gone ahead with my plan to start making my own. Should’ve bought that mould years ago.
If it still shreds and burns after using a firewall, that barrel is possibly the world's worst I'm sorry to say.
I hope I am wrong.
 
I ran out of time and I’m down to five round balls. Now I wish I’d gone ahead with my plan to start making my own.

OMG sound the ALARM! :)
The other day I thought I was out of balls so I walked over to the casting bench and uncovered my mold, (my cooling towel was laying on top of it) what did I discover when flipped the towel open ? 100 nice shiny balls sitting there that I had forgotten about.
The casting Gods shine down upon me.
 
I’m still having problems with my patches fired from my Kibler .54 Colonial. IF I am able to locate the spent patch it’s usually still smoldering and shredded to pieces. I thought maybe due to my patch material being old so I bought new pillow ticking and pocket drill. That didn’t help.

I use Mr Flintlock lube with a .530 ball over 70-80 grns if FFg. I’ve tried running Scotchbrite down the barrel to cleanup any sharp edges. I haven’t tried smoothing the lands at the muzzle yet. Maybe it’s getting cut there.
It seems like a spit patch doesn’t burn up as bad as patches lubed with Mr Flintlock. Some of these are actually burning if I find them.
I have shot this rifle about 60 times so far.

Sorry to ramble on with this. I wanted to let everyone know all factors involved.
Does anyone have any ideas on what I can try?View attachment 27518View attachment 27520

Hi,
Many have already commented on crown being sharp, rifling being sharp, patch thickness, ball size, all can be the problem and often are a problem. I would like to add a couple more thoughts based on seeing the same problem on a couple of rifles and a person also chasing that problem. The patch looking this way can be caused by skidding over the rifling (cheese grater effect) and I've seen this on a fast twist gun with shallow rifling combined with a thick patch and too small a ball, I have seen this on an 11 thou rifling barrel also and in both cases the fix came down to using 3F powder. I tested one of the guns (my Pedersoli 535 ball, 12 thou patch) by dropping 5 gr of 4F first followed by the 3F load, this helps with obturation and in my case and the other guys fast twist the problem was solved.
PLEASE NOTE : if you try this adjust your powder drop to allow for the 4F if used and the 3F being a little faster as the pressure will come up a little (that's the point), I only use 3F in anything I shoot.
 
I got a chance to shoot a few times today. Here’s an update.
I first started by lightly sanding the muzzle area. (I’m gonna do more of this tonight).
I pushed a patched ball about an inch down the bore and pulled it out. No visible damage to patch.
I first loaded with the same ticking and lube. Patch destroyed.
I then tried ticking with some lube I made with olive oil and beeswax. Patch destroyed and burning. Next I tried some denim I had. Very hard to load. Patch also destroyed. Not as bad but torn up. I think y’all that suggested to sand the sharp edges down have the answer.
I assume the patches are tearing then the torn edges are easier to catch fire causing the burning patches.
BTW I don’t soak the patches with lube but they are damp through both sides. This is a hunting rifle so I have to lube accordingly.
Thanks for the responses and advice. I’ll keep trying and let you all know.

Progress is often finding what does NOT work. I applaud your progressive forward motion.

Next I recommend (before beginning any bore sanding) doing Brit's recommendation ... that would be to load with a fire stopper between the charge n prb. 5 balls will tell the tale whether your problem is sharp rifling or bad patch's or wrong lube.

After shooting with a nice wad over powder and still getting burnt and shredded patch's ... I would commence with operation smooth those sharp rifling edges.

Take an oily tight patch and run down n up a couple times on an undersized jag (undersize jag because you do not want the patch to rub through from lite patch thickness on a jag that normally fits the bore).

After you have your undersize jag with tight patch's oiled and run up n down ... take FINE valve grinding compound and coat your tight oily patch. Run this up n down 10 times ... refresh the compound and repeat 10 times ... do this a total of 5 rounds.

Now clean thoroughly and completely with soap n hot water. When your sure it is clean ... clean it again.

Now go try the hummer again. If you still get shredded patch ... repeat with 5 more rounds of 10 up n downs.
 
In case anyone is interested (chart that is).

What I was finding when the problem I was trying to solve was being addressed (post 47 above), 2F GOEX was shooting mild (Swiss was hotter).

Note that this number should only be used with cast lead plain-base bullets. It does not apply to jacketed or gas-check cast bullets. Below is a chart containing various bullet alloys, the BHN, and the PSI required to expand a bullet to the bore:

MaterialBHNPressure
(psi)(MPa)
Pure lead
5​
7,110​
49​
1:20 tin/lead
10​
14,200​
98​
1:10 tin/lead
11.5​
16,400​
113​
Pure copper
40​
56,900​
392​
 
A bit of wasp nest was my first remedy before using a tighter weave and thicker patch with moose milk. The wasp nest worked wonderfully, I would give that a try before you start dulling your rifling...
 
In case anyone is interested (chart that is).

What I was finding when the problem I was trying to solve was being addressed (post 47 above), 2F GOEX was shooting mild (Swiss was hotter).

Note that this number should only be used with cast lead plain-base bullets. It does not apply to jacketed or gas-check cast bullets. Below is a chart containing various bullet alloys, the BHN, and the PSI required to expand a bullet to the bore:

(psi)(MPa)
MaterialBHNPressure
Pure lead
5​
7,110​
49​
1:20 tin/lead
10​
14,200​
98​
1:10 tin/lead
11.5​
16,400​
113​
Pure copper
40​
56,900​
392​

This information applies to round ball, many people don't think so or just don't know about it. A patched ball load can be worked out with the correct powder type and burn rate to create a pressure curve that allows for a less tight load (easy to push down) to be used, the ball is compressed from front to back and the patch does exactly what was intended, a gas seal that is compressed between the ball and barrel.
 
No Britsmoothy I haven’t tried that yet. I ran out of time and I’m down to five round balls. Now I wish I’d gone ahead with my plan to start making my own. Should’ve bought that mould years ago.
I'm going to the post office tomorrow to ship some powder horns. If you can reimburse me for just the postage I can send you some (50 - 100?) round balls. I cast buckets of them. Don't post your address here. P.M. me if you need them.
 
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I'm going to the post office tomorrow to ship some powder horns. If you can reimburse me for just the postage I can send you some (50 - 100?) round balls. I cast buckets of them. Don't post your address here. P.M. me if you need them.
Ames that is so generous of you to offer. However I found a gun store about 10 miles away that had one box. I’m gonna try to get them tomorrow. Thank you very much anyway.
 
years ago I have had patches do that in my 62 jaeger with a Colerain barrel. I was using .018 patch. I went to .020 ticking and no more problems. to lube I saturate the ticking with straight ballistol, let it dry, then spit on it to load. I have only 2 flintlocks the 62 and a 40cal with a rice barrel. I can and sometimes do reuse the patches over,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 
Since I’m from the South, will grits work as a firewall? I don’t have cream of wheat. Lol. I may get to shoot tomorrow. I’ll take some grits or corn meal with me. I did run some 4/0 steel wool down the barrel a few times.
i found a box of .530 at local gun shop. I still want to try some .535 balls.
I also want to try shooting 3F from this rifle to see how it does. I’ll probably start with 65 grains.
Im trying to change only one thing at a time so I can see what works best.
 
Mr. Flintlock is the greatest lube around.

Provided it is used liboriously to enlubern the patch, it WILL NOT produce burn thrus or other issues.

Please, DO NOT soil the name of Mr. Flintlock. It is the TOP muzzle loading flintlock lube ever made IMHO.
 
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