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shawn_c992001

40 Cal.
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
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Ok I have lots of old t-shirts laying around, mostly Hanes and Fruitys. They are 100% cotton, how good will they be for round ball patches?
 
Long ago I use to use them for patches and for cleaning. They worked quite well and I killed lots of deer using them. If my rifle showed ripped or burned patches I would just use an op wad of some sort and problem solved.

I now use .024" ticking for patches and it's as good as it gets. It's what I recommend.
 
Most people will say use them only for cleaning patches. But I was at a trail shoot at a very serious shooting club and a "newbe" walked in shooting a stock T.C. Hawken using t shirt patches for both shooting with Crisco lube and swabbing with spit patches. He had the only perfect score of the day! :idunno: :hmm:
 
Once upon a time I managed to get in the field for a snowshoe hare hunt with my shotgun, but no wads of any sort. Rather than hike the mile back to the truck, then drive a half hour each way to retrieve proper wads, I tried cutting off hunks of my t-shirt. Made meat!
 
azmntman said:
How do old jeans work as patch material? I may try that got a "manure load" of old jeans since I lost 85lbs!

The problem with old clothes, like jeans, is the wear is not even. Some patches will be considerably thicker than others. I suppose, for casual shooting where accuracy is not important to you, those would be OK. However, denim is often thicker than most folks want. I have nearly a bolt left over from the days when I wanted very tight ball/bore fits.
 
I shoot .690 round balls in my .735 bore SxS. The ticking is not very tight so I use the leg portion of old jeans below the knee. That part is fairly uniform and not worn thin like the knees and butt areas. I haven't noticed a marked increase in accuracy but the ball doesn't move when I shoot the other barrel.
 
Old t shirt for round ball patches? Depends upon the type of rifling, the ball diameter and on and on. Before you give up on it try doubling it and trimming at the muzzle.
 
ohio ramrod said:
Most people will say use them only for cleaning patches. But I was at a trail shoot at a very serious shooting club and a "newbe" walked in shooting a stock T.C. Hawken using t shirt patches for both shooting with Crisco lube and swabbing with spit patches. He had the only perfect score of the day! :idunno: :hmm:
nobody told him it couldnt be done :doh:
i tried some t-shirt patches but cant remeber why i quit them or the result of using them.

creek
 
I've used old cotton dress shirts that were still in good shape. They have a tight weave and are stronger than Tshirts and work well but are thinner than some people like. I've used Military BDU material and it is thicker and also very strong and works good.
 
I used old T-shirts lubed with Crisco when I first started out, and killed several deer and numerous smaller critters with that combination. Once I discovered this site, however, I realized that my accuracy expectations weren't as stringent as some other people's. I then did quite a bit of load development and eventually settled on pillow ticking, lubed with moose snot. Groups went from several inches to under an inch at 50 yards...
 
The knowledge of this site is absolutely astounding!

The bore of the rifle I have would probably benefit from thicker tougher patches. It is less than perfect.
 
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