Square patches

[Arrowstorm]

Ok.... is there any pros/cons to shooting with square patches? Any reason why they wouldn't be as accurate as round patches? The reason I ask is sometimes, I find I have run out of round patches, and where I live, the muzzleloading community isn't that strong, so I HAVE to order online if I want to get good stuff at good prices. So... sometimes, I cut square patches from my cleaning cloth. I'm not even really sure what thickness they are, but they seem to do alright. I soak them in wonder-lube. I don't see a real big difference, but I'm wondering if perhaps I'm missing anything?

Any feedback with your own experiences would be apperciated.

 

[musketman]

Ok.... is there any pros/cons to shooting with square patches? Any feedback with your own experiences would be apperciated.

These are just my opinions on this subject, nothing more...

Pros:

• 1. You get more patches per yardage, very little waste.
  2. Easier to cut squares than it is circles by hand.

Cons:

• 1. Harder (for me) to center up patch when loading.

Actually, there is no real reason not choose round over square patches, unless you just like round patches...

I prefer triangle patches myself... :rotf: :rotf:

 

[roundball]

Ok.... is there any pros/cons to shooting with square patches? Any reason why they wouldn't be as accurate as round patches? The reason I ask is sometimes, I find I have run out of round patches, and where I live, the muzzleloading community isn't that strong, so I HAVE to order online if I want to get good stuff at good prices. So... sometimes, I cut square patches from my cleaning cloth. I'm not even really sure what thickness they are, but they seem to do alright. I soak them in wonder-lube. I don't see a real big difference, but I'm wondering if perhaps I'm missing anything?

Any feedback with your own experiences would be apperciated.

All other things being equal, in the range tests I've played with I saw no difference at all in patch shape...or size...

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

FWIW the guys who aim for the X-ring in tourneys will tell you that a square patch is more prone to "flagging" when there's a strong wind off to one side of the muzzle or the other. They (not me) contend that the patch gets hung up on the ball and will drift it off target some before the ball sheds the patch behind.

Again, this info is from guys counting the Xs ... and not just satisifed to hit the target ...

 

[boar]

Arrowstrom Find a fabric store or Wall-Marts and get some pillow ticking.I got the least they would cut to try and still have some left $.47 It shots good. Wash ,then dry then lube with Moose Milk. You can cut at muzzle and have your round patches. Some you can use over, I have.

 

[roundball]

FWIW the guys who aim for the X-ring in tourneys will tell you that a square patch is more prone to "flagging" when there's a strong wind off to one side of the muzzle or the other. They (not me) contend that the patch gets hung up on the ball and will drift it off target some before the ball sheds the patch behind.

Again, this info is from guys counting the Xs ... and not just satisifed to hit the target ...

I hear that and don't doubt their shooting ability one bit.

:hmm: however, it seems to me that the hundreds of MPH violent wind blast at muzzle exit would peel off a patch long before it can be affected by any anemic crosswind from mother-nature.

Their speculation may lie in the realm of competition shooters doing everything they possibly can think of to 'ensure' something like that "can't" happen, as opposed to 'knowing' that it "did" happen.

Just my .02 cents from a weekend shooter, not a top notch competition shooter...but never-the-less, I guess I'll remain "from Missouri" on this one
:grin:

 

[mothernatureson]

I don't see any difference in my observation and use. There have been articles in shooting books that say the same. I like using pillow ticking and find the lines in the material make it easy to cut into uniform size patches with no waste.

 

[Maestro]

It all depends on which target your shootin' at!

:blah: :rotf:

 

[Arrowstorm]

Hm..... do they make bottle shaped patches then?

touche'

 

[LRB]

I have no opinion on this, but a while back , the Bevel brothers ran a test on square VS round, and the round averaged better than square, from the same gun. Like i said, I have no opinion on the subject, but ticking is cheap, and I use round.

 

[Landngroove]

My own pre-cut square patches, from Wal-Mart, .018" pillow ticking, shoot as good as T/C pillow ticking .018" round patches. I get good accuracy from both.

 

[marwat06]

What are the dimensions of the square patch? 1/2" by 1/2"? For a .50 cal

 

[Deadeye]

The Bevel Bros. also had "cut at the muzzle "patches in their test along with the square and round and the cut at the muzzle was
best, as I recall, but the difference between the three types was just a few .001 of an inch, nothing most of us would ever notice. I've not noticed any difference between square and round.

 

[roundball]

What are the dimensions of the square patch? 1/2" by 1/2"? For a .50 cal

They'd be the same dimensions as the round ones, only square...as one reference, I use two size patches:

1+1/8" for .45cal
1+3/8" for .50/.54/.58

 

[MikeChapin]

I have used square, round and cut at the muzzle. I haven't seen any difference in the way any rifle of mine shoots. I guess I would use the triangular patch if I shot at billiard balls more.

I do use round patches these days because I use hole saws with the teeth gound off and an edge put on to cut them with. I can zing out a lot of patches in a short amount of time using double or triple cloth thickness. I use the same sizing that Roundball mentioned. 1 1/4" for .32 to .45 and 1 3/8" for .50 to .58.

 

[weirdjack]

I use square patches. If I'm really bored on some evenings I will cut them into octagons, but they start as squares basically. I use Walmart pillow ticking, washed and dryed twice to .018" thickness. I just cut the yardage into strips down every 5th stripe for .69 and .70 bores and every 4th stripe for .50 caliber. Then I roughly cut the strips into squares by eyeballing the dimensions.
At one time I used an old capbox to mark circles and painstakingly cut round patches out....phooooiiee! Then I did the Mark Baker thing of cutting strips of round patches held together by short uncut bits.....also marked with a capbox for sizing. Those really looked cool in the pouch, but were a waste of my time though. I've also done lots of cutting strips off at the muzzle. Roughly square precut patches seem to work fine for me.
Jack

 

[410-er]

Years ago my father-in-law owned a truck shop.He had a punch set that was used for making gaskets.Each punch had a different diameter up to about 3" for making your own gaskets out of sheets of gasket material.Wish I had that set now.

 

[hornetk4]

Well I read all of the posts to see what the general consensis is on patching . Now let me add one to make it a little more confusing take it for what it's worth . I learned to shoot bp from an old man in his late 80s , a wonderful old guy a gunsmith from ww2 navy machinist mate and very good shot for a man his age . His favorite bp gun is an old 50 cal hatfeild flintlock and his method of patching is to use square pillow ticking in this order . 1 pour powder in barrel 2 take one patch and fold it in half then turn 90 degrees and fold again so it's 1/4 the original sqare then ram it down the bore onto the powder 3 take the next patch with moose milk and place on top of muzzel place 50 cal ball on top and ram down to the bottom . 4 charge pan and shoot . his favorite target is a 6 inch steel plate painte red , put it any place you want at any distance you want within say 150 yards and that old guy will hit more times than not . I cherrish every moment I get to spend with that old man ,in fact I should go look him up and make sure he's ok today , yall have a good day