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What do these patches mean?

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Oregononeshot

36 Cal.
Joined
Oct 28, 2017
Messages
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I got in a little shooting today. I decided to pick up a few used patches just to take a look at them. I only found a few but 4 of them were pretty nasty looking while the other 3 looked normal. The top 3 are the normal looking ones and the bottom 4 are the ones that I'm concerned about. For info all patches are the same ticking material, and are cut at the muzzle. I used two different ballistol/water ratios, a 5:1 and 8:1. I don't know ratio these patches are. What could be causing these torn patches? I have a theory but wanted to ask the experts
 
They do look good don't they?
There's no actual "burning" is there? Just shredded.
I think you found some of the 5:1 and some of the 8:1.
So there's a lesson. We just have to figure out what it is.
(because I don't know what you all did)
You need to look at the targets you saved from the change you made. If you put all shot's into the same target during the change, or didn't clean between changes, then you need to re-do the experiment.
Which one grouped better? the 5 or the 8?
I'm not going to worry about or comment on the powder charge, I'm not going to worry about ball size,,
You say you changed lube,, did you do the full experiment?
Do you want to learn from it,,(?)
 
The 8:1 ratio was better. I did 2, 5 shot groups with the 8:1 and they were both better than the one 5 shot group of 5:1. I only had time for 15 shots so I used those 2 lube ratios. I also thought I had both ratios of patches here.
 
Your patches are a bit too thin, or your round balls are somewhat too small. Even the top three have small burn through spots if you look closely. Lube ratio has nothing to do with burn through. Information needed to actually diagnose the problem: Ball size (Swaged or cast), patch thickness, Bore/groove size, powder charge? Are you wiping the bore between shots? What kind of wiping patches (damp or dry) are your using?

Generally, when you get patches burned through like these, your accuracy suffers significantly.
 
I got the better looking patches right up to my fave and could hardly see any holes, even put a light behind them. OK I'm using a Hornady .535 swaged ball, .013 ticking patch, don't know the bore/groove size, but the gun is a 54 GPR if that helps, 85 grains of pyrodex rs, I am wiping between each shot with a spit patch. If it's one of the above items causing the tearing, wouldn't every patch be like that? I am very consistent in my loading process, and the ONLY thing I changed today was the lube ratio?
 
A .013" patch is a little thin and the weave looks loose. Probably why they are blown. It is also possible that the ball isn't deep enough in the barrel before the patch is cut. Making thin edges.
 
Good clear answers,,TY.
Like I said the patches look ok, they're not burnt, they've been shot out a barrel,, they're not supposed to look perfect.
If the 8:1 was better then your close.
Try the same load at 7:1,, mess with the powder charge in 5grn increments with 7:1 and then back to 8:1.
It's all about experimenting.
The neat thing is once you learn the approximate zone the rifle like,, you can narrow it down when you try a different fabric..
It takes some shooting,, but once you find what works best with one rifle. Finding what works best with the next one is a snap,
 
I'm using the thickest patch material I can find in my town. I have some denim but it's so thick I can't even start the ball with my short starter. This is a hunting rifle so I don't want to have to pound the ball in with a hammer. I'm using the short end of my short starter to start the ball in the barrel, I don't know if the ball has to be a certain depth before the patch is cut? I just push it until the starter hits the barrel, then cut it. Right now I'm just finishing up putting enough rounds down range to break in the barrel. I'm getting ready to start doing load development, I'm getting minute of deer accuracy right now at 100 yards, but want to tighten it up
 
You are cutting at the muzzle, I'd say your knife got dull causing you to stress the fabric or you were struggling and using to much force. all the tears are in the same place. This indicates a pattern of repetition.

I also notice progressive dirtiness, Did your gun develop a crud ring?
 
The blade is definitely dull, I'll change it out. I didn't feel a crud ring while loading, loading felt the same every time
 
Even the best ones don't look that good to me, they are torn too.
Hold them up to the light!
You lube is not working and or its i newish barrel still not run in.
 
If it were me, I'd consider a thicker patch material...maybe 019-020 thick. I think the patch is where your problem probably lies. You might even have to smooth out the muzzle of your barrel some as it could be fraying out some of the fabric as it's started into the barrel.
 
In my humble experience, .013 is a pretty thin patch for that much powder. I can get by with thinner patch material for shooting my 25-50 yd load but when I increased the powder charge...keeping everything else constant...I get "blown" patches, much like what you're seeing.
 
Your first 2 look decent. The 3rd one has a little tear in the middle. The other ones are blown. I have the same rifle and if I have a blown patch ore one with a hole in it, then my accuracy is definitely affected. I have tried .530 and .535 balls and can't tell any difference in accuracy, but the .535 is definitely tight. I use an .018 duck cloth material and get very good groups.
 
It will take around 200 rounds or so to get GPR barrel broke in so too speak.
From my understanding a lot of GPR's have sharp edges on the rifling grooves along the bore,causing cuts in your patches while loading.

I own a GPR in .54 cal and for my first 150-200 rounds my patches looked much the same.

The "break in period" can be shortened ,I'm told by using steel wool wrapped around a jag and doing lots of scrubbing...

How damp are the patches ? Too dry of patch causes drag while loading,which creates stress on the thin(.13) patch material.

You may want to try some .530 balls and see if that helps, But I think you will be fine once the barrel gets a few more rounds thru it.

Mine likes a .530 ball & 100 grns ffg of Goex.
 
Having worked with several .54 GPRs in the past, I think you will get better results going to a .016 or .018 patch thickness. As far as SOME of the patches looking better than others, this may be due to the irregularities of the swaged balls. If you carefully measure with an accurate micrometer, you will find some swaged balls are not perfectly round. I have found some that would vary by as much as .005". (.005" is a LOT of leakage when dealing with 16,000 psi.) Unlike cast balls that have a sprue mark to aid in orienting them the same each time, the swaged balls are loaded at random. A thicker patch would also minimise the effect of variations in diameter. Your powder charge, while on the heavy side is not excessive. Your loading/wiping procedure is fine. A lighter charge might not cause "patch leakage" with lower pressure. Some thick, waxy lubes will help prevent patch burn-through but will not give the fine accuracy attained with the Ballistol dry-lube system.
 
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I wouldn't call it a "utility" knife, it's a exchangeable blade Havalon hunting knife lol, but yet it uses replacement scalpel blades. It seems like the majority are suggesting a thicker patch, I'll head to the store this weekend and see if I can find anything. Here are some pictures of my micrometer. The first is when it clicks, and won't go any further. The second is when I compress it down. Now I don't know how hard to compress, but I'm moving it quite a bit, maybe I'm going to far when I compress it? It's the blue stripe ticking from Walmart that allot of people here use. I'm going to try to shoot again today using the same patches but with a 530 ball instead and see the results
 
The patch is fine. Your lube is insufficient or barrel to new.
Just because most say get a thicker patch doesn't mean nothing! They for a start were unaware of how you were measuring your chosen patching and then assumed!
At least two have emphasised lube and barrel break in!
How many shots has your barrel fired please?

B.
 

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