Just wondering what patch material is being used by everyone. .
.018/.020 Teflon. .018 ticking where Teflon is not allowed..
Mark
My standard material is either unbleached heavy canvas (.024") or canvas duck (.019"); the heavy canvas is my favorite. I also have some "mattress ticking" which is heavier than pillow ticking. It runs about .017", give or take. Most guns get the canvas but a couple get the ticking or the duck. I often use flannel (.012") in the smoothbore and it works well.
I use ticking that the calipers say is .018" thick. I lube with corn oil or mink oil depending on outside temps.
That's likely the same type of ticking I use.
I get .015 and .018 pillowtick from Jo Annes fabrics in Roanoke...Ya auta see the looks i get when i start measuring with a micrometer...LOL..... Some times i just use old Cotton T shirts ...works well using olive oil or mink oil as lube
.015 pillow ticking, or if they are around and free, pre-lubed patches.
Thin flowered Pillow ticking (.012) unless I need something thicker, then black or blue striped at about .018. I have used the red striped ticking if it is all I can get but it only runs about .016 so I prefer not to use it. I have also used cotton duck and unbleached white ticking but I only ran into the white ticking once or twice and found no advantage to it or the cotton duck.
If I am doing a mountain man run I will have precut some patches or use commercial precut patches paper clipped to my bag if I'm not using a loading block and will probably have a couple patches and some ball ready "Just in case" even if I'm using a loading block.
So do you guys wash the sizing out of new fabric before using it, or just use it as it comes from the manufacturer?
Wash it, the ticking is soft and, at least for me, seems to grip the rifling better. I've only got one rifle I use ticking in and at an estate auction I bought a quantity of ticking that was used to make curtains. Works fine in that rifle but is so tight in my various CVA "Mountain Rifles" that I need to use a rubber mallet to get it down the barrel. When hunting w/the CVA's, I use a lube from my local (45-50 mi.) black powder shop called Old Trappers Patch Lube, looks like a very thin petroleum jelly, and Ox-Yoke .010 precut patches.. I don't do competition shooting, just practice and hunting. Good luck w/ finding your loads and keep putting sulfur smell in the air.
Yep, best to wash it before using it. It also seems to "fluff" it a bit. Since I've been at this for well over half a century, I've used up a closet full of old t-shirts. They worked pretty well but then I discovered ticking and went from there.
Old t shirts make decent cleaning patches and wiping rags but are typically to thin to make decent shooting patches.
Mark
I get Pushing Daisies patches from October Country. Unique design and a wide range of thicknesses.
http://www.octobercountry.com/categories/Patches-%26-Wads/Dry-Shooting-Patches/
http://www.octobercountry.com/categories/Patches-%26-Wads/Lubed-Shooting-Patches/
Quote from: Papa on June 29, 2019
Old t shirts make decent cleaning patches and wiping rags but are typically too thin to make decent shooting patches.
Mark
I agree.