patch thickness

[FrankG]

How is the crown on barrel ? Is it smooth , have little ripples/grooves ? Rough or polished ? Take a piece of 240 grit wet/dry automotive sandpaper and wet a 2"x2" square of it with a little oil on it or water and place it on muzzle and use your thumb then push down hard on muzzle and twist/rotate back and forth and polish the crown real slick and that will help starting ball .

[kybackwoodsman]

ok ill try that, the crown does look good on the rifle.. i was wondering if i could have the muzzle coned.. i understand that the original rifles were done that way and if pretty well eliminates the need of a ball starter. 

[dsrtfox1942]

Just thought of something.... I wonder how bacon grease would work for a patch lube? Always have plenty of it after making breakfast.

[shootrj2003]

any good tight weave cotton material is a good candidate for patching mostly it's the thickness that makes a difference in loading and accuracy,although I do use mostly striped pillow ticking annd it was specified for patching by The U.S.Gov.  I think back in the midle to late 1800's[I read the specification but i don't remember it's date .I check my wife's quilt scraps for  cotton at .015 ,,then I smear it with Bore Butter and roll it up tightly stick it in the Micro-wave for 10-20 seconds then I cut the rolls into 1'' strips and then unroll and cut them as I shoot,a few rolls in my possibles bag lasts forever kept in a baggie to keep them clean.

[graybear]

Bacon grease has a lot of salt, and salt = rust so I'd be leary of bacon fat.  IMHO

[Hanshi]

Crown polishing does work.  I did it on one of mine, and while I still have to use a short starter - shallow grooves - , the patches come out pristine and don't snag being started.  Yep, bacon grease has mucho salt.  Avoid anything that MIGHT contain salt.

[Tim Burns]

Just my 2 cents: I shot 2 dozen balls out of the .32 this morning. 20 grains of Goex 3F black Powder..310 round ball and a .10 thousandths patch...Ox Yoke wonder patches - prelubed - NO trouble in starting the load and no sticking between shots. No cleaning between shots either. I do not use a starter. The rifle shoots a lot better than I do. I am not sure if the Ox Yoke patches are OK for a Primitive Rendezvous. But I have used them exclusively for 10+ years with absolutely no trouble! Now if I get the Right eye fixed that is out of focus - I may be able to tag some tree rats. Today's score: Tim-3: Tree Rats-Mostly safe and having a Laughing fit at my Innaccuracy...

[dsrtfox1942]

Very true about the salt. Didn't think of that.

[kybackwoodsman]

One other thing i need to check that Wyoming Mike brought up, is that my rifle is an older import and it might be under bored to 44 cal.  ill have to check that.