Need VooDoo Man (I Need Patches Read Please!)

[Joshua M. Smith]

Hello,

I'm barely keeping my groups in the 9 ring at 50 yards. Granted, I can't see worth crap, but I'm not liking the looks of a few patches that came from my rifle.

Patch material is .008" pillow ticking (off one of my old pillows), compressible to .0075". Load is 70gn Pyrodex FFg.


Lube moistened patch (just enough to feel it)...


Lube saturated patch (can see it standing and wets things it touches...


Same as the second pic...

I was using old T-shirt material, but was told that it was too loosely woven. However, I was getting decent accuracy and it was holding together like the number two and three patches with just spit lubed.

I think this stuff is just old and thin, and blowing apart. I know I find lots of lil' pieces in front of the rifle if they're not saturated.

The balls are supposed to cast at .490", but they mic at .492".

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Josh

 

[surbat6]

If I were you, I'd think about doing three things:
1. Lap my barrel. It looks like you have a burr or two that are tearing your patch material (tearing could be due to weak cloth or too-thin patches, though). If the ball seats smoothly down a clean barrel, this is probably not necessary.
2. Go back to the tee shirt patches. They worked for you. Who cares if they're "too loosely woven?
You might also consider trying thicker, tougher material like denim or flannel (old shirts and jeans) for patching.
3. Try different lubes. When I'm shooting targets, I often lube with spit (as in "chewing the rag"). For hunting, I use a combination of tallow and beeswax.

 

[denster]

Pick up a yard of stripped pillow ticking at Wal-Mart wash to remove sizing then tear into strips. Your patch problems will go away.