after the shot

[queball]

is this what a used patch is supposed to look like when i`m done ? there is no burn spots or anything bad I think ?

 

[Lone Carabiner]

Did you have an overpowder wad/pad in your load? If not that looks good to me. :thumbsup:

 

[renovato]

Hi Queball, welcome to MLF!

Ain't nothing wrong with them patches. The most important this is how is the gun shooting? As long as the gun is hitting the target, don't sweat the small stuff.

 

[paulvallandigham]

This patch combination seems to be a little bit tight. you have a cut in the lower right patch, at 4 o'clock, and I see two apparent stretch marks on the upper right patch in the center. If it is giving you consistent accuracy, and you are not experiencing fliers you can't account for( pilot error), then leave well enough alone. Otherwise, it might be better to use a slightly thinner patch, and seal the gases with an overpowder card, or fiber wad, or filler, like corn meal. All of these will protect the patching from burning, and that leave the patch only one job to do, and that is to impart the spin of the rifling to the lead ball. :hmm:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Looks pretty good. As noted, you have a hole from either a rough bore, sharp rifling or overly tight fit. The proof is in how they are grouping.

Here's some of mine (three different thicknesses)

 

[roundball]

These are some new .018" Oxyoke prelubed pillow ticking patches from a .62cal smoothbore with 80grns Goex 2F...I noticed that the lube had a different smell to it than the normal bore butter smell...whatever it is it works great.

 

[shmrck1]

roundball,
Those look good enough to use again :hmm:
snake-eyes :hatsoff:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Queball: If you examine the three patches stumpy has shown here, the thinnest one shows a lot of soot, which represents a patch allowing a lot of blow-by of gases. The middle one looks so good it could be used again. No burns, no soot. The largest, the .018 shows the kind of burning and stretch marks yours show. That may even be a small tear or hole we see on the right side,center, and upper right, at 1-2 o'clock. I am guessing its not a hole, but rather a separation of the cloth because it is too tight for the bore.

Now look at the patches that Roundball has shown above. They look much more like the .015" patch in the middle of the three Stumpy shows, than the other two. AND, Roundball tells us he is using 80grs. of FFg, and a prelubed patch that is .015" thick in that .62 cal. rifle. No question that those patches could be used again, if Roundball needed to do so.

My thanks to Stumpy and Roundball, and to Cueball. With the various pictures, it is easy to point out and see the differences different patch thicknesses make in one gun, and to show new shooters what their patches should look like after they have been fired. I don't recall seeing this good a set of pictures in any book on Muzzleloaders anywhere else.