Chamois as a patch?

[wcassidy]

So, back in the day before my time, my father hung around with a gentleman who happened to have an original long rifle in the .40-.54 range. I happen to have very few other details than he'd shoot it in matches and do quite well and that his trees had odd growths from barking squirrels. My question is he is supposed to only have used chamois as a patch material and attributed it to being a German Jaeger thing. What's the deal here, is this the be all end all patch, a baseless rumor, or something to be avoided altogether?

 

[Rod Lassey]

It'll work just fine, if your ball is the right size, of course. The use of leather patches was pretty common, historically. Braintan makes nice but pricey patches.


Rod

 

[redwing]

I tried the chamois patch. Did not work well at all in my Rice .54. The accuracy was terrible. :shake:

 

[LRB]

Leather is not going to be consistant in thickness, or compressability, from piece to piece, or hide to hide. If you want accuracy, use cloth.

 

[Trench]

There is historical basis here. The orginal British Baker rifles used a leather patch. I can't comment on it's usefullness, as I've never used it.

 

[redwing]

Use cloth, now there is a fact to deal with. :rotf: amazing revolation. :thumbsup:

 

[Tumblernotch]

Buckskin works very well, but as Wick said, the thickness is not consistant. I've used scrap pieces from making other items and experimented with it. What you'd have to do is measure the thickness of each piece you want to use and only use those pieces that are the same.

I've read where buckskin had been used back in the day, but I don't know how common it was. I would guess though that in some places on the frontier it was easier to get than linen or other good patching material at times and was at least used in a pinch.

 

[nkbj]

It would be interesting to find out how tight the ball to barrel may have been on that Baker. Reckon they issued a leather mallet?