cleaning patch material

[shdwlkr]

What do you use for patches to clean your muzzle loaders or center fire firearms for that matter. I just got a lot of flannel material to use as the wife said what I was using was just plain 100% cotton flannel material. My flannel material bought by the yard is much cheaper then the patches I was using.
thanks for your input

 

[Zonie]

I use pre made cleaning patches that are for large caliber pistols.
Their size is big enough to clean a .54 caliber bore but not so big that they 'bunch up' and freeze the cleaning jag in a .36.

IMO, when it comes to cleaning patches cotton is great but just about any cloth that is really absorbent will work just fine. Even if they have a lot of modern poly-whatever in them.

Of course, for shooting patches they must be 100 percent cotton or they will leave vaporized poly-whatever in the bore when they are shot.

 

[roundball]

Over the years you become an associate cotton scrounger...adept at identfying "anything cotton" around the house and snag it before it gets thrown out.

And as more experience is gained, you graduate to the advanced cotton scrounger stage where you learn to snag things even "before" they get worn out. :grin:

T-shirts, flannel sheets, flannel shirts, PJs, nightgowns, batting used in making quilts, etc

 

[wvbuckbuster]

I buy some cotton flannel by the yard and use a material cutter and cut what ever size I want. It is cheaper and make them to fit what ever cal. I need to clean. Works for me. :wink:

 

[jtmattison]

I am a collector of old t-shirts. Whenever a shirt wears out my wife tosses it onto my bench. With three sons and myself I get a lot of old t-shirts tossed my way. I cut them about 2 inches square. They work pretty good IMO.

HD

 

[ApprenticeBuilder]

Cotton flannel by the yard, about $1.59 or so I think.

 

[Pork Chop]

I am a collector of old t-shirts. Whenever a shirt wears out my wife tosses it onto my bench. With three sons and myself I get a lot of old t-shirts tossed my way. I cut them about 2 inches square. They work pretty good IMO.

HD

I know a few folks that do that. Whenever I try to use t-shirt material, the jag usually gets stuck...

 

[nw_hunter]

I'm with you on the T shirts.
I go to G W Fashions......That's Goodwill. A good cheap place to pick up cotton T shirts.

 

[jtmattison]

G W Fashions

:rotf:

That's a good one!

HD

 

[cowpoke1955]

I go to Wal-Mart or Joann's and buy cotton flanel by the yards. Also make sure I have plenty of pillow ticking. Some of the looks you get when you tell them you are getting shooting supplies :shocked2: :rotf: .

 

[BrownBear]

Found cotton flannel on sale at Walmart for $1 a yard. Spent $5 for about ten times more cleaning patches than I used to get in the large size bags for $15. About half an hour with a rotary cutter filled three 1-gallon ziplocs plumb full. Won't be buying any more for a lonnnggggg time.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I tear old flannel shirts into strips. these I wind around worn .45cal cleaning brushes to wipe the bore of my .50 with cleaning fluid (windshield wiper fluid) after hot water rinse the bore.

 

[Many Klatch]

Anytime a piece of clothing gets worn out I cut it up into usable rags for cleaning up around the house. Blue jean, T-shirt, sweatshirt, khaki pants it's all good. We use the rags, toss them in the washer with the laundry and keep on using them. Saves big on paper towels.

When I clean a gun I go to the rag bag and grab one that is an appropriate thickness for the gun that I am cleaning. I have found that old worn sweatshirts seem to make the best cleaning patches if I have the right sized ram rod tip. The fuzzy side seems to get into the rifling better. When using T-shirts I usually need to put two or three thicknesses on the tip to get the proper wipe-ability.

There are companies that sell cut up sweatshirt material by the bale for use in cleaning, those rags are usually pretty good. I'll swipe some of those that have been used every once in a while take them home wash them and use them.

Free is good.

Many Klatch

 

[MikeChapin]

My wife works in a thrift store. Whenever they get donations that are too worn out to sell or get fabric remnants that are to small to sell, she brings them home.

As Zonie said, just about any fabric that will absorb cleaning solution will work fine for cleaning patches. I like any kind of flannel, tshirt material, quilt batting and fleece.

 

[renovato]

I use military surplus cleaning patches for most everything. They come in sizes from .22 up to .50, which works well for .54 and .58 front stuffers. I live in a military city, so they're easy to find.

Sometimes I either scrounge material or worn out clothes around the house or from second hand stores.

 

[ohio ramrod]

Cotton flannel is tops for cleaning., It took me over twenty years to rip up all of the cotton flannel night gowns my wife got from her great aunt!

 

[MSW]

I go to Wal-Mart or Joann's and buy cotton flanel by the yards. Also make sure I have plenty of pillow ticking. Some of the looks you get when you tell them you are getting shooting supplies ...


ah, yes, you can always tell the rockbangers at WalMart dry goods ... we're the middle aged males ... the ones with the micrometers and the thinning hair that look as though they couldn't rethread a bobbin if someone put an original Mortimer to our head.