Diameter of .54 patch? / How to cut pillow ticking?

[Al Bently]

I have two quick questions.

First, can anyone here tell me what the diameter is for store-bought shooting patches used in a .54 caliber rifle? Are they of a standard or close size?

Second, how do you go about cutting the little circles of .015 pillow ticking material? Do you use am arch punch or something else? Thanks.

 

[azmntman]

Not sure about size. I buy pillow ticking, cut into 1.5" strips, make my own lube from ballistol n water and cut at the muzzle. Or I am known to cut square patches. No difference in accuracy. If you want to make yer own round patches contact ohio ramrod and he will make ya a custom punch for pounding out yer own outta denim, ticking or whatever you have determined works best for you.

Get the Dutch system, $20.00 well spent. Keep reading here and his name and contact will pop up.

If ya want to know the exact best diameter for your gun get a nice oily patch, short start a ball and cut at muzzle then when ya shoot it out, recover the patch (which will be round and exact size you need) and measure it or use as a reference for a night in front of the tube with yer pillow ticking and scissors.

 

[jamesthomas]

I cut square patches myself, use to use a medicine bottle cap to cut my .50 cal. patches. Also with a square patch you don't have any waste to throw away as you do when cutting a round patch.

 

[necchi]

Here's a topic a little lower in this section that may shed some light. http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/289753/

When someone is making their own patch, round isn't important, fully surrounding the perimeter of the ball is.
Extra fabric above the ball matters not, a little care should be taken when first seating the ball an patch in the barrel so that the extra fabric isn't bound around the short starter or ramrod end.

Using "strip" fabric works well, seat the ball then "cut" the fabric off the strip just above the ball with a sharp knife,
aka; Cut at the muzzle

 

[longcruise]

The round pre cut patches look like an ideal solution but do have some draw backs. It can be difficult to center the patch on the muzzle and is only more difficult to get the ball centered if it has a casting sprue.

not trying too steer you here, but while square patches have the same problems as round, they are simpler to cut.

as far as size goes, an oversize pre cut round will be easier to manage and will be fine in the shooting department as well. Slightly oversized; good. Under sized; not so good.

Personally, I use square for pre cuts and cut at the muzzle for hunting and match shooting.

My entire shooting regimen is constantly changing. Sometimes for the worse and sometimes for the better. Am constantly trying new or different things and combos. Its all good fun if not taken too seriously.

 

[bpd303]

My store bought patches for 54-58 caliber are 1 1/4 inch in diameter. I have used an arch punch to make them, but lately I just cut 1 1/4 inch squares because I have a hard time finding the right thickness pre-cut and it is easier to cut square for me.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I have never measured but about 1 1/4" should be fine. Square work just as well. A friend uses a circle saw with the teeth ground off in his drill press to cut round patches. It is both important and difficult to exactly center a ball on a pre cut patch. Oversize is not a detriment to shooting. And, even though you didn't ask, most shooters prefer to cut at the muzzle.

 

[necchi]

most shooters prefer to cut at the muzzle.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, maybe rephrase a bit;
"Most successful competition shooters,," tend to use a cut at the muzzle patch/lube loading regime.

 

[mooman76]

most shooters prefer to cut at the muzzle.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, maybe rephrase a bit;
"Most successful competition shooters,," tend to use a cut at the muzzle patch/lube loading regime.

I was thinking that too but I haven't been around many BP shooters in a long time. Doesn't really matter. Do what works best for you.

 

[Zonie]

A patch for a .54 will be about 1 1/4 to 1 3/8 inches in diameter.

If you want a size based on geometric calculations the size will be

[Pi R] + D = size, where D is the caliber and R is 1/2 the caliber.

This is based on the following sketch



If one wants just an approximate size multiply the bore size times 2.6

The important thing is the patch must be at least 3.2 times the bore radius for it to fully cover the bottom half of the ball.
This size is cutting it 'close' because it would have to be exactly centered with the bore to fully cover the contact area between the ball and the bore.

Fortunately, it the patch is oversize by quite a bit it doesn't hurt accuracy so if the patch is larger than needed it will work just fine.

 

[Rifleman1776]

most shooters prefer to cut at the muzzle.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that, maybe rephrase a bit;
"Most successful competition shooters,," tend to use a cut at the muzzle patch/lube loading regime.

I was thinking that too but I haven't been around many BP shooters in a long time. Doesn't really matter. Do what works best for you.

I just polled every ml'er in the country and 88.9% of them cut at muzzle. :wink:

 

[Grenadier1758]

I have two quick questions.

First, can anyone here tell me what the diameter is for store-bought shooting patches used in a .54 caliber rifle? Are they of a standard or close size?

Second, how do you go about cutting the little circles of .015 pillow ticking material? Do you use am arch punch or something else? Thanks.

Patch material sold precut and lubricated should have the suggested size marked on the package. So far all of the suggestions for patch size are good and will work fine. Shooting muzzleloading rifles is not an exact science so many variations of patch size work. Care needs to be taken to ensure the ball is centered on the patch.

My solution is to use a strip of material ( I use cotton drill, or utility cloth from JoAnn's Fabrics or pillow ticking) and cut at the muzzle using a very sharp knife. I find that cutting the patch at the muzzle is more consistent and gives me more control over the lubricant and patch thickness than precutting patches.

I find it easier to sharpen my knife than to sharpen an arch punch and my wife won't let me use her scissors to cut up square patches.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Odd, at woods walk competitions I see about half the shooters cutting at the muzzle. At paper matches that drops to about an eighth of the shooters. And of those it tends to be mostly those who load from the pouch woods walk style.

I tried it and it made no appreciable difference over several hundred shots, but it did wear at the muzzle. For my light and heavy bench shooting, I did better with my own precut patches.

Some shooters don;t load consistently with pre cut patches and have trouble centering the ball in the patch and keeping it that way when starting the ball. I turn the weave the same direction every time, same side up every time and pay particular attention to keeping the ball centered.

 

[pab1]

I use a rotary fabric cutter along a straight edge to cut mine. I cut several layers of pillow ticking at a time with it.

 

[nhmoose]

I have two quick questions.

First, can anyone here tell me what the diameter is for store-bought shooting patches used in a .54 caliber rifle? Are they of a standard or close size?

Second, how do you go about cutting the little circles of .015 pillow ticking material? Do you use am arch punch or something else? Thanks.

I find it easier to sharpen my knife than to sharpen an arch punch and my wife won't let me use her scissors to cut up square patches.

Know that problem, pinking shears makes girly looking patches anyway

 

[Vaino]

My first RB cal. was a .45 and a Forstner patch cutter was bought and luckily the 1-3/16" dia. patch works for my .50 and .54.....Fred

 

[Grenadier1758]

Know that problem, pinking shears makes girly looking patches anyway

No, not the pinking shears, those were her dress making shears. Probably cost more than some of my knives and nearly as sharp.

 

[crockett]

I'll sort of add a few nuances... I think the thickness of the patch will have a greater influence on accuracy than whether the patch is round or square or cut at the muzzle. I always have trouble centering a precut patch- all looks good and when I whack the ball seater it seems half the time one side of the patch slips and then is off center. Cutting at the muzzle is probably the only way to obtain a perfectly centered patch but once again whether it results in improved accuracy is debatable.
For me, a thicker patch seems most accurate. Patch lube also influences accuracy.
On the round vs. square. The store-bought patches I bought were round so I just naturally figured if I cut my own patches they would need to be round. Since the weave of pillow ticking is at right angles, I had a real problem trying to produce perfectly round patches without ending up with ragged edges on some areas of the border. So square is good and cutting at the muzzle is good.
But, as I said, I'd first experience with the thickness and lube.

 

[Walks with fire]

I cut my own my using a coin or bottle cap the size I want and drawing around it with an ink pen. I just cut them out with some sharp scissors. I want the patch as big as it can be without gripping the short starter when loading. I also don't like there to be so much extra material that it covers the face of the ball. I feel that the patch should separate from the ball as soon as possible when fired and release as evenly as possible as well.

Cutting at the muzzle is best in my opinion but I do cut some for range work and for speed loaders when hunting. When cutting at the muzzle I like the tip of the ball to be flush with the end of the muzzle so the blade rests very lightly on it. Same way every time. I only lube the powder side of the ball.

When hunting I carry one speed loader with powder and patched ball and a few more with just powder. I carry a pre-lubed strip of ticking in a plastic bag. I haven't had to re-load for deer in years though.

 

[Rifleman1776]

a thicker patch seems most accurate. Patch lube also influences accuracy.

For you, that would be a correct statement. But, it is not a broad brush rule. Shooting different combos of ball size, patch type and different lubes, plus different charges is the only way to determine what works best in yer rifle. Finding that proper combo is what keeps this forum alive and most of us in a constant state of insanity.