longcruise
70 Cal.
There are several possible problems. First, your patch material may be manure. If it ain't tough it's just not going to work. Second, your patch is being damaged when you load it due to an abrupt or sharp crown. A good looking crown can still cut your patch. Third, your lands have sharp edges and are cutting the patch. This is less likely since TC barrels are button rifled and are usually pretty smooth straight from the factory.
Go to Joannes fabrics and get some #40 cotton drill and try that with both .530 and .535 balls. Don't worry too much about the lube.
I'm not going to get into how to crown your barrel cause I don't want to get blamed for screwing it up :haha: Suffice to say that the crown should be gradual and at the point right at the muzzle the lands should be evenly worked down to match the groove depth.
Patches, even dry unlubed patches, don't usually simply burn unless they are of a very inferior quality material. The burning happens after the crown or the bore has caused enough shredding to allow gas to pass freely around the ball. If your patches are sliced and diced but not burned, then you can be sure that if you run up to 110 grains of powder or so they will get burnt!
Like was said, fraying is ok around the edges of the patch but not ok if it happens at the point where the ball meets the bore. If your patches edges are fraying all the way to the point of ball bore contact, then you are not starting them deep enough before cutting at the muzzle or if pre cut they are not big enough. Get your ball at least 1/4 inch down the bore before cutting the patch.
