Don: I have been really cheap about patches. I buy the plain variety and lube them with NL 1000 myself.( That's the same as wonderlube, or bore butter.) I wipe the patch in my jar then put another patch on top of the lubed side of the first patch, then lube another patch and put that on top of the first two patches, making a large sandwich affair. I stick them in a Tedd Cash brask can- probably 40+ patches in all, and for get about them. While they sit together, in as little as 24 hours, the lube migrates through all the patches and is evenly disbursed. Now that i have a microwave, I will probably give them a zap in a plastic bag, just to keep the odor down in the kitchen. I have played around with cloth strips, and am going to use a putty knife, and ink roller, to lube up some strips to try with my smoothbore. But, I probably will stick with the pre-cut patches for my .50 cal. rifle, simply because I have used them for so long.
Like most ML shooters, I am a chronic " tester ", so if the lubed cloth strips work out well with my smoothbore, I will probably test them out with my rifle. Who knows I may switch yet. You also may want to try Dutch Schoultz's dry lube system,
[url] www.Blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com[/url] I think he has a good recipe for a lube, and a good way of creating a dry lubed patch that is not as messy to handle in the field or range as my wet lube patches tend to be. If you use wet lube, by all means, have towels, or a roll of paper towels on hand to clean up with. Otherwise, your pants and sleeve make lousy napkins.