How wet is wet?

[ormond tony]

Everyone is talking about the type of patch and how to get it wet. I would like to know how wet do you get the patch? Is it lightly damp or damp enough to get your fingers slippery, or wet to the point of dripping in the pouch? It may have been answered or some common sense approach but I can't find any reference to 'how wet is wet' for a patch? Thanks.

 

[BullRunBear]

The patch should be moist to the touch but not dripping. You shouldn't be able to squeeze out any water. Certainly you want to avoid wetting the powder charge. If using a grease or lube of some kind, the patch should feel a bit slick but not caked. It one of those things you quickly get a 'feel' for.

Jeff

 

[ord sgt]

I once used strips of cloth for patches when at the range. I would put the cloth in mouth before starting the load. Once powder went down the barrel, the well dampened cloth would be placed on the muzzle. A round ball topped the cloth and was pushed into the barrel. Trim the dry portion away, the end went back into my mouth. Oh, btw, I was chewing Beechnut tobacco at the time. This gave the patch a little tobacco slime, making the cloth slicker. But this was only at the rifle range.
For hunting, I used a pre lubricated wonder lube patch. It wouldn't dry out, like a spit patch would.

 

[megasupermagnum]

As much as the fabric will absorb. Dripping is never good. You will never be able accurately gauge "damp", so I soak as much as they will hold, then just lightly roll up and not squeeze, but compress so the drips fall off. Another method is to take another bit of dry patching, and wipe off the lubed patch, so no drips remain.

 

[Erwan]

I would like to know how wet do you get the patch?

Enough for the lubrication and not too much at the point that you have powder wet or polluted by grease or water, no real recipe in fact : one shooter (one rifle too) = a way to do with this or that lubricant...
Don't worry, you will find your right rule with your own habits and in function of your lubricant.

 

[oldwood]

My 2 cents worth , I just sighted in a .58 cal long rifle ,Colerain Barrel ,.562 ball , .015 patch , 85 gr. FFG. I tried a liquid patch lube , and the fired patches were slightly shredded. Tried a grease lube with the grease rubbed through the patch w/ no extra front or back. The used patches looked like they could be reused. No damage. 3" " groups @ 50 yds.. ........oldwood

 

[Phil Coffins]

Depends on the day, hot dry weather gets damper patches as the shooting requires.

 

[Greeny04]

I just get it a little bit wet .

 

[TrapperDude]

I lube my patches with olive oil by folding the patch twice, forming it into a wedge, dipping the pointy end of the wedge into the oil about .25". From there, I unfold the patch, and the oil ends up spread throughout the patch to proper lube the bore, without being dripping wet. If it isn't spread around enough, then I just told the dry parts onto the wetter middle, and I press them together.

 

[JohnL]

I once used strips of cloth for patches when at the range. I would put the cloth in mouth before starting the load. Once powder went down the barrel, the well dampened cloth would be placed on the muzzle. A round ball topped the cloth and was pushed into the barrel. Trim the dry portion away, the end went back into my mouth. Oh, btw, I was chewing Beechnut tobacco at the time. This gave the patch a little tobacco slime, making the cloth slicker. But this was only at the rifle range.
For hunting, I used a pre lubricated wonder lube patch. It wouldn't dry out, like a spit patch would.

Patent that idea! Beechnut infused prelubed shooting patches!

 

[Art Caputo]

Using TOTW Mink Oil, I will rub the oil on one side of the patch(barrel contact) until the weave appears nearly filled. I do not swab for 10-20 shots. At the first sign of carbon ring resistance I will lube the patch with a bit of excess mink oil which gets me a few more shots before swabbing with a spit patch but will only swab to an inch or so past the carbon ring to remove it.

 

[Okie Hog]

Everyone is talking about the type of patch and how to get it wet.

i don't use a liquid patch lube. The entire underside of my patches are coated by rubbing on the lube.

 

[Codger Craig Wilcox]

I'm another mink oil guy - rub the patch onto the mink oil, just one side, then go shooting. That stuff is really more of a "mink grease", and has the consistency of floor wax.
The one exception is the thick wad used in smoothbores, as either another over-powder wad, or as in the Sky Chief loads, placed over the shot. That thick wad is soaked in olive oil, then squeezed.

 

[mushka]

I use barely damp spit patches between shots and a lightly lubed patch lubed with mink oil with the ball. I can do this for a lot of shots.

 

[FishDFly]

How dry is dry comes to mind.

 

[flntlokr]

Everyone is talking about the type of patch and how to get it wet. I would like to know how wet do you get the patch? Is it lightly damp or damp enough to get your fingers slippery, or wet to the point of dripping in the pouch? It may have been answered or some common sense approach but I can't find any reference to 'how wet is wet' for a patch? Thanks.

I put my punched patches in prescription bottles. I squirt some detergent down beside the stack of patches, and fill the bottle with water. then I squeeze down on the patch stack to get the air out and let the water soak in, and add a bit more water before storage. When it's time to shoot, I remove part of the stack (20 or so patrches), and squeeze as much water out as I can, and they are good to go. The squeezed-out patches go into a reday pouch so they don't dry out too fast while I shoot. I use 100% cotton 'duck', .012 or so thick.

 

[stephenprops1]

At a Rendezvous last year I was shooting a Pedersoli, Kentucky, Carbine, 45 caliber, percussion rifle. I used Wonder Lubed patches. Between each shot I wetted a patch in my mouth, wiped out the bore and then ran a dry patch down the bore before loading the gun. After the 3rd shot I started getting misfires. I had to trickle powder behind the nipple to clear out the mess. Later, when I cleaned the gun, I found a sloppy quagmire of fluid at the breech end of the barrel. The next day I only used the Wonder Lube and refrained from using a spit-patch to clean it. The gun worked fine. --- I still don't understand why that happened.

 

[Big Bubba]

Damp is good. Sloppy wet not so good, plus it makes it messy trying to load.

 

[Grenadier1758]

@stephenprops1, the sloppy wet patch pushed fouling into the flash channel and the Pedersoli chambered breech. The dry patch could not remove the sloppy fouling from the chambered breech.

To prevent the pushing of fouling into the chambered breech one can do a couple of things.
One: Use a smaller caliber jag that is small enough to allow the damp patch to slide over the fouling then bunch up to pull the fouling out. This means having a loading jag and a cleaning jag.
OR
Two: Have a stop marked on the ramrod just above where a loaded ball would rest to run the damp patch before loading.
OR
Three: Do not wipe. Load the powder. Insert an over powder wad then the ball in a wet patch. The over powder wad prevents the wet patch from contaminating the powder as the wet patch wipes the fouling down the barrel.

 

[Zutt-man]

The patch should be moist to the touch but not dripping. You shouldn't be able to squeeze out any water. Certainly you want to avoid wetting the powder charge. If using a grease or lube of some kind, the patch should feel a bit slick but not caked. It one of those things you quickly get a 'feel' for.

Jeff

I second this. I place patches in my mouth as I’m loading powder and soak them in saliva. As I pull the patch out, I suck on the patch to remove excess spit. Has been my loading method my whole life.