After I shot my T/C .54 Renegade for the first three times yesterday, shooting offhand, standing, with my target at about 25 yards, I looked for the patches. I searched between the point I shot from to the target, which I hit all three times, and even a few feet beyond but can't find a single patch.
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No patches to read
- Thread starter tom in nc
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They are out there unless you are using a material that is coming out in dust. What is your patch material? If cotton or linen, the gun did not destroy them.
Keep us posted.
Larry
Hatchet-Jack
54 Cal.
They are usually at about 10 or 12 yards from where I'm shooting when I find them.
nchawkeye
58 Cal.
Put a tarp in front of your gun for them to fall on. You can even elevate the far end to help..Make sure to use cotton or linen patches, .015-.020 thick.
Must get a patch hunting dog! The best of patch hunting dogs are pointers. Makes it easier to find those elusive patches in thicker ground.
I dye them bright red with Rit Dye when I need to find them.
TDM
Cannon
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If you have much leaf litter on the ground the patches tend to hide themselves quite easily. But as said, they should be within 10-15 yards.
If they are close enough, deer find patches way better than dogs. Biggest problem compared to a good pointer-they only do it once.
Jim in Wisconsin
40 Cal
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I wonder if the patches might sometimes remain stuck to the ball. That would affect accuracy, and maybe give me an excuse for missing besides being a lousy shot.
Sometimes I just get my sight picture and then fire while looking for the patch instead of the sights. It also helps to have someone spot the patches for you.
If you are using a 1 turn in 48 twist slug barrel , and don't reduce the powder charge , with a round ball and patch , the patches might be shredded. Been there did that.
Yeah, sounds normal.
So, Uhm,,(?) What help do you need after 3 shots?
Did you clean the rifle?
And why are you looking for patches?
Patches do have a tendency to disappear, finding the first one is the hard part, the rest will be in the same vicinity.
I shot a rough barrel gun one time and couldn't find the first patch, I finally found what was left of the patch which turned out to be a ball of fuzz. A good barrel scrub with a piece of scotch bright pad cured the patch disintegrating issue.
I shot a rough barrel gun one time and couldn't find the first patch, I finally found what was left of the patch which turned out to be a ball of fuzz. A good barrel scrub with a piece of scotch bright pad cured the patch disintegrating issue.
It’s sort of like dropping a guitar pick, they sometimes just cross into another dimension. 
The gun shoots fine, I was just curious about how the patches would look. I was shooting across freshly mowed grass, since grown up with clover, with my target on a large oak tree. I went and checked the target and the tree behind it to see if the patches were there. No.
Finding fired patches in grass can prove to be difficult for sure. As someone has already mentioned, if you're wanting to find fired patches, spreading out a tarp in front of your shooting bench would be conducive.
I too, look for fired patches anytime I'm testing a new ML and/or have changed anything in the recipe.
longcruise
70 Cal.
Even at a muzzle velocity of only 1000 fps the ball from a 1:48 twist bore will be spinning at 30,000 rpm so it's going to throw the patch wide open immediately and free of the ball.
Wow! I've never thought about the RPMs a projectile spins at. Has someone actually calculated that?
Even a patch shredding barrel will shoot good at 25 yards. Try 50 yards.
