patch making--a savings?

[nodakhorseman]

I'm sure this has been batted around before, but is it tradition or to save money that drives folks to make their own shooting patches?

I buy the pre-lubed patches and it doesn't strike me that making my own would save me a bunch of money.

That said, I think there would be the added satisfaction of making my own. I just choose not to take the time...

 

[longcruise]

It's the satisfaction of doing it yourself. The savings depend on how much you shoot. If you shoot a large match or just like to shoot alot you will go through a 100 patches pronto. Generally for the price of 100 patches you can by several yards of patch material. Also, you have more selection and can be more certain that a given material is repeatable, whereas some of the prepacked stuff does not seem to be consistent from batch to batch.

 

[rafterob]

A yard of pillow ticking may cost from 5-7 bucks and will make a hell of a lot of patches when cut at the muzzle. For me its a cheap thing.

 

[peashooterJoe]

I do it because,my patch and ball will be consistent to match bore. Some barrels like thinner patch material and some like thicker. So it is bought to match the barrel for best accuracy. Good patch buying .. PeashooterJoe..

 

[nchawkeye]

I switched a few years ago because the pre lubed patches were burning through, pillow ticking didn't...

 

[Zonie]

Well, in theory a .50 caliber patch is about 1.3 X 1.3 square.

A yard of material is 36 inches long so if one were to cut a strip (or row) of material 1.3 inches wide by the length of the material he could then cut it into 36/1.3= 27.69 patches so lets call it 27 good patches.
The width of the last WalMart pillow ticking I bought is 44 inches.
44 inches/1.3 inches = 33.85 so we could make at least 33 rows of patches.

33 times 27 equals 891 patches but lets call it 890.

If a "yard" of pillow ticking cost $7.00 then each patch would cost 7.00/890 patches = $.0079 or about 1 cent each.

100 patches would cost about $1.00. That is a savings of over $5 if store bought patches cost $6/100.

Sounds like a savings to me. :grin:

 

[jtmattison]

I buy the pre-lubed patches and it doesn't strike me that making my own would save me a bunch of money.

The pre-cut, pre-lubed patches I see in the store cost about $9.99 per 100.

I get a yard of pillow ticking for under $4.00 which yields about 1,000 patches or more.

Enough homemade lube for 1,000 patches cost about $5.00.

So that's about $9.00 per thousand.

Pretty significant savings I think.

HD

 

huntin Dawg,

Yep good savings Plus it's just kinda fun cuttin at the muzzle.

Jay

 

[tg]

I like pre-cut square patches and the ones I make are easier to "center" than the round ones as mine are bigger.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Do they even sell 1-1/2" X 72" strips of patching? That's what I carry.

 

[MikeChapin]

It is cheaper to buy fabric than pre-cut patching but that is not the reason I do it. Zonie went through the the economics of it so I won't mess with that.

Pre-cut patching is available from about .010 to .020. I have two rifles that use patching in that range. The rest like .024 medium weight denim or cotton duck patches and one likes .034 heavy denim patching. The only place I can get this stuff is at a fabric store.

 

[CoyoteJoe]

:thumbsup: Indeed! I've never found precuts over .020" thickness and most of my rifles like thicker patching. Another consideration is that you don't know how long those percut/prelubed patches have been laying around. Not a problem with dry patches but the prelubed patches will deteriorate after a couple of years. And there really is no "convenience" to the precuts. I find by the time I've gone through fishing out a plastic bag, separating one patch from the others, putting away the bag, picking the loose threads off the patch and centering it on the muzzle I could have cut a strip at the muzzle and rammed the ball.
Cutting at the muzzle also insures the ball is perfectly centered in a patch no larger or smaller than it needs to be. Paying attention to small details is what pays off in accuracy.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

A yard of home-spun material cost $2/yard, so my patch cost is $2/890 patches = $0.0022 each, or roughly 4-1/2 patches for a penny!

Adding to that I use the $5/tin of Track's Mink Oil lube and I get lots of accurate shootin' for not much $$. I shot 6-pounds of BP in the 1st year I had my flint smoothie, so at 70grs/pound, that 100 shots per pound or at least 600 roundballs (and patches) shot downrange.

I say accurate above, as I mean it. I'm shooting a fowler and I was able to dial in a patch and lube combo that works well, less the 'nut' behind the trigger! And FWIW I had opened my 1st tin of that mink oil in Jan '07 and just used the last of it up not last weekend. So I'm guessing it lasted a 1000+ shots, as I didn't do as much shootin' this past year.

Thus my total patch & lube cost per shot is lube @ $5/1000 (= $0.005) + patch @ $2/890 (= $0.0022) or ~7/10ths of a penny per shot. That would make my bag of (100) lubed patches cost me only $0.72. What a bargain!

Oh yeah, and I prefer TOW's mink oil over any other lube on the market! Last week when I helped score the annual Smuggler's Notch, VT primitive biathlon, I witnessed about 4 broken ramrods per hour while I scored! Almost all were using bore butter ... which S#$KS in the extreme cccccold, the other was a spit patch. It was a chilly 1-degree below zero when I ran it SUN morning ...

 

[Dphar]

I'm sure this has been batted around before, but is it tradition or to save money that drives folks to make their own shooting patches?

I buy the pre-lubed patches and it doesn't strike me that making my own would save me a bunch of money.

That said, I think there would be the added satisfaction of making my own. I just choose not to take the time...

This really personal preference. But I will give you my opinion on this.

First I distrust all the factory made stuff. Second I started shooting ML before all the factory made, pre-cut, pre-lubed stuff hit the market.
Its just a way for big business to take your money and put it in their pocket. Thats what the industrial revolution gave us along with all the neat stuff it produces.

There are other factors as well.

You can make thicker patches than you can generally buy and some rifles/guns like a thicker patch. Some materials like denim shoot better for some than other fabrics like ticking. Some shooters shoot heavy weight twill.
It is possible your rifle will work just fine with store bought but it might well shoot better with a different combination than the generic stuff. Often the very best accuracy is obtained by cutting the patch at the muzzle.
Price a yard of heavy pillow ticking, especially if you find it on sale at some place like Jo Anns then price a little bag of patches in a gun store.
There are many "home made" or traditional lubes, lard, neatsfoot *oil* (no petroleum added), olive oil, Bear oil (a highly recommended favorite back in the day) and various mixes of these as well with and without beeswax that will work as well or better than store bought. In fact some store bought lubes leave residue in the barrel that can be very difficult to remove (one reason I avoid vegetable oils they tend to solidify at high temps). Some shooters like water based lubes but I don't use them.
Powder solvent made from 1 part widow cleaner with vinegar and 2 or 3 parts water is as good or better than the stuff you buy ready made and costs far, far less. Plain water works wonders.
Yes, its more cost effective to make your own.
How much so depends on how much you shoot

Dan

 

[laufer]

+ 1hr of labor/ enjoyment= $25 to 35 (depending on the experience.) (if outsourcing to china or panama = $1.5 to $2.5/ hr.)

 

[Grizzled Roberts]

I made a couple of patch cutters out of hole saws.
You take the drill bit out, Grind the teeth off and grind the outside edge to a sharp point grinding to the inside of the hole saw. I chuck this in my little drill press. I fold my material
over and over until it is 1,1/2 to 2 inches thick
I can cut toward 30 patches in a stroke. I use an old phone book to rest the material on. I have no idea of how many patches I can get in a 15 minute session. One yard of material will make enough patches so stuff full a one gallon zip lock bag. That is using less than 2/3rds of a yard of material. Last year I went to both Friendships, it was the first time in 30 years that I did not have to spend a penny on patch and ball! It sure felt good! If you shoot a bunch like me, it will
make a great savings!
Way back somewhere on this Forum there is a post on how to make these patch cutters, complete with pictures.
:thumbsup:

 

[longfowler]

I buy prelubed for my wife's gun, but all of mine prefer a different size and lube for every gun. It would be prohibitivly expensive to buy 5 or 6 different types of patch at $7 to $10 apiece, so I cut all of my own. and yes, I was one of those guys who broke my ramrod at the biathlon, so I'm changing my lube, too!

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I bought a pack of patches lubed with Wonder Lube years back when Roses Dept store was closeing and they were sold cheap, they did fine but I prefer my own.

 

[BrownBear]

+ 1hr of labor/ enjoyment= $25 to 35 (depending on the experience.) (if outsourcing to china or panama = $1.5 to $2.5/ hr.)

Hmmph. I guess if that fits the question at hand, I better sell my guns and buy beef instead. I figure my venison costs me around $1,000 a pound if I factor in all the range time and hunting time that goes into it each year. :bull:

 

[No Deer]

Well, I guess I like to cut at the muzzle cuz I must not be co-ordinated enough to hold the patch and place the ball and get it centered every time. The patch kept slipping out from under the ball as I tried to start it down the muzzle. By cutting at the muzzle I don't have that problem and the ball is centered every time.