Patch thickness measure

[stronics]

Gentlemen,
I'm a little confused about how to measure patch material. I bought some pillow ticking several years ago and measured it at the time after washing it. It measured .018". It worked great with what I had at the time. Now I got some more of the same, plus some of other I've picked up. The pillow ticking, after washing reads .022" with calipers measuring about an inch of material in the jaws with about the same pressure. With a calibrated mike with 1/4" anvil measures .018". What I am trying to decide what is the proper way? I believe I must have used the calipers originally.
David

 

[RockRash]

According to Dutch Schultz use a micrometer and put pressure on it. That will be the thickness of the patch under the ball. That's how I'm doing it.

 

[pacanis]

Good info. That makes sense.

I had a lot of inconsistency myself using Verniers.
But shouldn't you be more concerned with the sides of the ball pushing on the patch, not the bottom?

 

[64Springer]

Pounds per square inch on 1/4" mic anvils will crush that fabric.

No way I'd trust a mic reading on cloth.

Digital calipers.

And don't smoosh the snot out of it.

 

[RockRash]

Good info. That makes sense.

I had a lot of inconsistency myself using Verniers.
But shouldn't you be more concerned with the sides of the ball pushing on the patch, not the bottom?

That's what I ment. Side thickness against the ball and barrel. Wrong wording.

 

[pacanis]

I think the bottom line anyway is to get a consistent method.

Right now I couldn't tell you which is thicker, red ticking or blue. It depended on which day I was measuring them.

 

[bang]

I've found ticking in various thickness. I get what measures closest to what I want.

 

[TDM]

Yes, should be measured under pressure. Just moderate finger and thumb pressure is fine.

 

[Dale Allen Raby]

Results matter. Consistency matters. Get something that works, use it consistently, buy a bunch of it and don't worry how thick it is.

 

[Ed C.]

I have the old style veneer caliper with a dial graduated in .000". The commercial .015 patches measure exactly that under a slight pressure. At the store I found different colored ticking in different thicknesses. I purchased the black ticking which was .015". Measured the same after washing. Under stronger pressure it will measure about .011".

 

[The Crisco Kid]

I seem to get more consistent results with muslin from Joann's than I do with the ticking. My problem is that every time I go through the measuring process to find the right bolt of material I forget to write down the product number so I don't have to go through the search the next time. Maybe I should just buy the whole bolt!

 

[david w]

I use a Starrett vernier mic. after affirming the mic is calibrated, I turn it until I hear 3 clicks. New pillow ticking has sizing in it, so you will never get an accurate read until all the sizing has been washed out. As long as I can recover my patches that show no blow out, and I have good accuracy, I don't care what the actual thickness is.

 

[pacanis]

I must have sot that new .32 20 times and haven't found one .010 pre-lubed patch.
I am really wondering what they look like.

 

[david w]

I must have sot that new .32 20 times and haven't found one .010 pre-lubed patch.
I am really wondering what they look like.

Your patches may be too thin, and could be blown apart.. I don't trust anything thinner than .015. I usually recover my patches at around 15 to 20 feet. That is if the wind is still.

 

[pacanis]

Blown apart? I didn't know that could happen.

 

[Greenjoytj]

Don’t forget that whatever your ball diameter and lubed patch thickness is, when you test fit this PRB one inch into your rifles muzzle. Then wait a minute for the cloth weave to thoroughly emboss into the ball’s circumference/equator.

Remove the PRB via the slide hammer action using the short (~8”) brass rod you’ve previously inserted into the barrel and gently slid to the bottom.

The removed ball should show a belt of patch weave marks.
The pattern of the cloth should be embossed all around the ball in a connected series of marks.
These marks show deeply embossed over the lands and much more lightly embossed over the grooves. The groove areas must show embossed marks too.
If their missing over the grooves the PRB combination is too small in overall diameter.

In my GPR I had to move up from a .530” ball to a .535” ball with my chosen patch material thickness.
The patch cloth was measured new, twice hot washed and lubed.
Measurements were taken at each of these cloth conditions with a caliper and micrometer.
Frustratingly different thickness were record at each step, I choose to go with the result from the washed and lubed cloth and adjusted my ball size to get the above mentioned cloth weave pattern embossed all around on the larger .535” ball.

 

[pacanis]

Hey, I found one.
Apparently they did not blow apart.

 

[LME]

I use a Starrett vernier mic. after affirming the mic is calibrated, I turn it until I hear 3 clicks. New pillow ticking has sizing in it, so you will never get an accurate read until all the sizing has been washed out. As long as I can recover my patches that show no blow out, and I have good accuracy, I don't care what the actual thickness is.

Your last sentence speaks volumes! As long as the patch is reasonably tight going down you will get your best results. The thread that makes up cloth isn't consistent to start with? I would think that cloth would be measured, if measured at all, with a wide plus or minus?

 

[david w]

Hey, I found one.
Apparently they did not blow apart.
View attachment 198162

Looks like a good seal to me.

 

[pacanis]

Looks like a good seal to me.

For as easy as they loaded It's probably one of my better looking patches. Kind of surprised me.
But as long as the gun loads easy, shoots accurately and cleans OK, I'm happy.