Patch width

[Blackfoot]

OK, is there a magic "width" patch for .50 cal round balls?

I am making a hole saw patch cutter and have a 1.5" hole saw to use and wonder if it is too big.

I measured some patches from Cabelas (.50-.58 size) and they are about the same size as the hole saw but it is bigger than what I have used before which I think were T/C .50 cal pre lubed patches.

What do you think?

 

[jtmattison]

I cut 1 1/4 inch patches for .50 and .54 caliber.

HD

 

[bwhoffman]

I'm using a 1 5/16 (od) hole saw razor sharp for my .50 with no issues. also shoot the same patch in my .40 with good results.
the net out at just a hair over 1 1/8"

Brett

 

[roundball]

I've always used 1+3/8" .58cal Oxyoke / TC precuts for .50/.54/.58cal balls

 

[trent/OH]

I typically will make my patches just big enough to wrap all the way around the ball. That way I don't have to fiddle around too much trying to center the ball and patch and bore. That is, my square patches will be roughly ball diameter times Pi. (Actually, diameter times 3 is fine for me, and easy enough to remember or calculate).

 

[nchawkeye]

I have played around with this a bit to see if accuracy suffers...Basically I can't tell a difference if the patch is bigger than needed...

In my .40 I can use .45 caliber precut patches...When I cut at the muzzle, I can use the same width that I use for my .54...In the .54 I have tried cutting the WalMart pillow ticking where it is 3 stripes and 4 stripes wide, still can't tell a difference in accuracy...

What I have done now with pillow ticking is settled on 2 stripes wide for the .40 and 4 stripes for the .54...

 

[2172]

I cut at the muzzle from a 2" wide strip...always have some fabric left over...I'd guess that the one and a quarter inch suggestions are pretty close to it..Hank

 

[Blackfoot]

An update for you...

I took the 1.5" hole saw (Its what I had) to work last night and put into the lathe and the bit would not cut it !
It is very hard metal.

So I got out a grinder and kept the saw in the lathe and removed the teeth and put the bevel on it.

I had to take it home frome there as there were no other "tools" that I could use to hone and sharpen the saw. But I put it in the cordless drill and put that into the vise so I could use some files to take the rough off the bevel then I used an old knife stone to hone it to a descent sharpness (not sharp enough to cut your finger) and tried it out on some red pillow ticking.

And all I can say is how come you all have not let this secret out sooner? Last week is the first time that I read about this helpful hint on how to make a pile of quality patches in just a couple of minuets?

It works great !

Thanks everyone for your help.

Now I will be making more of these patch cutters for my other calibers.

 

[bwhoffman]

your method pretty much emulates how
i did mine, other than i used a belt sander and chucked the hole saw in the cordless drill, finished the cutting edge with my knife stones.
its a razor!
I cut by hand, mounted the hole saw patch cutter into a billiard ball and cut into either a rupper mat or a UHMW cutting board. I do 12 layers at a time with little effort.
I did try the drill press, but feel that there is some fairly stong potential for unsafe activity, so I advise against it so you can keep your trigger finger intact :wink:

Brett