Patches and Fire Hazards

[Bob J]

Are patches lubed with Wonder Lube or Natural Lube/Bore Butter less likely to smolder and catch the woods on fire?

 

[Black Hand]

I've had spit-patch smolder on really dry days, but it is rare. I lube my home-cut patches with lots of lube, so they are really too wet to smolder. All bets are off when some-one else is doing it. This is just MY experience, yours will be different. Good Luck.
Black Hand

 

[roundball]

Are patches lubed with Wonder Lube or Natural Lube/Bore Butter less likely to smolder and catch the woods on fire?

I'm not an authority on the subject...but I would conclude that's a good assumption based upon the following...

I've blown a good thousand natural lubed patches downrange with percussions and well over three thousand now from my flinters, never saw one burning yet...and a few hundred of those have been with maximum hunting load charges...

 

[riarcher]

Less likely than what?
I've used a lot of Bore Butter. Rip ticking into strips, apply BB mod. heavy to one side, roll and tie. Bake for 1/2 hr. at 175 Deg., cut at muzzle. Never had a "smoker" (yet) that I know of.
Plenty of smokers using spit, spit-patch, lard, raw linseed, and a few others.
Just mixed up a batch of Moose Milk and soaked/dried/soaked/dried a batch of patch rolls that I've not tried yet (range closed this week for renovations), but it's going to be interesting.
Really like the BB but it does get messy in the summer. No fires though. :results:

 

[Runner]

My first attempt at mixing MM for a dry patch solution was not successful. The patches would smolder and burn completely up. I have another mixture ready to try tomorrow or the next.

 

my answer is not focused on patches directly, -- but if you ever have the urge to use paper wasp nesting material as a buffer, this stuff will definately smolder. Not only the pieces that fall to the ground but there is a very good chance that pieces will remain in the bore and cause a flashover if the shooter does not swab between every shot.

 

[hobbles]

if I use over 50 grns of 3f anything I smoke "ALL" of mine, I can shoot 100 grns of 2f and every thing works fine,, I ain't got any idea why,, but it does,,

 

[Tahquamenon]

While I agree that a well lubed patch "likely" won't smolder and catch fire, I take great caution when shooting ML's in dry weather.

I make a sound effort to recover all of my fired patches whether target or hunting.

I've got a range setup in the middle of the woods and I clear the first 20 yards in front of my shooting area of all dried matter, leaves and dead grass and dampen the area prior to an extended range session or if the area is fire hazard dry.

In hunting in dry seasons, I always recover my patches after shooting. I try to in winter, but sometimes they are impossible to find in the snow.

I don't ever want to be the one that was responsible for that one "unlikely" event. :nono:

:imo:

 

[roundball]

if I use over 50 grns of 3f anything I smoke "ALL" of mine, I can shoot 100 grns of 2f and every thing works fine,, I ain't got any idea why,, but it does,,

I've noticed that same thing in a particular .45cal using just 50grns Goex 3F with .015" prelubed cotton patches...first time I ever encountered it, I couldn't find any patches on the ground...couldn't understand it.

Finally got the thought that maybe they were burning up/vaporizing...put a spare patch down on the powder first as a firewall, then a patched ball, and began finding the patches that held the ball, but they were still in bad shape.

Tried an .018" lubed pillow ticking patch by itself and could find them but they were in bad shape too.

But with a spare patch over powder + the pillow ticking patch, the ball patches no longer failed.

With a wonderwad over the powder plus a pillow ticking patch, it'll shoot 90grns of Goex 3F and patches are still so good they could be reused.

But...I can shoot entire range sessions with a .50cal and a .54cal, using 50-60grns of Goex 3F and only a .015" cotton patch and they're so clean they could be reused just by themselves.

The patch ball combo in the .45's seem just as tight as those in the .50 and .54...so I thought, well, it's a smaller diameter bore so there's higher pressure.

But then I thought no, the .440 ball is smaller & lighter too, so it's relationship / proportion to it's caliber shouldn't be all that much different from the other balls & weight are to their calibers, etc.

When I pick up the good .45cal patches, there's no cuts or burn throughs so their not being cut by muzzle or the lands that would allow blow-by...maybe a larger, tighter fitting .445 ball would help in the .45's