Teflon as a patch lube?

[Ed C.]

Well, I just don't know. Very interesting answers so far. I'm very happy with my present system so far. It's fast, easy, and convenient for me and I have taken 1st place in rifle in the last three of our little club matches. Just fun, nothing too serious. So I am leary of putting teflon in that barrel. I shoot left handed with a left hand Hawken but I have an identical right hand gun all set up and equally accurate that is now just a wall hanger and guest gun. Maybe I'll play with that one. I have to keep in mind he was talking about doing long range big bore (.68 cal.) very competitive shooting.
So one more thing I just thought of.... .68 cal, that's smoothbore right? No rifling so that is a different game from a .50?

 

[Mulebrain]

Wonder what he was using?

https://www.amazon.com/DuPont-Teflon-Non-Stick/dp/B0BWXK4896?th=1

 

[Felonious]

I use this stuff at work, and I've used it as a patch lube before too. It works great. It can also be thinned out with isopropyl alcohol.

You can find it at most pool equipment stores, and it's not crazy expensive.

 

[Alice1885]

In regards to the Minuteman, unfortunately he has passed away. It was a couple years ago. Jerry was a book of knowledge when it came to black powder.

 

[saculmot]

I use this stuff at work, and I've used it as a patch lube before too. It works great. It can also be thinned out with isopropyl alcohol.

You can find it at most pool equipment stores, and it's not crazy expensive.

View attachment 284907

I'm thinking PTFE is the generic name for Teflon.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I was present sometime in the 1970s on off weekends at the Friendship range with ml shooting friends when famed champion, Webb Terry, began experimenting with Teflon lubed patches. He had almost instant success with accuracy with his patches. No bore gunking problems or other issues. He chronographed his shots and was surprised to find slightly lower velocities with the Teflon but improved accuracy. He began selling pre-lubed ticking material. I may still have some. It works just fine, expensive, but otherwise you can't go wrong. I can't speak to burning patches going down range, just don't remember. I may try some come greenup just to see.

 

[Greenjoytj]

And you all know that when Teflon burns it creates a toxic gas/vapour.

Dry patching the ball means you absolutely must damp swab between shots because there is not enough lube left behind to keep the fouling soft. No more shooting all day with out swabbing.

But to maintain the highest level of accuracy the firearm is capable of producing, a standard bore condition must be maintained for each shot fired. So your are back to damp swabbing anyway.

Even a well oiled patch doesn’t supply enough lube to keep the bore fouls soft enough for easy loading like that first shot was when loaded down a clean bore.

If the relative humidity is very very low this weather condition will aggravate loading even more as the fouling will crusted up even harder. So your damp patch will need to be a little more than damp.

 

[longcruise]

In regards to the Minuteman, unfortunately he has passed away. It was a couple years ago. Jerry was a book of knowledge when it came to black powder.

Thanks for clarifying that. I had purchased a sample pack from him about five years ago. About a year ago I went to the site and it had changed considerably. Seemed like fewer products and options.

 

[Nor Cal Mikie]

Yes, and we all know that gunsmiths tell us never to use WD-40 on a gun, as it builds up a coating; shotguns in particular will gum up from guy's innocently spraying WD all over them.

You do know, you hose a wet rig down with WD 40 to get rid of/drive out any moisture, THEN wipe it down and re oil with a good gun oil??

 

[wganz]

Interesting, just hope to improve my marksmanship to the point that teflon maJIXed wads could show an improvement.

 

[springfield art]

You do know, you hose a wet rig down with WD 40 to get rid of/drive out any moisture, THEN wipe it down and re oil with a good gun oil??

Yes! Even a major gun magazine recently printed a column telling us not to use WD as the sole preservative.

 

[Nor Cal Mikie]

From my experience nothing remains, it’s a dry patch.

Read first sentence from post # 27.

 

[NotDanielBoone]

Teflon and other dry patch schemes tend to leave smoldering patches downrange.

Whether your rifle will shoot best with teflon patches is not a sure thing. It needs to be tested.

I found the top accuracy tends to in the ball park of 5:1 Ballistol and water that is then allowed to dry. This is different way to do dry patches. You can vary the amount of oil and it will influence accuracy.

You must damp swab between shots with dry patches. How much of the solvent is now part of the patch lube when you do that? Is it still a dry patch? Should we fully clean and dry between shots for consistency?

It all became too much fussing for me. I now use damp moose milk patches for target work. I add a touch of industrial glass cleaner concentrate to the mix.

One question that comes up is about how slick a patch should be. If a patch is to slick the backpressure is less and the powder does not burn as clean. I found this to be the case with Jojoba oil. It loaded super easy and shot poorly. It was also hard to work with because my fingers we so slick. There seems to be tradeoffs.

I've been using jojoba oil in the barrel after cleaning. When I use the gun next I use alcohol soaked patch and then dry patch to clean up before loading. I'm new to BP, does this make sense?

 

[palonghunter]

I met a man at the range yesterday who was very accomplished in big bore long range (200-300 yard) bench shooting. His loading procedure was to spray patch material with teflon, let it dry. Use the thickest patches possible. Use the largest load possible to the point where the gun is throwing out unburnt powder. Then back off a little. With the low friction coefficient of the teflon patch supposedly you can attain a high RB velocity without excessively high pressures. Good for long ranges and combating winds. Then wipe twice with damp (water/dawn) swabs and then dry swab between shots. I don't shoot on that level. Too much swabbing for me but I am intrigued with the idea of using teflon. Anybody hear of this before or have used it? Could it be harmful in any way?

Burnt Teflon

I'm staying in contact with him but I also have learned to value the opinions of many of the members here. As with any internet advice it is a matter of recognizing what is sound advice. I'm an old man but only a few years into BP so the hundreds of years experience on this forum has helped put me on a fast track into the hobby.

 

[HMS Barracuda]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_fume_fever

 

[HMS Barracuda]

I met a man at the range yesterday who was very accomplished in big bore long range (200-300 yard) bench shooting. His loading procedure was to spray patch material with teflon, let it dry. Use the thickest patches possible. Use the largest load possible to the point where the gun is throwing out unburnt powder. Then back off a little. With the low friction coefficient of the teflon patch supposedly you can attain a high RB velocity without excessively high pressures. Good for long ranges and combating winds. Then wipe twice with damp (water/dawn) swabs and then dry swab between shots. I don't shoot on that level. Too much swabbing for me but I am intrigued with the idea of using teflon. Anybody hear of this before or have used it? Could it be harmful in any way?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymer_fume_fever

 

[Spillikins]

I've been using jojoba oil in the barrel after cleaning. When I use the gun next I use alcohol soaked patch and then dry patch to clean up before loading. I'm new to BP, does this make sense?

Yes.

 

[Mike in FL]

Very interesting. I still hold to the opinion that the kind of patch lube we use makes no or very little difference in accuracy. But I yield to those with more experience. It is the thickness that matters, IMO. There is nothing new under the sun.

 

[Greenjoytj]

I've been using jojoba oil in the barrel after cleaning. When I use the gun next I use alcohol soaked patch and then dry patch to clean up before loading. I'm new to BP, does this make sense?

I would stop the alcohol swabbing because it's not required.
Just dry patch a couple times to get out any wet oil. But still leaving the microscopic pours and scratches in the bore steel filled with the oil.
Oil contamination of the powder charge is highly, highly over rated, when the powder light up the oil burns up too, just adding its energy to the blast.

As an experiment pour some alcohol in a clear glass cup an add 1 drop of jojoba oil and look to see were it goes. Did the oil float or sink or disperse and blend with the alcohol?
This experiment might give you information on whether or not the alcohol wipe did any good.
I think the alcohol wipe is not necessary after the dry patching.

 

[Rifleman1776]

a major gun magazine

Being "major" does not make it gospel. I once had ambitions to be a writer for gun magazines. I submitted a new gun review. The editor told me he liked it but I had to remove the negative comments about certain issues because the manufacturer was a big advertiser and the magazine wanted to please them. So much for credibility in the "major" publications.