trimming patches at the muzzle

I want to try trimming my patch material at the muzzle crown. My question is that I typically use a greased pre cut patch - but when I think of trying to use a lenghth of greasy cloth and slicing it with a patch knife at the muzzle, visions of sloppy greasy hands and a genereal greasy mess come to mind. So, what is the approved method for trimming a patch at the muzzle? Dry patch? Spit patch? And just what the heck is a spit patch - anyhow?

 

[paulvallandigham]

Most of us have a towel or tack wrag in our kit we use to wipe our hands off while loading and shooting MLers. You can use some cleaning patches to hold the patch, or edge in your fingers, so your fingers don't slip on the lube when you cut it. ALWAYS use a sharp knife -- RAZOR sharp. If you don't have one, and don't know how to sharpen a knife to a razor's edge, send me a PT and I will give you references to materials to show you how to do it. There is a difference between a SAW and a knife's edge, although commercial knife makers today don't want you to know it.

A spit patch is a piece of cloth patch that you dampen with saliva-- or spit--- from your tongue and mouth. You Don't really just " spit " on the piece of cloth to dampen it. Your tongue has a great capacity of telling when something is thorough soaked with saliva, and is now soft, and able to be stretched some. Since the purpose of dampening the patch is so that it can be more easily compressed, and fill the grooves of the barrel, using saliva on sight, rather than taking the time to lube the patching the day before a shoot often saves a man from being able to shoot a match( and maybe win it) or not.

Lube was NOT always available to long hunters, and cloth was often in short supply. But saliva is available if you are alive, and can even soften leather, if its thin enough ( rabbit, squirrel, ground hog, opossum, etc.) to use as a patching material. Cutting the patch off at the muzzle insures that the patch will be adequate in width to completely separate the lead ball from touching the bore.

Using a patch that is oversized, however, or square, or probably even triangle in shape, is not going to change how the ball flys. The edges of the patching are " Whipped back "when the ball and patch exit the muzzle, causing the edges to be frayed. If you examine recovered patches( and you should always recover and examine your patches) you will see this edge- fraying.

Using an oversized patch will just create a bigger " sail" and cause the patch to separate about as fast from the ball. The larger patches act like an air brake, and usually can be found on the ground closer to the muzzle than the smaller ones, but this can vary with wind conditions, and the choice of lube used. A patch use in a smoothbore, where the ball is not spinning when it leaves the barrel, will travel with the ball a little bit farther, than if its fired out of a rifled barrel.

 

[TennesseeJed]

The people that I have seen who cut at the muzzle either have a small spray bottle that they spray the strip of patch material with or they lick the
patch a couple of times before centering it over the bore.

 

[tg]

You can use a small tin of grease and rub the end of your patch strip in it before setting it and ball in place. Some use a method I think is called dry patch the material is soaked in a solution and let dry then it is not all wet and slimey when used, someone here will probably add more info on this, I have found pre cut square pathces either pre lubed or lubed of slobbered on at time of loading works as well as anything when I was still shooting rifles.

 

[2172]

I was using Wonderlube/Borebutter and got fed up with the greasy mess. I tried switching to Balistol, but was disappointed in the results. Finally took an almost empty container(tub) of Wonder lube and ran it through the microwave and dipped my ticking in the liquid...hung it to dry and found that while the ticking retained the lube, I didn't get the feel, or the effect, of the greasiness I'd had before. That is now how I prepare all of my cut-at-the-muzzle patching. As an unexpected benefit, my patching retains the yellow color so when I recover mine at the range, I can tell them from everyone else's...Hank

 

[Swampman]

Keep in mind you will scratch up the muzzle finish pretty good with the patch knife.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Real shooters have battle scars on their barrels :thumbsup:


Afterthought:
After being on this forum for two years and having a thousand posts, you ask the question, what the heck is a spit patch? :surrender:


I saw that--- :rotf:

 

[hepburn4590]

Most of the muzzle loader shooting contests that I've been a part of required that you load from a bag. I tried the greased patch avenue and threw is aside in favor of the spit patch and patch knife thirty years ago. I keep a strip of pillow tick tied to my possibles bag. When I'm ready to load I stick the end of the strip in my mouth, measure and dump the powder, lay the strip on the muzzle, drive the ball to just below the crown, and trim the strip with a knife. If you pay attention, the knife need not ever touch the barrel. Send the ball home with the ram rod and shoot the gun. The only negative is the taste left in your mouth if you didn't laundry the sizing out of the 'tick before using it.

 

[Bountyhunter]

Hepburn and I have traveled the same trails. I happened to think that I had some pics that I took for educational purposes on another site.

After the powder is measured and the muzzle is pointed in a safe direction away from your face:

Place the wet strip with ball over the muzzle.

Seat the ball just below the end of the muzzle.

Cut the strip at or just a hair above the muzzle.

Strip after cutting.

Seat the ball with the ramrod.

Enjoy.

I cut flush with the muzzle, and as a result, my muzzle has a "bowtie" on it from the drag of the knifeblade.

 

[spitpatch]

Hey Bountyhunter: I like that. Spitpatch

 

Thanks Paul - good data as always. :thumbsup:

 

When I have a question - I ask without regard for how many posts I have or for how long I have been here or how long I have been shooting ML. I realize there is a lot I don't know about ML shooting and this is a great place to learn. And except for the meaningless and odd response from you (who counts the posts and time a person has been on this board?) there was a lot of helpful advise given. Keep your expert (+1000 posts, WOW!) non-useful responses to yourself.

 

[paulvallandigham]

Most patch knives are beveled on both sides. Some like to use a razor blade, and only grind it on one side, as if it is a chisel. I am told by some who do this that they like to lay the flat side against the muzzle to get the closes cut of the patching.

With a double bevel knife, you should not be cutting the steel( Dulling the blade) at all. Even with a single bevel blade, IF YOU PUT the flat of the blade against the muzzle carefully, and don't lift up on the blade as you are cutting, a SHARP knife should never cut steel.

 

[tg]

"Cut the strip at or just a hair above the muzzle.'

Looks like both hands are being used in cutting the patch and holding the material....you got another hand or "something" else holding the gun in place? (VBG)

 

[Claude Mathis]

....you got another hand or "something" else holding the gun in place? (VBG)

:rotf:

 

[ronrryan]

I have mentioned this before, but on the chance that it may benefit some other shooter, here goes: I take a strip of ticking, just as you would use to cut patches at the muzzle. I fold it over and over at about the right size for a patch, and then scissor a cut off each corner ()paper doll style) which now leaves a long strip of patches held together by a thin strip at each corner. I hang the strip over my horn strap when shooting. It is a matter of a moment to spit the top patch,start the ball/patch combo, and cut the strip on the muzzle. This seems a handy way to do things, and may be worth a try. On the other hand, just cutting patches on the muzzle from a strip, as shown in the pictures, is not much different. Different strokes, etc. Good smoke, Ron in SW FL

 

[Bountyhunter]

:rotf: :rotf:

I'd like to say I have a prehensile tail with a hand on the end of it, but sorry, I cant tell a lie...not very good anyway. In this particular set of pictures, the gun is in a rack. This is a very seldom event that I shoot at a range. I did not have anywhere else to go to get these pictures that day though. We have a 10 station covered range with 300 yard targets just 8 miles from here. I go over there once in a while to do pics for presentations.

In the field, the gun is held between the knees with the butt on the ground behind. That places the barrel at an angle away from the face, freeing the hands.

Deaconjo, sorry to hurt your little feelers, but I just couldnt resist.... :bow:

Paul,
I agree with you about the knife blade, however, after about 25 years of hunting with that particular rifle, maybe a hundred or more rondys, and contests, it becomes load and cut with whatever is handy. Usually that is my dedicated patch knife, but could be whatever is at hand. I would suspect that that rifle has not been at a range or in a range rack more than a half a dozen times in its life. As a result, the muzzle is a bit shined. I wouldnt call it engraved,,,,just shined.

 

[hepburn4590]

Whew. Abit sensitive Mate. You can learn a lot from "Bounty". He's been doing this muzzle loader thing since before his mother was born.

 

[hepburn4590]

Prehinsile??? Antibotics take care of that?

 

[tg]

When I used to cut at the muzzle I had a leather thong that my measure was strung on around my neck, after dumping the charge down the bore I would loop the thong over the end of the barrel to support the gun while cutting the patch. works best with a long barreled gun.