Washing Pillow Ticking Before Using

[joliver]

Although I've been shooting MLs for a while, I've always used pre-cut patches. I bought my first pillow ticking today (from Wally World) and I know I'm supposed to wash it before using it, but do I wash it with soap or just plain hot water?

joliver

 

[Black Hand]

Throw it in the washing machine and wash with soap and hot water. Dry it on hot in the dryer, THEN measure. Some material will thicken substantially. Then again, you could probably just wash it and let it air-dry. Either way will work.

 

[bwhoffman]

I acquired some #40 drill cloth for xmas, measured it at .015 with a calibrated mic and cut them out as it came without washing. lubed them up in a bulk manner and shot away!
I was happy.
will digest a couple 100 thru my .40 and will post back IF any ill effects arrise!

typically, stuff I have washed the sizing out of, has grown 1 or 2 thou.

 

[ian45662]

What if you dont wash your material?

 

[No Deer]

You don't have to wash it. Washing takes the sizing out of it and makes it softer and more pliable. I wash mine because I spit patch, and the sizing tastes terrible :barf: Often times I have washed it in just plain hot water, just to get the sizing out of it, and that way I don't have any soapy taste to it when I chew on it to spit patch.

 

[Brik847]

I didn't wash mine at first, but I don't think the lube "took" to it as well as it should have. I just threw mine in the wash and it roughed up some - opened the weave - "takes" and holds lube better. I think you will be happier if you wash it.

 

[bart_anastasi]

Did not start having problems till I started or tried to wash the material. and so I stopped.

Looking at factory made patches that are un-lubed and T/C lubed patches they do not seem to be pre-shrunk or washed.

I just cut them square and grease em up.

 

I prefer using pre washed and shrunk patches. It gets the sizing out and they are fluffy and pliable which allows them to soak up the lube into the weave and also makes them easier to load.

 

[50cal.cliff]

Like the others have said you don't have too wash it but does seem to take lube better. For the one that said I never had trouble till I washed it so I quit.
What you done by washing the ticking if you had not been washing it before is you changed something.
These ole smokepoles are like my ole dog. She don't like change! Seriously sometimes all it takes to mess up a sweet spot load is too change the lube or the patching material. Any change in what works, can make a difference in how the smokepole performs.

 

[Blizzard of '93]

tear off a small piece and soak/wash it in HOT water to remove the sizing, let dry and use calipers if you have vs. the unwashed. I use washed ticking myself. it mikes out thinner than the new stuff.

 

[nw_hunter]

:hmm: I would think, after the washing, the material would (Fluff up), but after the lube is applied would flatten out again and measure about the same. Did you mic again after the lube was applied? Just curious!

 

[BrownBear]

In my experience NOT washing limits the amount of lube the material will pick up. When lubing and cutting at the muzzle it's pretty easy not to get enough lube on unwashed material, resulting in blown patches. Just fling it in the washing machine next time you are washing a load of cotton, then through the drier on the cotton cycle, and be done with it.

 

[MikeC]

No offense but it's not rocket science. Just throw it in the wash set for a small load with a little soap, then the dryer and your set. Fluffs up a bit and takes lube much better than unwashed although I have shoot it both ways and I see no difference in accuracy, main reason I wash is for the ease of absorbing lube.

 

Another helpful tip: If you decide to wash it, it helps to sew a hem all around the sheet of patching material before you wash it. Cotton ravels and strings all over the place and ties itself in knots sometimes in the washer and dryer. It saves material in the long run.

 

[Deadeye]

If you spit patch and it taste bad (oxyoke taste terrible) wash it. Walmart stuff taste fine so I don't wash it, don't see any difference in accuracy. Spit totally saturates it so don't have any problems with the amount of lube the patch takes.

 

[Claude Mathis]

Another helpful tip: If you decide to wash it, it helps to sew a hem all around the sheet of patching material before you wash it. Cotton ravels and strings all over the place and ties itself in knots sometimes in the washer and dryer. It saves material in the long run.

:thumbsup:

 

[Timothy Gregory]

Just a humorous aside to the wash/no wash discussion. A gentleman came to the range one day with a large ammount of ticking. Sold or gave away a lot of it. Anywho, 4 or 5 shooters were on the line with a strip of his ticking hanging out of their mouths when some one asked him where he got all that ticking. He casually replied that he had found some old mattress in a back ally in a nearby town. :shake: Never heard so much spitting and retching in my life! He couldn't understand the problem as he claims that he had washed it before bringing it to the range. :rotf:

 

[Melton Kidd]

cooner:
If you dont want to hem the stuff you can iron it and workd good,but you sure hsve to do something.It is terrible stright out of the dryer.

 

[2172]

just washed a batch and got a ball full of string out of the dryer but a little snipping with my knife cleared it...I'm not worried about wssting material..I doubt that I lost as much as a half inch...Hank