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wats a patch do?
- Thread starter muzzman
- Start date
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Are we talking shooting patches? If so, here's the skinny (at least my version of it): Modern breechloading guns use bullets that are an extremely tight fit in the bore. They can do this because they only have to go down the barrel one way, and the force of the exploding powder forces them down the barrel. Muzzleloaders, on the other hand, must use an under sized projectile so that they can be rammed with relative ease down the barrel from the muzzle end. Now, if you just drop a less-than-bore-diameter ball down the barrel, it's not going to stay in place if the barrel is pointed down, and much of the gas created by the burning powder is just going to shoot right past the ball, giving very poor velocity, not to mention poor accuracy. So, the patch, by taking up the "windage", or space not taken up by the undersized ball, serves three purposes: it seals the propellant gasses behind the ball, it transmits the rotation of the rifling (assuming you're using a rifled barrel) to the ball, and it keeps the ball firmly in place in the bore. The fourth purpose of the cloth patch is to hold lube, which keeps the blackpowder fouling relativley soft, allowing more shots between cleaning and easier cleaning when necessary. The minie or conical bullets used in traditional muzzleloading do not require a patch. You simply pack a grease or waxy type lube into the grooves cut around the circumference of the bullet and ram it home. It is also an undersized projectile, so that it can be easily loaded, but upon firing, the base of the minie bullet obturates (expands) to fit the rifling grooves due to the pressure of the prolleant gasses. Hope this was the answer you were lookingt for. :thumbsup:
P.S. Don't forget that when you are deciding on a patch thickness, you have to multiply the patch's thickness by 2, since the patch wraps around the ball. In other words, if you use a .530 ball with a .010 patch, the total diameter of the patched ball will be .550 (.530+.010+.010=.550) not .540. I bring this up because this was one of the "newbie" mistakes I made myself: just adding the patch thickness to the ball diameter once! Also recognize that since the patch is made of cloth, and is therefore compressable, that the total diameter of the ball and patch together should be LARGER that the bore diameter of the gun, to ensure a snug fit. For example: my 20ga. fowler has a bore diameter of .625". In this gun, I use a .595 diameter ball with a .020 patch, for a total projectile diameter of .635". I have also used a .600 ball with a .018 patch for a total of .636". You'll have to experiment with different ball diameters and patch thicknesses, 'til you find what you like. :thumbsup:
