Why patch boxes?

[coloradoclyde]

The addition of a little beeswax will raise the melting point significantly....

 

[dwr]

Hey....Twinkies last forever!

 

[hanshi]

[quote=Col. Batguano]

According to the journal of an 18th century gunsmith, Those nice, decorative compartments were designed and put there to hold a single Snickers bar. Apparently a very old Snickers was found in the patchbox of a rifle that once belonged to Robert Rogers. Snickers bars were in high demand from about 1765 through 1830 and were used to purchase furs from the Indians. This was eventually made illegal because of what the candy did to the teeth of the NDNs.

By 1832 they were used to carry M&Ms (the peanut kind) and/or lipstick.

We've read it on the internet, so it must be true.

I heard a story from my cousin's neighbor's former room mate that he bought an original matchlock (that came from an Anasazi Indian dwelling) and he found an original Twinkie in it. A maizing.
[/quote]





There you go!

 

[Artificer]

Gene,
I drilled one in one of my guns several years ago....used a forstner bit......
I like it...It has worked real well for me. Not one problem.
I fill it with a mixture and beeswax and olive oil....
When I fill it I pour the lube in hot....and let it cool....

I also have lard candles made from store bought Manateca lard.....none of them have melted yet either.....

FWIW, a very old recipe for making wood water resistant is to use a ratio by volume of 1:1:1 of Beeswax, Linseed Oil and Turpentine. It comes out rather slimey, but hardens up with time. Within four to six months it is as hard as any beeswax candle, though one could still drag a patch over it to lube the patch or drag a patch over it to put a protective layer on the lock, stock and barrel.

So I can see how a mixture of beeswax and olive oil would work, depending on the ratio of each. Do you have a ratio that works well?

Gus

 

[coloradoclyde]

Yep!
Gus, I don't recall the exact ratio...I'm a "wing it" kind of guy...But the lube in my gun sets up hard yet still lubes nicely when I rub a patch against it.....Maybe it's the heat from my thumb..... :idunno:
It works for me....

 

[Stophel]

I'm planning a rifle to build for myself, and for the "patchbox", I'm going to try the setup that is in the box of the "Deshler rifle", which has a series of holes bored down and sized perfectly to hold like 10 prepatched rifle balls. :wink:

 

[coloradoclyde]

Now there's an idea....a loading block right in the rifle..... :thumbsup:

 

[tenngun]

Hard to get the butt over the muzzle to load :haha: I've not seen this tell us more.

 

[Stophel]

The incredible Deschler Rifle:
http://www.erickettenburg.com/Site_2/Part_3.html

 

[coloradoclyde]

Hard to get the butt over the muzzle to load :haha: I've not seen this tell us more.

Yoga.....

 

[tenngun]

Some Euopean shooters sewed the ball in to a full sized patch. I wonder if that was what was done here?

 

[Stophel]

That's the theory with the Deschler gun. Though just a theory, i cannot imagine what else the holes could be for. I have never seen nor heard of this feature on any other gun from anywhere. Definitely rare, and possibly unique. European military riflemen were issued balls with tied patches. I doubt civilian shooters did it much, but it was a known practice, at least. I'm anxious to give it a try.

 

[kaintuck]

Gene,
I drilled one in one of my guns several years ago....used a forstner bit......
I like it...It has worked real well for me. Not one problem.

a spoon bit will make a nicer 'hole'....but they are hard to find~

marc n tomtom

 

[pwbsmokey]

Twinkies are the cockroaches of the food world. That is if you can consider Twinkies actual food.

 

[Gene L]

Gene,
I drilled one in one of my guns several years ago....used a forstner bit......
I like it...It has worked real well for me. Not one problem.
I fill it with a mixture and beeswax and olive oil....
When I fill it I pour the lube in hot....and let it cool....

I also have lard candles made from store bought Manateca lard.....none of them have melted yet either.....

What diameter Forstner bit did you use, Clyde?

I think I'd rather use a F. bit than a spoon bit because of the flat bottom rather than the round bottom on the spoon bit...which I don't have anyway.

 

[Stophel]

They often used "center bits" to drill such holes. They actually work rather similarly to a modern "paddle bit", though the paddle bit center point is MUCH larger and longer than the center point of a Center Bit. A reasonable-enough facsimile of a center bit hole could be bored with a paddle bit that has had it's center pilot point carefully ground down much smaller.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I made mine 1 1/8" in diameter it's the same size as my pre-cut round patches for .45 cal....( I cut my own with a cutter I made)
I used a flat bottom forstner bit in a drill press, and tapped the stock to prevent possible chipping....

The reason I used a forstner but was I wanted a flat bottom and was worried about going through the other side.....My butt stock is very thin..

 

[dwr]

No silly....you bend the muzzle down to the buttstock...you don't want to crack the wood in the buttstock!

 

[George]

European military riflemen were issued balls with tied patches. I doubt civilian shooters did it much, but it was a known practice, at least.

American military, too.

"Practical Instructions for Military Officers, for the District of Massachusetts”, Epaphras Hoyt, 1811

"A patch of thin linen cloth or soft milled leather, saturated with grease, must be slightly stitched round the balls, with small thread which will separate when discharged from the piece. Care must be taken that the patch and ball are of a suitable size to fill the caliber and channels of the barrel : if too large it will be difficult to force them down ; if too small the direction of the shot will be much less certain : When duly prepared the ball must be placed in the cartridge with the proper quantity of powder for the charge and priming, and the end of it so folded that the powder may be secure. In loading, the powder must be carefully emptied into the barrel. the ball separated from the paper, by the teeth, and driven down close upon the powder, but not so as to bruise the grains. Attention to these objects is of great importance ; for a correct mode of loading is requisite to ensure precision in firing. Hence it is necessary that the recruits be taught to make up cartridges and load in the best manner."

Spence

 

[Grumpa]

A most interesting thread, to be sure; period validation for both pre-cut patches and patches cut at the muzzle; greased patches sewn around the ball with light thread (so as to easily separate upon firing).

And military instructions to drive the ball "down close upon the powder, but not so as to bruise the grains." This was the technique advocated by Paul Vallandigham, in contrast to many shooters who repeatedly "throw" the ramrod down the bore against the seated ball.

And the ball board built into the patch box of the Dreschler gun! A one-of, but some have questioned that ball boards even existed back then.

This thread gets bookmarked/Favorites, for further study.

As always, Spence, you are the man with THE quotes. :hatsoff: