blown patches?

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Roy R.

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I shoot a .54 Lyman GPR. I cast my own .530 RB and use red striped pillow ticking. I use olive oil as a lube.

I would use a thicker patch but anything thicker is too difficult to load.

I've shot FF BP (80 gr), Pyrodex P (70 gr), Pyrodex RS (80 gr) and still have shredded patches. I'm at a loss.

I'm thinking that maybe a heavier lube might help? I have an endless supply of beef tallow, anyone ever use it for a patch lube?

Any suggestion would be appreciated?
 
You might need to lap your barrel a little if the edges of the lands are so sharp they aware cutting your patches. Also, the crown might need "breaking" a little if it is too sharp...might be cutting the cloth on the way in.
Regardless of how thick the patch is, once you have it punched in with the short and long starters, you should be able to seat the ball with relative ease. Exception...very shallow grooved barrels.
 
Beef tallow is an original patch lube so I am sure it will work. Everybody on here recommends pillow ticking but in my experience the soft cotton cloth of cleaning patches is thinner, absorbs the lubricant better (I use Bore Butter), and performs the job of sealing the gaps and holding the lubricant better than the pillow ticking. You will only find what works for you, not by asking 100 people their opinion, but by trying all the options available. Since you cast your own bullets have you measured the actual diameter of the balls that come out of the mold?
 
Are you casting pure lead or a mix? An alloy will be considerably harder than pure lead, and will have an effect even if the ball is the right diameter.

How is your accuracy? I could live with blown patches if I'm getting tight groups. The patch is a means to an end, not the end itself.


I like PAM cooking spray for a patch lube, pretty convenient just to spray in on the patch material. I use pillow ticking also, by the way.
 
The lead I use comes from a local dentists, made by Kodak. I don't know if I need to, but I flux it anyways. At 50 yards my POI within a couple inches. At 75 yards I'm all over the place.

I have cleaned the bore with JB bore paste, 100 strokes just to make sure everything is out of it and to maybe smooth a few rough edges, just incase that was the problem...same results blown patches.

I'm going to try some beef tallow and then load a round ball (just an inch or so) over a large amount of ticking and then try to pull the ball out using the long strip of ticking...maybe I'm cutting the patch while loading, we'll see.

I don't have a micrometer...probably need to get one.
 
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I'd strongly suggest you try some various patch materials and lubes.

I use canola cooking oil in my C&B handguns and it works super well. But the same oil used for lubing my patches in my flintlock long guns resulted in a crusty rise in ramming pressure at mid barrel after the first few shots. I changed over to a "moose milk" of 1:4 Ballistol to water with a few drops used to wet the fringe of the patch after short starting the ball.

I've not bothered to try out any other options since this works superbly at keeping the ramming effort light and consistent even after 35 shots in a row. But I have noticed that many of the folks out there with me on the BP trail are using a patch lube that involves water or water based products as the primary ingredient. Some use the Bore Butter pre-greased patches with good success as well. And at least one is using home cut patches with rubbed in lithium grease with success. On the other hand no one with long guns I've seen is using straight cooking type oils all on their own.
 
Lap the barrel with a very tight patch and very fine grinding compound.
You need to knock the extremely sharp edges over the lands as they
come from the (Lyman) factory. (This is a well-known problem with
GPRs. Otherwise, just shoot it in over 100 rounds.)

Believe it or not, use a 535 ball and 0.018-0.0020" ticking. Yes, you'll
have to start it flush with a rawhide hammer (after that the short starter will
work being smacked w/ the plam of your hand, and the ball will go down with
a non-wood ramrod.)

Spit lube is all you need, and better than just about anything else when on the range.
When hunting/leaving the ball in for long periods, use 7:1 water/NAPA cutting oil,
roll it dry w/ a rolling pin between folded sheets of paper towel, and let dry in
warm oven. Keeps forever.
 
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I'd take a look at the thinner patching material used and the patch lube. Red I think is around .015" but it all depends on the actual material itself.
 
Roy R. said:
The lead I use comes from a local dentists, made by Kodak. I don't know if I need to, but I flux it anyways.
Click to expand...

Your lead from X-R films is harder than pure lead. I shot it for years cast into maxi-balls and it did well but no expansion ever. No patches used with maxi-balls so it didn't matter.

Don't use it if it tears up your patches, buy some pure lead. Roofing sheets, plumbing stacks, cable sheathing and stick-on wheel weights are all very close to pure.
All the dentists have gone to digital x-rays so the supply has dried up.
 
New gun, how's accuracy ?

If good, just shoot it a lot, the rough edges of the rifling will eventually polish out from the patch material, you should try a 0.015-0.018" patch. I like 50-50 beeswax and Crisco.

The Lyman GPR's are know for this "problem" when new, or new to you guns that haven't been shot ,"broken in".

Try the Traditional Muzzle Loader Forums for more info on this.
 
My .54 GPR blows patches also, I used J&B bore paste, fired it and cleaned it a bunch, and it still blew patches. So I gave up and started using wonderwads, and it now shoots great, cloverleafs at 50, 4" at 100 (off the bench) with 100 grs FFg, .018 pillow ticking lubed with mink oil, a .530 cast ball, and the wad over the powder. It shoots almost as well at 50 with 65 grs FFg and to almost the same POI.
 
Well, you SHOULD have lapped out any roughness with that 100 passes from the JB bore paste. So I don't think it's simply cutting the patch material.

If the lead is harder than dead soft it could certainly produce cut patches though. How hard of a push on the ram rod is it?
 
It's important to use pure lead when casting as many alloys like wheel weights are too hard.
I use .013" cotton patches purchased at my local dry goods store, checking the thickness with a micrometer.
A friend gave me about a quart Bear grease years ago and it's hard to beat for a patch lube.
Olive oil works good also.
I like a percussion cap tin for pre-lubed patch storage.
 
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Will5A1: I've been thinking about using a felt wad but I don't want to pay .07 - .09 cents per wad. Can you give me the width and thickness of the wads your using? I'm thinking maybe 1/8" thick and 9/16" across? Any help would be appreciated.
 
PM me your address and I will send you some to try, if wads work you can make up your own or buy the pre-cut ones. You might also try a wadded up patch over the powder, but I think the wads give a better seal.
 
Gentlemen: Thanks for all the helpful responses. I'm really taken back by how willing you guys are to help me find a solution. It's rare in todays society to see such kindness.
 
Roy R. said:
Will5A1: I've been thinking about using a felt wad but I don't want to pay .07 - .09 cents per wad. Can you give me the width and thickness of the wads your using? I'm thinking maybe 1/8" thick and 9/16" across? Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Try some of the paper shotgun wads, they're cheap and if you buy the thicker ones you can peel them into twos or threes.
 
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