What size ball and patch should I use?

[Lovesbeer99]

I have a Traditions 50 Cal hawkens type gun and I'm getting ready to shoot it for the first time. Ball and patch is cheaper than minnie ball so I thought I'd start with that.

So my manual says to use a .490 ball and .015 patch. Is this for safety or is this just a suggestion for accuracy? Some of the places that sell ball and patches do not list the actual diameter, just says 50 cal, and thickness of patch, and some do.

What should I do?

 

[Shultzhaus]

I have two Traditions rifles, and both manuals say the same thing. .490 ball, and .015 patch. All Hornady ball boxes that I know of, have the size listed on them. Also both Dixie Gun works, and Track of the Wolf catalogs have sizes listed. .015 patch is a place to start, and you can adjust to .010 or .020 if you need to.

 

[mykeal]

Your options are .490 and .495 in round balls, and packages which say only .50 cal could be either. Don't buy them without knowing the actual ball diameter. The two most common brands, Hornady and Speer, as well as Traditions and other popular repackagers, do list the ball diameter on the box or package label. If you don't see it on one of those look at the other end of the box or the other side of the label (it's only on one side).

 

[arcticap]

If the patches have a blue stripe, that's called pillow ticking and while the thickness may not be listed, it usually measures .018.
At least the TC brand does which were always made by Ox-Yoke Originals.
Most Traditions guns do well with a .015 patch, with the .018 patches loading noticiably tighter with a .490 ball.

 

[Lovesbeer99]

So can I use .018 patches with a .485 diameter ball? How does this work anyway?

 

[mykeal]

Where do you get a .485 ball?

Nominally, but not in every case, you use a ball that is 0.010" smaller in diameter than the rifle's caliber. Usually that's the land to land measurement, but this is the biggest variable in the system.

You want to choose a patch that will, when doubled (one thickness on each side of the ball) and then crushed into the bore, (1) seal the bore to keep the expanding gas from leaking out around the ball, and (2) be tight enough to engage both the rifling grooves and the ball and thus spin the ball as it is propelled forward.

How thick does this patch need to be? That depends on what the real land-to-land and groove-to-groove dimensions are. With a nominally 50 caliber rifle with shallow grooves, a .490 ball would use a 0.010" patch.

There are .005", .015", .018" and .020" patches as well, and you can also use larger (0.495) balls. You determine the correct ball/patch combination by experiment. If you know the real bore dimensions you can come close on the first try; if not, you just have to try different sizes to see which one ball/patch combination gives the smallest groups.

 

[arcticap]

So can I use .018 patches with a .485 diameter ball? How does this work anyway?

Several combinations will work, it's just that some combinations will shoot more accurately than others.
That's why it's best to start with a popular and proven combination for the specific caliber and manufacturer, and then make changes from there.
Generally, the tightest combination that is still relatively managable to load should shoot fairly well.
A thicker patch can be used to compensate for a smaller ball, but the patches compress more than the lead balls do so the contact with the rifling might not be as strong when it's fired. And if the thin patch is used with a larger size ball then the patch can fail, or not hold enough lube, or inadequately fill in the grooves or be harder to load after the barrel becomes fouled because there's not as much patch material to compress.
So it's best to start with the popular .490 ball and go from there as the manual and others have indicated.
How it works is that there is a bore diameter of .50 caliber plus the depth of the rifling on each side of the bore. Most Traditions bores have rifling that's .006 - .008 deep. So most of the extra .012 - .018 of space in the grooves needs to be filled in with compressed patch material when the patched ball is started into the bore. This patch material helps to grab the rifling and spin the ball more reliably for better accuracy, especially when shooting higher velocity loads. A fairly tight patch helps to keep the ball from stripping or skipping the rifling lands or "tracks" as it travels down the barrel.

 

[BlackNet]

take a caliper and measure the bore diameter at the muzzle. .490 should be fine and you can use cigarette paper instead of a patch.

 

[arcticap]

Patching with cigarette paper is not really something that I would recommend for a new shooter to try.
100% pure cotton patches are recommended since they usually do shoot the best and suitable material of various thickness can be found at any fabric shop. The patches don't even need to be round in shape or the exact caliber size, and any excess material can be cut at the crown after the ball is started into the muzzle. Just be sure to add some kind of patch lube to the material.
Bore Butter patch lube can be melted into the material using the microwave to heat it. Some folks even use spit as patch lube.
Patch lube helps to keep the fouling soft and to make loading easier.

 

[Lovesbeer99]

Thanks for all the responses, but I have a follow up question?

How big, or what size should the patch be?

 

[arcticap]

Two samples of .45 & .50 caliber TC patches measure 1.15 & 1.20 inches.