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black powder patches

rascal2101
I have a 45 cal kentucky long rifle. I have .44 round ball, what size patch do I need, or does it matter?
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2 comments

Date Votes
  • stankemp
    It depends on the actual sizes of the bore and ball. Then you can adjust the thickness of the patch accordingly.

    A properly fitted ball and patch will need a bullet starter (short dowell) to initially start the ball and patch down the bore.

    In other words it should take some effort to start the ball and fully seat it against the charge but not so tighly that you need a hammer. A too loose ball will come out the muzzle at the word "BANG" but it won't be as accurate.

    Trial and error is in store.

    Stan
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  • tsr1965
    Rascal2101,

    Hello, and welcome to the forums here on Gunbroker.com.

    I would urge you to post this question also in the "Black powder, and Cowboy" forum too.

    What you need to do is have someone who knows what they are doing, remove your breech plug, and slug the bore. The breechpluc junction with the barrel needs to be marked so you can put it back where it was, and you will most likely need vise blocks to fit the barrel and breech plug to do this. In doing this, an oversized ball, like a 0.490, or 0.530" ball is driven with a wooden dowel, and hammer, into the muzzle end of the barrel, and pushed thru to the breech end, of a well lubed bore. This perfectly engraves the lands and grooves of the barrel, so they may be measured with veernier's. Then you can determine your combination of patch and ball. In theory, the ball should be able to be dropped down the bore without the patch. The rifling never engraves it. The patch acts like a sabot, and grips the ball, imparting spin to it from the rifling(usually a 0.015-0.020" patch, and a 0.440 ball). In practice, usually the most accurate combination has the ball slightly engraved by the rifling, and the patch is being used as a gas seal(the patch is usually around 0.010" in this case, and the ball 0.451"). This is only done where the ball is made of PURE lead, not a lead alloy. These are the combinations I use in a T/C Cherokee with a 1 in 48 twist. Your rifle's twist might be a bit slower like a 1 in 66, or 1 in 70, to help with the round ball.

    Like I said, before you try these, you need to slug the bore. If you know who made your rifle, you might be able to get loading info for it on-line.

    Best
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