Muslin cloth for patching

[cayuga]

I was told to give muslin 100% cotton a try as patch material. So today I broke out the .58 caliber Green Mountain Barrel on the Renegade. This rifle is very accurate with 100% pillow tick so I wanted to see how it would do with muslin.

I was loading 100 grains of Goex 2f a lubed wonder wad, moosemilk sprayed muslin as a patch and a hornady roundball.

I can only get 30 yards away from the target since the snow froze the bench rest (on wheels) to the ground but I took my time. I never swabbed the rifle for 10 shots. I was really shocked at the group it held from 30 yards.

The circle is a tracing from the inside of a scotch tape dispenser. I would put that on my bead front sight making the number 8 and then with hair trigger set, squeeze the trigger off.

The things about this muslin patch material is, it has to be a lot thinner then cotton pillow tick. I could lay the cloth and actually push the ball under the crown of the muzzle with my thumb. Then cut the cloth away. That was the reason for the wonder wad to increase and stabilize the pressure.

I think this needs more shooting to see if this was just a one time deal. If you get to a Wal Mart you might want to look for some 100% cotton muslin and get a yard. Although take your calibers and see how thick it is....

 

[Tar-12]

That is really good! Have you had the time to see how well it does at the longer ranges?

 

[cayuga]

My shooting range is kind of frozen in right now... I am stuck in the snow at the 30 yard line..

The patches are showing some good promise of accuracy. Although these little pine squirrels were shot with pillow tick patch out of my Hawkins .50 caliber that day. I shot these at under 40 yards as I remember.

I have been shooting the Muslin on the range with the big calibers and it seems to shoot well and loads really easy...

 

[richdeerht]

I use .024" thick denim for patching material. Lubed with Bore Butter.

 

[cayuga]

richdeerht - I actually tried denim and had no luck with it. Too tight of a fit. What I went to after that which seemed to work better was worn out denim pants legs. I could get them loaded actually. Then I started shooting 100% cotton pillow ticking and never looked back.

Since I like to try other things, I was getting some pillow ticking at Wal Mart and saw the muslin on special, so I bought some without checking the thickness. You can picture my surprise when I loaded the first ball and it just thumb pressure pushed into the barrel.

I have more testing I want to do, but right now my range is limited because of snow banks. I guess I will have to head over to the farm and get in the hay field and shoot there. Then the banks will not be an issue..

 

[speedi65]

Cayuga how'd ya' get those squirrels to come into the bench range like that? Corn? Just kiddin'.. That muslin makes really good dirt cheap cleaning patches for the inline also..

 

[cayuga]

Cayuga how'd ya' get those squirrels to come into the bench range like that? Corn? Just kiddin'.. That muslin makes really good dirt cheap cleaning patches for the inline also..

Actually I feed several different kinds of birds at the house, even grouse. And the pine squirrels like to come in and chew holes in the feeders, chew the ropes that hold them in the trees, and also get into all the buildings.. so no it was not corn. Oiled black sunflower seeds to be exact. The birds love them and so do the squirrels. You can look out into the woods along the back side of the house near the shooting range almost anytime and see squirrels running around on the ground.

 

[cayuga]

I wanted to try some of the muslin patches again. I just find it hard to believe that a ball and patch combination that loads this easy can be this accurate. I was shooting 110 grains of Goex 2f, a wonder wad, a moosemilk muslin patch and hornady .570 roundball. The first shot hit high, after that I shot a total of twenty shots and never swabbed the barrel.

Actually at the end of the day I shot off a bunch of minnie ball. They sure leave a lot to be desired in the accuracy department. Not like the roundball at all.

 

[tooldog]

Cayuga, it seems your homeade moosemilk lube works really well in your cold weather? It seems my beeswax and neatsfoot oil isn't cutting it in the really cold weather. I blew out a bunch of frozen patches of the .58 Big Boar and couldn't hardly hit my target at 50 yards.

tooldog

 

[cayuga]

I think the reason that stuff works well is you can shoot it as a dry patch or a moist patch. Today I was shooting a moist patch. Part of the mix is alcohol and I think that is why it does so well in the colder weather.

When I hunt I like to shoot the dry patch with just a slight sprits to help them slide. With the muslin, they are such a thin patch I stuck a wonderwad under them and could load them with thumb pressure. It is the first roundball load I ever was able to load like that.

I think on my next trip to the city I will get some thicker muslin and see if that does any better in the rifle.

 

[bompa]

What thickness should i be looking for in the cotton pillow ticking and the Muslin...New to shooting round balls...have a .54 T/C Renegade...thanks......bompa.. Oh any other info will be welcome!!!

 

[cayuga]

At Wal Mart where I buy my fabric.. I get the blue or red strip 100% cotton pillow tick. It will mic out around .015-.018. I made a mistake with the last muslin I bought. It was on sale and I got a yard of it. It is 100% cotton but I would bet it runs around .010 in thickness as I can seat the ball with simple thumb pressure.

So far the ball and muslin has been shooting fine. With all the snow on the ground I am limited at my range to 30-50 yards on certain days and willingness to move snow piles. In the spring I am making a new range by cutting a road through the woods so I can shoot further in.... Then I can give the muslin and all the other projectiles a real distance test.

Get some of the pillow tick. Wash it, then line dry it to remove the sizing. After that it will tear in strips with simple hands. I then spray the cloth with moosemilk when on the range and when hunting I use a dry patch which is nothing more then a saturated strip that is allowed to dry, leaving the oil still in the cloth.

Hope this explains it for you. You have a great rifle there. It has to be one of my favorite. I have Green Mountain Barrels that fit on that rifle that make that rifle do anything you could ever want a muzzleloader to do.

 

[cayuga]

What thickness should i be looking for in the cotton pillow ticking and the Muslin...New to shooting round balls...have a .54 T/C Renegade...thanks......bompa.. Oh any other info will be welcome!!!

When I really want to show how accurate a rifle can be, I like to load my .54 caliber Renegade with 90 grains of Goex 2f and a moose milk patched roundball. A .530 home made, Hornady, Speer or Buffalo Bullet are my favorite. When friends come over with their traditional rifles. I have one of my Renegades and for some reason it shoots roundball better then all the other Renegades.

They will also shoot a 310 grain Ball-et made by Buffalo Bullet company. Drop the powder charge down to 80 grains, no wad, and they do a great job.

When we hunt, I hunt with a group of fellows and (because of my Renegade) they all use .54 caliber Renegades or Hawkin rifles except one, he shoots a .50 caliber Tradition's Kentucky model with a 1-66 twist. Most of them hunt with a 300 grain R.E.A.L. conical because what ever they hit usually stays right there.