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Colorado- with practise and the proper angle crown on your muzzle, you will be able to load a combination that neitehr burns nor blows through, and will actually allow repeated shots with the same patch. For over 30 years now we have used a balls .005" under the bore diameter with a .020" and .022" thick denim patch in 40 different rifles from .36 cal. to my .69cal. A short starter is used to 'Smack" it flush with the muzzle, one whack. This only flattens the top of the ball slightly and doesn't hurt the accuracy one bit. Once flush with the top of the barrel and excess patch material cut off, it is then pushed down the length of the short starter's shaft - usually 5 to 7 inches with one more cmack on the starter's ball. The end of the starter shaft has a brass tip that fits the ball's nose and doens't hurt it. From there, it is pushed the rest of the way down, in 1 or 2 thrusts with the ramrod choking up on it if necessary.
: Some people who have trouble loading as above and have tried OxYoke wads or other material between the powder and their thinnly patched ball - as Sam Fadala does. I just think he's too lazy to learn to load properly. In my own testing of this type of loading, I have found sub-standard accuracy in the 4 rifles I tried it in.
: Fully 50% of the accuracy with a black powder rifle comes from proper loading. My bro and I have been making and shooting ML rifles since 1969 and have always done it the way Ned Roberts teaches in his book "The Muzzleloading Cap Lock Rifle" - a MUST-HAVE for any BP shooter who wants to learn shoot accurately.
: Competition round ball shooters, by the way, use balls larger than the bore size, with heavy denim or ticking patches - and load them without false muzzles or the use of hammers. An old deep groove .45 I had with a .448 bore, required .457 balls and a .022" patch. Although the numbers(.501") don't add up to the groove dia. of .504", there was enough lead moved in seating the combo into the muzzle, to seal the bore and give great accuracy. Technique is always the reason this is possible.
: Colorado, try not to take short-cuts, get Ned's book revised 1937 I believe- it is a treasure of information. I know you'll enjoy it and learn a great deal as well. YOu won't be able to put it down. I have personally found Sam's books to be poor teachers, however they are good starters for cleaning techniques. His loading practises and beliefs are rather strange in some respects.
: Blow-by causes burnt patches. If there is any blow-by, the patch will be burnt. Properly loaded and patched, there is no blow-by and the patches can even be re-used many times. THAT, my friend, is a good combinaton.
: Measure the groove diameter of your barrel. Measure the bore diameter of your barrel. The ball should be .005 to .010" smaller than the bore dia. Subtract the diameter of the ball from the groove dia. and divide the product by 2. That is the absolute thinnest patch that goes to the bottom of the grooves and is usually too thin to work, but does work in some barrels. In others, a tighter combinaton is required(thicker patch).
: I have found the OxYoke patches are over .005" thinner than what they are labeled as. Even using the wide flats on the caliper's jaws, the patches are .003" thinner than listed. I have some .018" patch bags that contain .013" patches, as-sent from the distributor.
: Although I have a rifle that gives good accuracy with ticking patches, my best overall accuracy from mostly all the rifles I've ever had, has been with denim material for patches. It is the strongest weave and comes in many thicknesses, available by the yard at sewing materials stores. I have found thickness from .012" to .036". The standards seem to run .015", .018", .020", .022", .025", .030", .036". I go to the store with either calipers or a micrometer. Wash it, then rip into strips, and either punch out patches, or used strips on the muzzle with spit for lube, if target shooting. The only lube I've found to match spit in my current match flinter, is Lehigh Valley Patch and cleaning Lube.
: The picture is the first competition offhand group I shot with the deep grooved Bauska .45 barrel 48" twist barel discussed in my post above. This was shot in 1976. It is 5 shots at 25 yards, using a .457 pure lead ball and a .022" denim spit-lubed patch with 70gr. 2F powder. It was shot without wiping, as I belive a rifle should be cleaned AFTER a day's shooting, not during. A good combination allows this.
: Good luck- and you will get any assistance required, from the web site I provided in a different post. (americanlongrifles forum)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/DarylS/7d26611e.jpg

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Daryl

"a gun without hammers is like a Spaniel without ears" King George V