The method with the least fuss for me is to tear strips of patch material of suitable width off the end of my chunk of ticking. I can soak however many strips I want in a frying pan of warm, not hot, lard, then squeeze the excess lard out of the strips between my thumb and the lip of the skillet. I keep the greased strips in a zip lock freezer bag. Crisco or house brand veggie shortening works as well as lard.
When I shoot, I push the ball flush with the muzzle over the end of the greased patch strip, then cut off what sticks up with my patch knife.
BINGO !! A perfectly fitted pre lubed patch with no guessing or lining up balls in the center of anything, and no patches to fish out of my shooting bag, peel apart and pick up off the ground.
If'n you're the kind of prevert that uses something other than lard, you can do the same thing with whatever foul smelling patent snake liniment you like.
I kind of figger that people been greasing their patches with animal fat of some sort since they learned to scratch grooves in gun barrels, and it worked. Still does, and it does it cheaper'n anything except spit. Spit works for four or five shots then you go dry and have to start borrowing. If you run out of lard, every camp has some they'll be glad to let you have.
Borrowing spit is just plain embarrassing. Paying it back is humiliating.
Lazy ol'
Three Hawks
Topic: patch size (Read 1082 times)