Double Patching

[Swamp]

Well, after shooting all the RB (.590 & .600) I had left for my Tulle, I was not happy with the results, shooting a 1-1/2 foot group at 50ys. And, being deer season opens Monday, I was kinda caught between a rock and a hard place. I have not bought a mold yet, as I wanted to see what size ball my gun likes, and at this point, it liked nothing. And, with no one around carring such sizes (.590, .595 & .600's) I was just going to use another rifle.

Then I got to thinking, what could I do with the .58 cal RB (.570) that was available over the counter at my local gun shop. After talking to a friend about shooting a smoothbore, I switched powders from FF to FFF, using the same load of 80grs. I bought a box of the .570's, and headed out to my range out back. After doing a little figuring, and looking for patch material, I ended up taking an old pair of pants (Dockers) and cutting them up for patch material. This material measured out at .022" thick, and was not thick enough for my .570 ball in a .62 cal smoothbore. So, I folded it over, and doubled the patch, and after seating a ball with my short starter, cut off the remaining patch material flush with the muzzle, and seated the ball on the 80gr FFF charge. Shooting from the bench like I was earlier, I squeezed off the round. I reloaded with the same load, and fired a second shot. After walking down range to take a look, I was pleasantly surprised, a 1-1/2" group 5 inches low of the bull! I thought, maybe I have something here. So, I went back to the bench, loaded, changed my sight picture, and shot another 3 shot group. 3 shots and another roughly 1-1/2" group, with 2 in the bull, and one just outside of it. This is awesome, and I'm real happy with the results.

So, have any of you ever double patched like I'm doing? The PRB is as tight as my rifles when I load them, and goes down the bore nicely. Just curious to see if any of you have, or heard of someone doing this.

[Captchee]

Yep I have  in one of my SXS
Another thing I do is  I  don’t use a patch at all . Just a wad and an over the shot card to hold the ball in place.
 The smoothbore I do that with , is a .613 bor shooting a .600 ball with 80 grains of 3F goex .
  I have found that smoothbores can be odd monkeys and you just have to find what works

 I also have a pistol that I could not get any group with at 25 yards . One day I was  at the rand and ran out of balls . The guy down the line had a box of .430 for his 44 .
So I figure lets se what they would do in my 45 .
 I was using .010 patches and the ball literally  could be loaded with no pressure at all .
 But dam if it didn’t shoot a 1 inch group at 25 .
So that is no my  ball size for that pistol

[pathfinder]

It's not the patching,it's the 3f, I told ya,"Get the velocity up!" Glad it worked out,just got home so I'll check on the mould and round balls tomorrow for ya.(don't DARE beat me in trade gun matches now!)

[Swamp]

Capt, did it make a difference in that SXS? It's funny sometimes how things work for ya isn't it? Well, like I said, this is working real nice, and you can't argue with results like I had. I'll be working with different loads and such for awhile, but I ain't fixing what ain't broke this close to deer season.

Ted, I was amazed at how it shot. Yes, I took your advise and switched to 3F. Will that make a difference with the .590, .595 & .600's? It might. But for now, I'm sticking with the .570's and double patch. Like I said, I was needing this quickly, as gun season opens Monday, and I just want to use my Tulle so bad. But after the season, I'm going to get on the range and shoot a lot, and really find the best load combo, which I might have already. I will keep you guy's informed with my result's. I really like shooting my smoothbore. Now I want to harvest a deer next week.

I don't think I'll beat you in the matches. But, I do feel I can give you guy's atleast a challenge now!   Hope all is well buddy! It was good to see you last Saturday. Good luck next week! Report back on your hunt.