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- Oct 12, 2018
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Just bored and thought I'd share my current planned experimenting.
I've been using cotton pillow ticking patches for quite some time, just store bought round ones from CVA I believe. I love to experiment, so even though I've found several different combo's that would be fine to hunt with, I keep trying different things just for the fun and learning experience of it all.
I recently read about Linen being a great patch material, so I took the calipers with me to the local JoAnnes and picked up a couple different thicknesses. Linen is still cotton, but made from a bit different part I guess? You have to look close, as you want the stuff that is 100% linen and not something that is a mix of something else.
It supposedly doesn't compress as much and it was recommended to look for linen that is about .005" thinner than my current pillow ticking. The pillow ticking measures .0155" compressed with calipers, so I found some linen that showed .011" compressed that should be close. I also got a 1/2 yard of some that showed .007" compressed so that I could try it with a .535 ball rather than the .530 I've always used. I washed both on hot without soap in the washer and dried them on high. The edges frayed something terrible, next time I will put it in the wife's "delicates" bag to see how it fairs. Wife has a rotary cutter, so I trimmed the fraying back up and then cut the material into 1.5" strips and then cut them again into 1.5" squares.
My best group producing lubes to date are mink oil and a Dutch Schultz style dry patch, but I use Castor oil and denatured alcohol rather than Ballistol and water. This time I'm going to try the Ballistol/Water mix, simply because I've found that the Castor oil / denatured alcohol lube is prone to damaging the patch material in a matter of weeks so you can't pre make very many in advance of shooting. Ballistol/water is supposed to be easier on the patch material over a longer period of time.
Anyone else have some experimenting in the works?
I've been using cotton pillow ticking patches for quite some time, just store bought round ones from CVA I believe. I love to experiment, so even though I've found several different combo's that would be fine to hunt with, I keep trying different things just for the fun and learning experience of it all.
I recently read about Linen being a great patch material, so I took the calipers with me to the local JoAnnes and picked up a couple different thicknesses. Linen is still cotton, but made from a bit different part I guess? You have to look close, as you want the stuff that is 100% linen and not something that is a mix of something else.
It supposedly doesn't compress as much and it was recommended to look for linen that is about .005" thinner than my current pillow ticking. The pillow ticking measures .0155" compressed with calipers, so I found some linen that showed .011" compressed that should be close. I also got a 1/2 yard of some that showed .007" compressed so that I could try it with a .535 ball rather than the .530 I've always used. I washed both on hot without soap in the washer and dried them on high. The edges frayed something terrible, next time I will put it in the wife's "delicates" bag to see how it fairs. Wife has a rotary cutter, so I trimmed the fraying back up and then cut the material into 1.5" strips and then cut them again into 1.5" squares.
My best group producing lubes to date are mink oil and a Dutch Schultz style dry patch, but I use Castor oil and denatured alcohol rather than Ballistol and water. This time I'm going to try the Ballistol/Water mix, simply because I've found that the Castor oil / denatured alcohol lube is prone to damaging the patch material in a matter of weeks so you can't pre make very many in advance of shooting. Ballistol/water is supposed to be easier on the patch material over a longer period of time.
Anyone else have some experimenting in the works?