What's the thinnest patch material that still works? (2025)

Des52 said:

Deer Creek has .005 patches, have not used them so have no idea how good they are.

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I used the .005 patches in a very tight bore of a 32 caliber rifle. Surprisingly, the patches held together under a moderate charge of 30 grains of 3f. I tried .300 balls with a .010 patch that worked pretty well, but the balls were hard to find. I eventually sold the gun.

FYI, it's not the thickness per se that is the main factor, as the tightness of the weave also helps! FWIW I use 0.010" homespun patches in my large smoothies to 100-grn charges, with no burn in.

Somewhere on here I posted pictures of the same patch shot and recovered 8 times ... when I gave up, and not because the patch itself was compromised.

Phil Coffins said:

What kind of rifling? That determines patch thickness.

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Usually. But not in this case. I'm dealing with an oddball situation -- cloth patched conical bullet cast from a custom mould that should have arrived at 0.435" with negative tolerance of up to -0.002" from the targeted diameter. Instead, the mould arrived at 0.4385" and some bullets were actually casting at 0.440. So my thinnest patch material, 0.010", still requires a mallet on the short starter to load. I just need something thinner. I may yet use those 0.010" patches and throw anything that casts over a certain diameter back in the pot. But I'd like to try out some thinner patches to see if those will work, accuracy-wise. Using a mallet on the short starter is fine at the range but will really stink if I have to carry a mallet 7 miles into the backcountry just to reload.

And to quiet the skeptics, yes, cloth-patched conicals work fine. I tested it out on 0.430s" and 0.429s in this .45 rifle (0.454 to be precise) with acceptable accuracy out to 100 yards. I just needed something shorter to better stabilize out of my 1:48 twist -- hence the custom mould. 0.435" should have been fine with a 0.015" patch since 0.429s shot the best with a 0.022" denim -- tight as it was. But 0.4385" and 0.440" is way too far out of tolerance with the patches I have.

0.005" should work if it's a tight enough weave. I have some thin .50 wool wads that I can use to help burn-through if that looks to be an issue. Thanks!

Thinest would be rag based paper and that would be the patch material to wrap a nearly exact fit conical in a barrel with very shallow grooves.

Silk doesn't hold together and other than the dialog from "The Last of the Mohicans" movie, I've never heard of silk as patch material. Now if Cora's petticoat was linen, then requesting a piece of the petticoat would make sense. Bumpo (Hawkeye) probably had linen patching as linen was common and less expensive compared to exotic cotton. The British musket balls would have been wrapped in paper.

@Nuthatch, knowing why you are asking the question and the details of the configuration of the rifled barrel can help us provide better answers.

I'm pretty sure you were joking about the use of silk.

Grenadier1758 said:

Thinest would be rag based paper and that would be the patch material to wrap a nearly exact fit conical in a barrel with very shallow grooves.

Silk doesn't hold together and other than the dialog from "The Last of the Mohicans" movie, I've never heard of silk as patch material. Now if Cora's petticoat was linen, then requesting a piece of the petticoat would make sense. Bumpo (Hawkeye) probably had linen patching as linen was common and less expensive compared to exotic cotton. The British musket balls would have been wrapped in paper.

@Nuthatch, knowing why you are asking the question and the details of the configuration of the rifled barrel can help us provide better answers.

I'm pretty sure you were joking about the use of silk.

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Yes - that was a joke about silk. But if it would work, I'd surely use it

Best explanation is above. It's so oddball that I doubt it would really provide clarity so much as sow more confusion & lead us all into rabbit holes.

russellshaffer said:

Can you size those bullets down a little? Do you have a lathe or a friend with one? It should be pretty easy to make a simple sizing die but machine shop rates are scary.

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Sizing is an option. But only remotely as only the smallest range of cast diameter bullets would be able to be sized down that far. The upper end would likely crack the bullets or the die. These are very hard bullets, after all — hardcast lead and also lead free alloy.

But since I don’t have a press anymore and would also need an adjustable die at a custom size, that would cost about $300 on the cheap vs ordering a new mould for $100ish, assuming they could make it right the next time around.

Patches, on the other hand, are dirt cheap by comparison.

Grenadier1758 said:

Thinest would be rag based paper and that would be the patch material to wrap a nearly exact fit conical in a barrel with very shallow grooves.

Silk doesn't hold together and other than the dialog from "The Last of the Mohicans" movie, I've never heard of silk as patch material. Now if Cora's petticoat was linen, then requesting a piece of the petticoat would make sense. Bumpo (Hawkeye) probably had linen patching as linen was common and less expensive compared to exotic cotton. The British musket balls would have been wrapped in paper.

@Nuthatch, knowing why you are asking the question and the details of the configuration of the rifled barrel can help us provide better answers.

I'm pretty sure you were joking about the use of silk.

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Got to get the extra 40 yards. Would not Silk melt and foul the bore?