Cleaning Patches

[KHornet]

Ya, a dull subject I know, and as a lot of cast shooters do not clean unless putting the weapon away for awhile. However, over the years, and when money was really tight, I cleaned with old sheet or old shirt, or old what ever cloth was a available, cut into squares of appropriate size. Old jeans worked well with under size bore jags, and then there was paper towels. I am still frugal (spell that cheap), and I hate buying bags of patches although they work well. I usually use what ever is available with cast loads at present usually run one patch with Ed's Red, after shooting followed by one dry patch before heading off the range. The next time out, I run one dry patch before shooting, and that seems to work. Have been using more and more paper towel patches, lately as they are cheap(how many thousand 22 cal patches can ya get out of a roll of Bounty?). Anyhow, just wondering what the folks on the forum are doing/using etc for cleaning patches?

 

[Will]

I use are old cotton sheets when they start getting holes in them.
I also save old shirts and underwear to do a good wipe down on the outside of my guns.

 

[Brad]

I buy mine. Even if I pay 20 bucks for a bag. Can get 3-4 years from it. 5 bucks a year isn't worth my time.
In the overall scheme of things I consider patches and solvent to be cheap expendables. A pint of Hoppes will last me better than 5 years.
I too am frugal, but with my time.

 

[freebullet]

I try not to mess with cleaning guns till just before they need it. I'm up to 6-700 from the 3030, get 14-1500 through the ak, 10-20 from the inlines, 2-3k from autoloader handguns, and somewhere in between from the rest.

When I have to clean I use old towels, clothes, &/or gun show patches. Usually get a gallon bag full for about 10$

Mobil 1 5w30 & bearing grease to lube as necessary.

 

[JWFilips]

Well, My little lady loves flannel PJs so I make it a point to buy her a new pair every Christmas! ( & I get the worn out ones!!!) Not necessarily BR quality but
I have a bag of them cached away to cut up. So that is what I use but I clean seldom anymore shooting cast in rifles. Talk about frugal I have been known to was them for reuse!
I do have to admit if I see a deal on e-bay ( & they do happen) for those Hoppes 2"x2" s like 1000 for 8 bucks & free shipping I will grab it
But I guess I'm a flannel PJ man!

 

[Ian]

Like Brad, I buy mine. Shooter's Choice, round cotton flannel, in three sizes, bought by the 500-count bag, usually on sale, have proven to be my all-time favorite. At one point 8-10 years ago, I got hold of a piece of stainless-steel thin-wall tubing about 2" in diameter and found a steel cap that fit over it tightly. After chamfering and sharpening the business end it made a passable patch cutting stamp. After spending some time sorting through my rag bag and stamping a few dozen patches, I figured my time compared to what I cleared per hour at work, and never stamped another patch again. I have way too much to do in my free time to bother cutting patches. Still have the stamp, and hoard rag material like a pack rat, so the only way I'll cut patches again is if commercial ones stop being available or I cannot afford $10 every few years, neither of which seem likely.

 

[JWFilips]

But Ian,
If the little lady cuts them up while she watches TV.......I'm not wasting my time!
When I used to do reenacting the worst thing I had to do is to roll & fill 18th C paper cartridges before an event.
Damn that was mind numbing & I usually needed 500 per weekend! Well I sourced that out too! The only problem I had was; she wanted to know why she couldn't load the round ball in them like the originals of 1776! Needless to say my lads were always happy they were not on the opposing side during the battles
Jim

P.S. BTW she loves sorting range brass and picking the cast bullets out of my range scrap! Guess I got a good one!

 

[35 shooter]

I use old socks and tee shirts as they wear out and develope holes in them.
Only takes a minute or two to cut up with a sharp pair of scissors.

When i used to shoot jacketed and had to clean all the time, i bought GI 30 cal. patches from the army surplus stores locally.

 

[9.3X62AL]

Patches In Bulk is my usual method--played-out T-shirts are my usual source. I don't NEED to conserve cash like I once did, but "Waste not/want not" is so deeply ingrained in my nature that I only rarely have bought bagged/commercial patching material. I'm not old enough to be a Depression survivor, but my folks were/are--and a lot of their mindsets got instilled during my upbringing. It's how I roll, and wife Marie is very much the same way. Now, she WON'T sort brass for me--but will police up her empties as she learned to in the Army. Good enough for me.

 

[Maven]

I hate to throw worn out PJ's, T-shirts, and underwear away too, so I try to either use them as cleaning rags for my bike (the kind you pedal) chains or cut them up for cleaning patches (somewhat of a PITA). However, as I make my own patches for my muzzle loading rifles and smoothbores, I often go to JoAnn Fabric for both pillow ticking and denim (got to bring a caliper or mic with me though), and white 100% cotton flannel. The latter makes excellent cleaning patches if you don't want to spend for the packaged kind. While you can't beat the price of old T-shirts, etc., the cotton flannel is a better product in my estimation. Btw, it's also thicker than worn out T's, etc., so you don't have to double it up so it can do its job.

 

[9.3X62AL]

Maven, this never dawned on me. Thank you--there is a JoAnn's about 3 minutes from our new place. A couple yards of this material will probably last for the rest of my life.

 

[Maven]

Al, JoAnn's often has coupons, which reduce the cost, sometimes significantly. And, you're most welcome!

 

[JWFilips]

Maven.
If you want a fun story I can tell you about the first time I went into Joann's, where I live, with a micrometer! Think I got put on the government watch list!!!
Just checking their pillow ticking!!!
Jim

 

[Ian]

Speaking of watch lists, try coming out of Walgreens with two tubs of Vaseline, a 12-pack of Ivory soap, and a bottle of castor bean oil. Unless of course it's the one in a certain small town in NE, you'll just grilled by the pharmacy manager as to what your proportions are going to be.

 

[JWFilips]

Ian, Just tell them you run a Brothel!

 

[RBHarter]

I bought the last 5 yd of some odd white ink print flannel on a bolt at a Mill End Fabrics store about 10 yr ago . 1 side is fuzzy and 1 side flat. I have a couple of other bolt ends of other 4oz flannel . There's probably another 20-30 yr worth there.

 

[Maven]

"I can tell you about the first time I went into Joann's, where I live, with a micrometer! Think I got put on the government watch list!!!
Just checking their pillow ticking!!!"

Jim, My experience was similar to yours. Fortunately one of the employees shot muzzle loaders and quickly showed me where the bolts of pillow ticking were. In fact, they've always been most helpful and interested in why I needed to measure cloth thickness and why it mattered.

 

[Lost Dog]

Now I clean my weapons every time I shoot. I use primarily a rod with a fitted jag and commercial made patches or the 3" round patches by Otis for their pull-through cable cleaning system. I don't run out of the Otis patches as I buy them by the thousand, and you get 6, yes six, passes with a single Otis patch. I only use the fixed rod system when I know I have to deal with some serious scrubbing. Cables don't lend well to that. T-shirts are for wiping down the guitars. I use the standard red shop towels for guns.

 

[KHornet]

Used a lot of pillow ticking when I shot front stuffers w/round ball, and I also have gone to Jo Ann's with cals. Needed to be washed to get the sizing out before being cut up into patches.

 

[JSH]

Fiskars makes a rolling cutter with replaceable cutting wheels. I bought a whole bolt of white cotton flannel at a damaged freight store for $10. I can cut 100 patches of any size in less than a minute. Once I get my board set up I usually cut 3-4 coffee cans full of several sizes.
The rolling cutter can cut 2-3 layers at a time easily. I have cut up to 6 but the fabric finds to roll if you are cutting smaller than a 35 caliber size.
I bought an extra cutting wheel when I bought my cutter. Have yet to replace it 15+ years later. A lot of times the wheels can be found on clearance shelves for pennies.
Jeff