FlFlinter wrote: 0.010" difference in patch thickness is a considerable change - when working target loads, a 0.002" thickness change and sometimes just a 10 point difference in thread count of the patch material is enough to screw up the works.
I'll second that opinion. Round ball size for a given rifle is crucial, but no more crucial than the material and thickness of the patch, and the lube being used. All of my ML rifles have genuine preferences of ball to bore fit, and all but two have real preferences in patching. The .40 and .45 flinters seem to prefer very tight weave patch, some thicker or thinner, and almost all prefer linen. The big bore caplocks tend to like thick, dense cotton patching. The two rifles I shoot most are both Hatfields, a .50 caliber squirrel rifle (pull trigger erase squirrel), and a .54 caliber half stock Mountain rifle (it may be the only one he ever shipped, as it is serial number 1, and Ted closed up then sold out shortly there after). The .50 likes 65 grains of 3f with a .495 ball with a slick cotton .015 patch with a thick wax lube. The .54 likes 80 gn of 2f with a .530 ball, a .020 cotton pillow ticking patch and Wonderlube. Bith rifles will shoot as tight as the shooter can hold and eyes can see fixed iron sights that will pass American Mountain Man muster.
I started shooting MLs back in the early 80s and it was strictly a "find your own way" proposal. It was "buy a rifle, get pure lead round balls of a couple of diameters, a couple of grades of BP and caps (if you could find more than one cap maker) round up some patch material, mix up some lube, and go out and spend the entire day shooting and marking targets, switching combinations, and looking into the crystal ball for trends". When the big "come as you are" Rendezvous spread from coast to coast, and ML component suppliers became more numerous and available, things got considerably easier. I would have liked to start out in a time where I could have called Cabela's, and ordered the various components, but that would have taken away half the fun. I'll never forget the look on a sales lady's face when, late to leave for a shoot, I walked into the fabric shop dressed in skins and fur and pulled a micrometer out of my pouch and started measuring the thickness of the various linen and pillow ticking.
I'll laugh about that until I reach the great rendezvous in the sky.
Oh, one more thing. If you don't have an adjustable measure to use at the range, buy one before you go out again. I was at a shoot where a bozo poured from horn to bore, found an ember and blew half of his face off. He came back to the shoots eventually, but never shot well as he lost his right eye and had to learn to shoot with his left. I think if he looked back the cost of a measure would have been insignificant. Read the 10 rules of BP shooting from the NMLRA, NRA, or Dixie Gunworks websites, and if you can't comply with all of them the next time you go to shoot, don't go shooting. You can't say you weren't warned. And as has been said before...
STUPID SHOULD HURT !!!
Beauhooligan