Just wondering!

[KHornet]

On occasion I have run out of cloth cleaning patches, (both bought and home cut), and have used paper towel patches. They seem to work well, and the price is right. Just wondering if anybody else has used, or is using paper towel patches? Pro's and cons?

 

[Brad]

Paper towels would be better than nothing. I wonder if the blue shop towels work better than kitchen types?
I tend to keep a fair number on hand. Once I get to a 1/2 package of one size I buy another. The 30 cal size is what seems to go fastest so I don't even let them get close.

And run out? How does that happen? What kind of Boy Scout runs out of a staple like cleaning patches?

 

[S Mac]

I must be the ultimate cheapskate, mostly I use the used disposable roll towels from work, they are reinforced paper, on larger bores I double up on them. Seem to work.

 

[RicinYakima]

Being thrifty also, I used Ed's Red and paper towels. Mostly Bounty that tears in half sheet sizes work best for me. There was some controversy over abrasive wear because of the silica in the paper. Ken "Molly" Mollohan cut squares and glued them onto a pad backing and chucked it up in a drill press. At 3600 rpm and 20 pounds down pressure, three minutes just barely shined up the commercial hot blue on a gun barrel. I quite worrying about bore wear after that experiment. "I certainly miss him, hard to believe he has been gone so many years already."

 

[Brad]

Ken was one of those guys who had been there and done that. Lots of knowledge lost with his passing. A good thing for us is that he was good about passing on his knowledge to others thru his writings.

I wouldn't worry about paper towels being abrasive when used for bore cleaning.

 

[Rick]

Never have tried paper towels down the bore but I have been known to cut up a perfectly good T shirt.

 

[smokeywolf]

I know I still have a good supply of patches,,,,, somewhere. I have a collection of retired T-shirts and jeans that I use if I can't find patches.

 

[KHornet]

Always have cloth to cut up, but paper towels are handy.

 

[JWFilips]

I guess I may be using too tight of a patch or the wrong type jags but I seem to always punch through the centers ( then I have to fish the paper out.

I do know one thing I use "Bounty" paper towels for: they are great to turn into a tight tapered tube and twist them through resizing dies , or bullet sizing dies to remove the grits while honeing them. they even tighten into the threaded areas and clean the threads out.

 

[Maven]

On occasion I have run out of cloth cleaning patches, (both bought and home cut), and have used paper towel patches. They seem to work well, and the price is right. Just wondering if anybody else has used, or is using paper towel patches? Pro's and cons?

I've used them on occasion to clean and dry my muzzle loader bbl's. for which they work very well. However, they do tear easily especially when damp so you have to be gentle with them.

Re Ken Mollohan: I miss him and his "outside the box" thinking, e.g., "If you really think so....," as well. Sometimes we forget he was one of the founders of the Cast Bullet Association.

 

[KHornet]

I don't use a jag with them, I use a slotted push thru. Wet paper and a jag are not the way to go.

 

[quicksylver]

Stopping by yard sales will usually turn up all the cotton t -shirts ,pillow cases etc...for dimes and quarters...

Also pewter once and a while...

Again..I only stop if I happen to be driving by one..

BTW ..if I don't see any kids stuff for sale I will ask about molds ...( good way to ease into the gun question)..turned up a whole WW11 collection that way...