Over Powder Patch

Today I experimented with an Over The Powder patch. This is basically pushing a lubed patch into the muzzle, 1" or so, then loading your normal patch/ball combo.
This mimics a wad basically and it protects your main patch from the powder charge.
I was very satisfied! Thr cleanest 2 patches are the first shot. Pristine! Left is the over powder patch, then the main patch.




Over The Powder Patch and the main patch combo I recovered today. They were perfect and were recovered inside each other.

Long ago I started using a wad of patch if my prb showed signs of burning. I then, and often still do, use a wad cut from felt, leather or even cardboard and it works. I don't really know if it increases accuracy although in most cases I'm fairly sure it does. I can compare targets to see. But as I become cheaper and cheaper I more and more use a wadded piece of bathroom tissue over the powder. It never smolders, burns and frequently turns into confetti but I also find the wad alone or stuck to the back of the prb patch.

One thing I found that usually happens is that velocities increase with the use of a patch or wad of something. It may not be a significant increase but an increase none-the-less. Overall, internal ballistics usually benefit to one extent or another. I load tight with usually a canvas patch (.024") with a ball .010" or .005" smaller than the bore. Tight - actually "snug" is more accurate - loads do increase velocities some and generally give better accuracy. I don't use ticking very much at all; but when I tested .015" ticking along side .018" ticking my .40 had one speed increase of 240 (+ or -) fps when going from 35 grns 3F to 40 grns. Another increase occurred with 60 grains of 3F. .015" patch gave 1946 fps while the slightly thicker .018' patch gave 2150 fps.