After about 9 years of trying, I finally got the recipe to tighten my groups up in my .36 flintlock !

(OK, I know that's a long time.....but, in my defense, I was interrupted by being married for the first
time, building a house, baby being born, eyesight going downhill, moving to another state etc etc)

I started patterning it at about the same time my eyes started getting weaker, & I was never sure if
it was me or my charge/patch type/patch lube/lot of powder (ughhh - Wano). Now, I can focus on
the target, the front sight, & the rear sight as I used to when I was younger. I can't visually "impress"
an aspirin-sized dot on a dime at 50 yards like I used to, but I can keep all 3 in focus. I guess my
targets have to get bigger...like from a dime to a silver dollar size :)

I borrowed a younger friend's eyes today & he was able to shoot 2 different one-hole groups
hand-resting off the bench at 37 yards using a 1" dia. bull with a low 6 hold. I had tried many
different combinations of patch type/patch lube over the years with no success as far as tightening
my groups up. I knew I had to be around .015" thick with the patch, because she was marking it
up perfect. Some fraying around the edges past the ball O.D., which I am guessing was the O.D.
catching fire upon exit from the barrel & hitting free air.

I took some .015" T/C blue & white striped pillow ticking & washed all of the pre-lube out with
Dawn soap. Let them dry. Soaked & impressed half of them with Crisco, & the other half with
Pam cooking spray (purely Olive Oil version) in a can.

The Pam was amazing! Perfect patch....Perfect grouping. I'm guessing it was about .450"
for the 2 group sizes. Green Mountain barrel, recent lot of Go-Ex FFF.

I'm happy! Now I think I will throw a large Siler percussion on it & play with it some more ! :)

ETA: Go-Ex

Shelly isn't to bad either

Ha !    :)

I guess I should have known that was coming with a post title like that :)

Weigh your balls.  Separate them by weight groups.

And yet another sign that I am getting old !! I can't believe I forgot to do this most basic
thing yet again.... Thanks for reminding me !! :)

I'm thinking that PAM has an alcohol carrier.  Do your results change if you give the patches a chance to evaporate?

Good question !  I sprayed them down the night before (1 shot directly on each side of each patch)
& immediately put them in a small ziploc sandwich bag & pushed as much of the air out of the
bag as I could before sealing it. I opened the bag just minutes before loading & shooting.

Now, these were originally old T/C black & white pillow ticking pre-lubed patches. I tried to get
as much of the old lube out of them using Dawn soap.