The other cause of problems with crud being pushed down into chambers, is Cleaning Technique, and the wrong size cleaning jag. So often, the jag used is too Large in diameter for the task of cleaning, and doesn't allow the patch to slide down OVER the residue, so that it can pull it out as the rod is removed from the barrel.
Around here, Summers can created a lot of gooey residue, no matter how tight a patch/ball combination used, or even what powder is used. MY TECHNIQUE to clean the barrel is to push the damp- not WET- cleaning patch and jag down to about 1 inch from the bottom of the barrel, and STOP. I then pull the patch out.
There will typically be crud on the patch along the sides of the patch, and a little "bleed-in" of black crud to the center of the patch, where the flat face of the cleaning jag pushed. But, generally, I expect to find some White cleaning patch in the center where the flat face of the jag was pushing on the patch.
I throw this patch away, and dampen another patch, which now is run all the way down to the face of the breech plug. It absorbs all the crud, that Jim describes, IF you give it a few seconds to work. I don't own or shoot rifles with powder chambers and flash channels, save my DB shotgun, which has the flash channels. I use this method when cleaning that shotgun ALL the time. I have a permanent mark on my RR to tell me when the rod will touch the bottom of the barrel, so that I can stop the rod short of that. And, like Dave, I fire a couple of caps off to make sure the flash channel is clear of crud before putting the next load of powder in it.
I always follow my damp patches with a dry patch, or two, or three, on very hot, humid days( temps over 90 degrees, with similar relative humidity). Even when its below freezing, I follow the damp patch( alcohol) with a dry patch. Then I fire a cap or two to clear the flash channel. In the field, when bird hunting, I wipe the barrel with the damp patch, and then I follow with the dry patch. Then I blow down the barrels to make sure the flash channels are clear.
Any alcohol from my patches tends to drip down through the flash channel, cleaning it, and is easily blow out through the nipples. If there is any resistance at all over normal, I go ahead and fire a cap. The Birds know I am there, already. The sound made by firing a cap is far less than that of my gun going off.
I don't shoot the substitutes. So, I won't comment on them. I have watched other shooters fighting with them in their guns, and have some working knowledge about their use, but I have no experience with Triple 7, and from what I have read here, I don't want to waste my money doing so.
Much of what we do in shooting replica muzzle loaders( and originals) involves mastering techniques that you simply don't use with modern ammo, unless you also reload them. If a shooter doesn't want to learn proper technique to use in shooting, loading, and cleaning a MLer, I have to wonder if he won't be less frustrated by sticking to the guns that shoot the "pre-packaged" ammunition, using smokeless powder. Trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear makes no sense at all. :hmm:
The whole purpose of forums like this to exist is to provide incites into techniques that work with these guns, that you simply are not going to find printed in any book. As we all understand, there is probably NO ONE SET OF techniques that work in all guns, over a wide variation of temperatures, and climates, during all seasons. This is a novel concept to suppository rifle shooters, and is the reason they get so frustrated trying to shoot MLERS.
