Browning Mountain Rifle Help

[Hoosier_Hawken]

I have a .54 Browning Mountain rifle. After loading and firing the first shot on a clean bore the 2nd shot is almost impossible to get loaded down the barrel let alone a 3rd shot. I am shooting a .530 PRB with a .010” lubed patch. Do I need to go down to a .525 ball? I’m just confused because the first load goes down fairly easy. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[nit wit]

In my JBR and others I use liberal amounts of spit. Try it.
Nit Wit

 

[Schaefer]

Your barrel is allowing for residue to build up. It could be your patch lube, your patch ball size, or the barrel could be showing signs of roughness brought on by pitting or another kind of surface damage. When you clean it after the first shot does it clean up quickly or do you have to run a number of cleaning patches down the barrel to get the residue out?

 

[Hoosier_Hawken]

Your barrel is allowing for residue to build up. It could be your patch lube, your patch ball size, or the barrel could be showing signs of roughness brought on by pitting or another kind of surface damage. When you clean it after the first shot does it clean up quickly or do you have to run a number of cleaning patches down the barrel to get the residue out?

After two shots it’s takes 4-5 patches to clean it

 

[Schaefer]

Does the barrel feel smooth when you are running the 5th patch down it. Smaller ball patch combos will always help. However if you barrel is rough and getting worse then you might take some corrective action on it.

 

[planefixer da50]

use a 50 jag, some old denim patch, with Flitz metal polish, 10 strokes, reapply polish, ten more strokes, keep up till 100 strokes. clean with soap n water, dry well, lube with baricade. swab bore with alcyhol. use 3f black,it burns cleaner. will shoot better, good luck.

 

[Hoosier_Hawken]

Does the barrel feel smooth when you are running the 5th patch down it. Smaller ball patch combos will always help. However if you barrel is rough and getting worse then you might take some corrective action on it.

4-6 inches after the muzzle is tighter and gets easier after that. Yes the patches get smoothers as I run them down and they’re not ragged or torn either.

use a 50 jag, some old denim patch, with Flitz metal polish, 10 strokes, reapply polish, ten more strokes, keep up till 100 strokes. clean with soap n water, dry well, lube with baricade. swab bore with alcyhol. use 3f black,it burns cleaner. will shoot better, good luck.

I was wondering that about the powder. I am shooting Goex 2F. I forgot to mention that.

 

[Grenadier1758]

I have a .54 Browning Mountain rifle. After loading and firing the first shot on a clean bore the 2nd shot is almost impossible to get loaded down the barrel let alone a 3rd shot. I am shooting a .530 PRB with a .010” lubed patch. Do I need to go down to a .525 ball? I’m just confused because the first load goes down fairly easy. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Are you wiping the bore between shots? That may remove enough fouling in the bore to make loading easier. Use an undersized jag so the wiping patch slides over the fouling and bunches up, so the damp patch removes fouling. Don't run the patch to the breech as the JBMR has a chambered breech and we don't want fouling to block the breech. There may be a rough section of the barrel that will benefit from the polishing action described by @planefixer da50. That surely won't hurt.

 

[Pete G]

use a 50 jag, some old denim patch, with Flitz metal polish, 10 strokes, reapply polish, ten more strokes, keep up till 100 strokes. clean with soap n water, dry well, lube with baricade. swab bore with alcyhol. use 3f black,it burns cleaner. will shoot better, good luck.

Be sure to use a muzzle protector if you try this.

 

[Notchy Bob]

All good advice. Inspecting the bore with a light after cleaning may help identify rough or pitted areas if there are any.

4-6 inches after the muzzle is tighter and gets easier after that. Yes the patches get smoothers as I run them down and they’re not ragged or torn either.

It sounds from this quote almost as if the barrel has some choke. It was common practice among old-time barrel makers to taper the bore slightly, or create a small amount of choke near the muzzle. However, very few modern barrel makers do this.

Wiping between shots can get tedious, but some rifles need it.

There is not a thing in the world wrong with trying smaller balls, .526” or even .520”. A slightly thicker patch may be needed with smaller balls, but the thicker fabric will hold more lube, which will help keep fouling softer. I have also found with my own rifles that a well-lubricated wool felt wad over the powder and under the patched ball helps with keeping fouling softer and makes loading easier. This also helps prevent burnt patches, although that was not reported as a problem here.

Good luck!

Notchy Bob

 

[Hoosier_Hawken]

Thanks everyone for the awesome helpful info. Things have been pretty busy here at the homestead but I hope for good weather this weekend to try it all out. I will post the results when I get some.

 

[Beaverman2]

what are you using for patch lube?

 

[Hoosier_Hawken]

what are you using for patch lube?

Wonderlube pre-lubed patches. I use them in all my other rifles and they work great.

 

[Beaverman2]

Try a different lube without crisco in it, more like moose milk or ballistol and water mix. you may be surprised

 

[Beaverman2]

Try a different lube without crisco in it, more like moose milk or ballistol and water mix. you may be surprised,even spit if you have enough to get a patch decently wet

 

[SDSmlf]

I have a .54 Browning Mountain rifle. After loading and firing the first shot on a clean bore the 2nd shot is almost impossible to get loaded down the barrel let alone a 3rd shot. I am shooting a .530 PRB with a .010” lubed patch. Do I need to go down to a .525 ball? I’m just confused because the first load goes down fairly easy. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Your Browning Mountain Rifle just may have sharp/rough edges left in the bore from the manufacturing process or a rough bore from a previous owner’s maintenance practices. There are many ways to polish and smooth it up. Here is a @duelist1954 video showing the process he used on a difficult to load GPR.

I have used a similar method with Scotch-Brite for some time on all my new or new to me barrels, and Mike explains his very well. I started doing it after speaking to Don Getz (Getz Barrel) years ago before he passed, and he recommended using the green (600 grit) Scotch-Brite for smoothing up barrels that were cutting patches. Said it wouldn’t hurt the barrel.

 

[Hoosier_Hawken]

I had sometime today to start testing some of the tips y’all gave me for getting my JBMR lines out. For starters I changed from a FF 80gr charge to a FFF 70 gr charge and had immediate success with my loading problem. I shot 5 consecutive shots which all loaded nearly as easy as the first. I was able to find 3 of the 5 shot patches. The top picture is the ball side and the bottom is the powder side. There is some tearing on the patches for from the rifling so I will definitely look into polishing the bore. Next I am going to start stepping up the powder charge and seeing how that affects the loading. Thanks everyone for all there help.

 

[Pete G]

You need a thicker patch.

 

[Shortfingers]

Your Browning Mountain Rifle just may have sharp/rough edges left in the bore from the manufacturing process or a rough bore from a previous owner’s maintenance practices. There are many ways to polish and smooth it up. Here is a @duelist1954 video showing the process he used on a difficult to load GPR.

I have used a similar method with Scotch-Brite for some time on all my new or new to me barrels, and Mike explains his very well. I started doing it after speaking to Don Getz (Getz Barrel) years ago before he passed, and he recommended using the green (600 grit) Scotch-Brite for smoothing up barrels that were cutting patches. Said it wouldn’t hurt the barrel.

I’ve used this method on several new or new to me rifles that were hard to load after a few shots and it works remarkably well.

 

[Notchy Bob]

Maybe a thicker patch, but I would try a lubricated felt wad over the powder.

Lots of things to try. That’s part of the fun!

Notchy Bob