Can't get the darn thing clean!!

Thanks Roundball for sharing that but it's not necessary.

Before I started wackin' some (not all) 24oz beer cans at 100 yards in front of a 100 yard target with my recently-purchased 58 GM 1-70" twist with Buffalo Maxi-Ballet 405s, I was using Speer .570 roundball with pre-lubed .020 cotton patch with 777 powder & dry, unseasoned bore. Those were great 100 yards groups also. That 58 is about to be scoped & shot using those Ballets or 315 grain Warren Minies. My new one will be unscoped (peeped) using roundball with either Stumpmurderer's Snot, Wonderlube 1000, Cabelas white-stuff lube or Junior's Homemade Lube found here below.... I haven't decided yet. It will remain "seasoned"... most likely with real Black as the ignitor instead of a substitute powder.

Thanks again!

Click Here To Read About Junior's Homemade Lube

 

[leadball]

anybody know of a company that makes a natural product that doesnt stink? By the way, I am back after a week of camping in northern minnesota and had some of the best walleye and sauger fishing in ages. Caught and released many big northern pike. The weather was lousy, though

 

[jtmattison]

Gee guy's!
I've been off the net for 4 days and there are 41 replies to my post.
Thanks for all of the info.

Huntin

 

[Charles/NM]

I could care less what everyone uses in their barrel, but I do have a suggestion about something that hasn't been mentioned: If you flood your barrel with water when cleaning like I do don't forget to get the water out from under your ramrod rib and sights. I hose down the rib and sights with WD-40 and blow it out with compressed air. You would be surprised how much water/WD-40 emulsion comes out. Could be growing rust under those parts.

 

I use a non-messy, non-drippy funnel to flush the powder channel in my bore. No bucket baths for this guy!

I just replied to my 41st bucket-bath user who wondered why his accuracy went south all of a sudden. That's because soapy water generally doesn't remove all traces of leading, copper & plastic... even with a bore brush.... unless you have more soap in that bucket than water & maybe... if you're uzin' an oversize brush.

If you are a roundball or conical shooters using older methods of blackpowder with moderate charges & leaded bullets (or) seasoned bores... you are probably not part of this equation I'm discussing here. But if you are getting faint patches of lead after every session & bucket-washing.... your accuracy clock is ticking closer to "I Can't Believe I Missed That Deer" midnight -- every time you squeeze the trigger.

If Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett & the 1000 Gang that followed into the 20th Century had all used solvents & bore preservatives of today, there would be a massive museum of the guns they used on display.

That's why "modern" is better. Breakfree CLP is far superior to Tallow. Butch's Bore Shine is far superior to Ivory Soap of 1863.

You can run for a while & not get caught.... then you start getting short-winded (or) overly leaded....

 

[roundball]

Ditto...best cleaning aids I have in the garage are my air compressor and aerosol cans of WD40

 

[tg]

The methods use to protect the bores of the original iron barrels worked well and had little to do with the remaining guns that exist today...and those who are haveing problems due to plastic and lead buildup from modern bullets abd find accuracy with scopes and peeps not up to snuff using the old ways may think about what forum their post really belong on?????? I though Ball-et was where they did a funny dance on their tippy toes!

 

"..... abd find accuracy with scopes and peeps not up to snuff using the old ways may think about what forum their post really belong on?????? I though Ball-et was where they did a funny dance on their tippy toes! "
===========================================================

Hey tg... hope you're sitting down cuz' the news I'm about to forward you doesn't fit your last post.

More & more shooters owning percussion rifles use Powerbelts & sabot/bullets in them. Judging by sales... Powerbelts being #1 and sabot/bullets being #2, I think you roundballers & leaded conical shooters are outnumbered.

Also, last time I checked, it was OK to "mention"... not start a topic on the use of Powerbelts & sabot/bullets in this forum. I have no desire to chase traditionalists away. I love reading what they have to say. However, it's a few traditionlists who are having ML cleaning problems & I'm here to help them pick out a good detergent...lol.

So please.... take another chill pill & relax... take some deep breaths -- everything's smooth!

 

[tg]

Considering most ball shooters cast their own it might be a bit hard to make any real sense out of sales numbers for the other stuff, My point is the old ways of cleaning/ bore protection will work if done properly, nothing will if done in haste, a good modern lube is not a bad idea for a ML bore either as it is a modern steel and will not "season" as the old iron barrels or your frying pan does, if shooting PRB and BP in a gun water clean up will work well, alch. is a good bet also, many methods have a following and all will work if you keep your ducks in a row.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Considering most ball shooters cast their own it might be a bit hard to make any real sense out of sales numbers for the other stuff

EXCELLENT point. You have to look at 1930's to 1950's plumbing installations and extrapolate to get my present round ball consumption as it effects the GNP. I traded a case of beer for my last batch (63 lbs).

 

: If you truely believe the slug shooters outnumber the RB shooters - go to Friendship or the NAPR shoots and see what RB shooting is all about in proper rifles, cut rifled for them & besides, RB shooters generally don't buy their balls at the local store, they cast them. With a flinter, it also doens't cost $1.00 per shot, either. Perhaps that is a low estimate for the sluggster- Lts see, there's the cost of the special bullet with plastic jacket around it's guilding metal one, PLUS 2 or three plugs of compressed smokeless powder, PLUS shotshell primer or rifle/pistol primer, PLUS all manner of modern smokeless powder solvents to get out the lead and smokeless powder residue, COMPARED to a piece of old jeans, cast RB and REAL powder and's already $10.00 cheaper than smokeless black powder & water for cleaning(soap really isn't required according to Holland & Holland - but what do they know). Yes- the marketing agencies of Big Green, Winchester, Ruger & the others really saw a money tree of people who wanted it easy, so easy, they could sell just about anything they could think of.
: Out of a hundred BP shooters in my neighbourhood,(northern B.C.) there aren't even a handful of slug shooters & those that there are, know that 48" of twist isn't right for slugs. There is something to be said for education.

 

"Out of a hundred BP shooters in my neighbourhood,(northern B.C.) there aren't even a handful of slug shooters & those that there are, know that 48" of twist isn't right for slugs. There is something to be said for education. "
=========================================================

Just the opposite in my hood Daryl... can't hardly find any roundballers in stores or the woods. You are also sadly mistaken on how well a 200-250 grain sabot/bullet shoots out of most 1-48' sidelock twists. A roundball can't even compete in most cases. Also-again... those roaming around any Friendship outing won't match the ones in surrounding hunting stores buying modern bullets & accessories in the same weekend... on a buyer-to-buyer basis.

I can see this thread going a little sour & pretty long so I will dismiss myself from here to join another ML discussion somewhere in the good ol' USA.

You get an A for effort though Daryl!

 

Triple 7:
Please don't misunderstand or misread what I'm about to say.
As you know I LOVE controversy and debate, argument, not fighting, argument in the scientific sense. No one is getting personal, no one is getting attacked, ideas, and proceedures might be getting attacked, but not you and me.
Please don't quite the discussion.
You have every right to present your thoughts and opinions, and I doubt anyone here would argue with that.
Sick around and keep things lively. No one MUST agree with you, but we all ( I hope) respect your right to present your argutments. Stick around and add fuel to the fire.
How else are we going to entertain ourselves without the debates and opinions.
Listen I can buy Bore Butter from MidSouth for 5 bucks a tube, but I'd rather try to duplicate Stumpy's Stuff and go thru all that work and mess. It's just the way we are.
Besides I think Stumpy's Stuff is a possible cure for hemroids. :blah: :cry: :haha: :bull:

 

[tg]

" how well a 200-250 grain sabot/bullet shoots out of most 1-48' sidelock twists. A roundball can't even compete in most cases"

If I recall the difference between modern gun/bullet performance and the old guns and PRB was what the renewed attraction ML shooting /hunting was all about

 

Absolutely right- I do get carried away soemtimes- especially with bullets that are too long for the twist, ie: 370gr. and 410 maxiball on game larger than deer.
; Certainly no disrespect meant, but I do feel compelled to attempt to get 48" twist shooters into using round balls for hunting our very large game. Many of those fellows were convinced a .50 or .54 rifle couldn't kill a Moose, especially after losing so many wounded ones. With no exit hole, there's no blood, just tracks, hundreds of pairs of tracks going everywhere. With a .50 to .54 RB, 50 yds. is about as far as a Moose will travel. 100gr. 2F is al that's needed & will shoot well enough to kill a mosoe to 50 or 75yds. Without the proper twist or depth of groove, they kill by the driving force of the bullet, just as the too-fast twist barrels in the 1850's were used.
: Lost/wounded game isn't necessary. The RB does much better in 48" and slower twists.
; Slugs in fast twist barrels are a different matter entirely, and such, are restricted to regular season.

 

[JOHN L. HINNANT]

Greetings Out a Hunting,

I gave up using soap and water 30 years or more ago and switched to BLACK SOLVE sold by Dixie Gun Works. It does not create the after-rust common to soap and water. I will write more about this in a day or twwo, but am heading to bed now.

Jihn L. Hinnant

 

[buck]

I don't use water. I use a mixture that I store in a gallon antifreeze bottle. Use one bottle of murphy's wood oil to two bottles of rubbing alcohol and two bottles of peroxide. Cuts powder residue like nothing and is safe for the stock because of the wood oil. Must be stored in a colored bottle because peroxide reacts with the light. Also works good as a swap on the range, but use small amounts because it won't burn.

 

[buck]

just noticed in another part of the forum you guys already know this stuff. you call it m.a.p. don't mind the new guy

 

[Zonie]

IMO, forget the Hydrogen Peroxide. It is nothing but water with an extra oxygen atom loosely attached. You really don't want extra oxygen down in your gun bore because iron or steel and oxygen make rust.

If your going to use the MAP formulas, just change the word Peroxide to Water and make MAW. It works just as good.

 

[Hupper]

Before I head off the range to home I put about an ounce of windex in a 20cc syringe with an eight inch piece of flush tubing attached and squirt it through the nipple and plunge the fluid back and forth a few times. The once blue liquid comes out black. Then I will swab the bore dry and fairly clean after that I run a patch with a light coat of t/c bore butter. When I get to cleanin the proper way (may be a few hours later) I swab out the butter and use a little cabela's solvent for 2-3 (come out white)patches then use dry patches until all the solvent is gone. When I use a bore light, the barrel looks like glass and clean as a whistle. That is followed by a little bore butter. The rifle that I have is a .54 Trade gun of sorts. It was built in 1987 (engraved on the lock by the builder) not from a kit. The only markings on the rifle atol is what the builder (Jim Cox) put on himself. This method works for me and results are a mirror in the barrel but if there is something I should not be doing please let me know. I kinda like this rifle and I do not want to do anything to damage the barrel or the gun. I have had it out to the range a few times and it performs flawlessly and can deliver 5" at 100 yds with PRB.