Cleaning between shots

[Daytime Smoker]

I think that if I wanted to shoot a limit of 10 squirrels quickly, I'd take a 10-22.

Very true. Which I could, but it was just a random thought.

Anthony

 

[Daytime Smoker]

What does it take to clean, maybe 2 minutes tops?

Yeah, at least a few minutes I suppose. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s just something I’ve considered.

Anthony

 

[grimmpaul1]

What was your patch material for cleaning

100% cotton

 

[grimmpaul1]

Take that (Profanity edited) jag and use it for a fish line sinker or a watch fob. Get a brass brush one caliber smaller than the bore. Wrap a patch around the brush covering it completely and swab using something containing water.
Moose milk (Ballistol and water 1:10) is my choice. Use a wet or greasy lubricant of some sort on the patch ,spit if nothing else.
Alcohol is not a lubricant exactly although some people drink enough alcohol to get pretty well lubricated, but that is another story.
With the patch caught on a brush it will not get lost and do a good job of cleaning.
Works for me...the brush, not alcohol
Respectfully
Bunk

Sounds good thanks

 

[david w]

What was your patch material for cleaning

I use old cut up t-shirts for cleaning.

 

[Bunk]

I use old cut up t-shirts for cleaning.

It depends. Sometime I use cut up t-shirt but usually I use Scott Industrial (blue) paper towels cut up.
Those blue towels are tougher that an 1880's Dodge City steak.
Bunk

 

[david w]

It depends. Sometime I use cut up t-shirt but usually I use Scott Industrial (blue) paper towels cut up.
Those blue towels are tougher that an 1880's Dodge City steak.
Bunk

Ha! You obviously never had a Navy steak. I sincerely think they were from WWII.

 

[Bunk]

Ha! You obviously never had a Navy steak. I sincerely think they are from WWII.

i was Army we had C rations some dated 1943 this was in 1957 yummy
Bunk

 

[Oldbear63]

I am new to the BP world so here goes. I went to shoot my TC .50 val Hawkens for the second time.The first time I used pyrodex this time Schuetzen 2f. After three to five shots I ran a wad thru it and it got stuck so bad I had to end the day because I didn't have wad puller. Yesterday I changed to BP and the same thing happened. What am I doing wrong or should I clean after every shot ? .490 ball with .005 patch and 70 grs of BP.

I have been having a similar problem. I get an occasional stuck cleaning patch when swabbing between shoots on a shooting match.

I suspect that my patches are too large and the "tails" of the patch are jamming against the base of the jag and cleaning rod. I have switched to smaller patches, but I haven't yet tested my suspicions.

I can usually get my patches out by dribbling a bit of moose milk or similar cleaner/lubricant. One seasoned shooter showed me a great trick by taking my stuck rod and jamming the handle in a gap in a wood table and jerking back on the gun and stuck rod; worked like a charm.

 

[Widows Son]

Heaps of advice here. Here’s my 2 cents.

When you load the ball, put a damp patch on the jag (damp with the cleaning solvent of your choice).
As you press the ball home the damp patch will clean the fouling from the previous shot. This way you will keep the bore condition consistent from shot to shot.

 

[ETipp]

I use an alcohol wet patch after each shot. I also run a dry patch after the wet one. .005 is too thin, its letting the powder a charge foul the barrel too bad

Indeed, .005 seems too thin. I realize that not all ML are created equal. However, I still have some patches I used years ago out of my .50 New Englander. They are .018" patches and I never had a problem with them.

 

[cal.43]

after reading many of those discusion I can´t belife that it is possible to go to the range with a ML and just make 25 shot´s, clean you rifle and just go home.
On the other hand that´s what I´m doing since the 90´s.

 

[ETipp]

I coat the bore with bore butter before I shoot. Using No.13 cleaning solution on the patches cleans after each shot.
Ive done 75 shot trail walks and never have had to swab yet.
My Rice barrel has plenty deep grooves, nothing every stay long enough to collect.

JT, so you use #13 as a patch lube or seat the ball with a patch on top of the ball and shoot it out?

 

[Reno]

I nearly always clean between each shot. And I use bore butter that I have rubbed into patches. I’ve used other solvent that I have wetted the patches with. I’ve even used crisco years ago.

 

[Bismarck]

I regularly shoot 30 to 40 rounds without cleaning in my civil war rifled muskets and 1/48 twist Hawken firing Minnie rounds greased with crisco in the base or dip greased with beeswax and crisco.

 

[Bunk]

this almost provokes me to getting out the Green River Rifle and shooting it...almost.
Then my mind clears and instead reach for the Sharps carbine with a Hahn breech modification.
close but no cigar
Bunk

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I swab, not clean, after every two shots. I use a damp patch, then a dry patch. The barrel is by no means "clean" but it keeps the fouling from too much buildup, so I don't get a ball jammed. I use 3Fg in my .54 which seems to give me much more ash, and a thinner layer of that ash, but I'm also in a Mid-Atlantic state, and humidity is pretty high here. We have days in summer with 110% humidity, as the air gets so hot sometimes that it will hold more moisture than is "normal" and become "super saturated"..., and then at dusk when the air finally cools we get a gully-whopper of a thunderstorm.

LD

 

[tallPercshooter]

I shoot 3 shots, then wet patch, then a couple dry, pop another cap. This routine in my Sharon, Numrich, and Rice barreled guns. Don't want to get anything stuck.

 

[grimmpaul1]

Indeed, .005 seems too thin. I realize that not all ML are created equal. However, I still have some patches I used years ago out of my .50 New Englander. They are .018" patches and I never had a problem with them.

I Have .010, .015, and .020 I will try different sizes

 

[N.Y. Yankee]

Carry a small bottle of water or blue washer fluid or windex, something liquid. Next time you get a patch stuck in the bore, dump an ounce of fluid down on top of the patch and let soak for 30 seconds. Work the rod up and down and you will be able to pull the jag and patch free. Dry the bore and snap a cap and you can load the gun again.