Fouling Scraper?

[Dphar]

Well I'll use the gadget. Last thing I do is cut corners cleaning my guns and a wet patch followed by a good scraping, more patches, works for me.

I plug the vent and pour in 6-10" of water with a little soap in it and slosh it around, dump, wet patch, repeat the slosh again. I suspect that if this is done there is little to scrape.
Be sure to rinse with clear water after the soapy water slosh, soap can be corrosive too.
But everyone has their own process that works for them.
Dan

 

[Deadeye]

Yep, everyone has their own process but I've run a scraper into too many "clean" guns and found fouling around the edges that had been missed.
I have one for each caliber mounted on it's own rod and use them everytime I clean my 26 muzzleloaders.
I think they've been around as long as there has been flat bottom breech plugs.
Deadeye

 

[Tumblernotch]

It's very easy to leave a little crud on the breech face, particularly if your jag is cupped to fit the ball. That's the reason I make all my cleaning jags with a flat face. That helps a lot but it can still leave a little residue. After cleaning, if the shooter will lower the rod down the bore (without a patch) and let it drop the last couple of inches, he can hear a ping as the jag bumps the breechplug. That is a good sign you have a clean breech. If not, you can be sure there is fouling down there and may need to scrape it.

If one can remove their patent breech and measure the diameter as well as see what the profile is in the bottom, you could make or have made a custon scraper to fit. A friend of mine bought a patent breech for his chunk gun, but didn't want a chamber, so the breech maker drilled it out to bore size. He still had the profile of the drill used in his breech and he had me to make a convex faced jag that would clean all the way to the bottom. Works great to hear him tell it. There's more than one way to skin a possum!

 

[Dphar]

Yep, everyone has their own process but I've run a scraper into too many "clean" guns and found fouling around the edges that had been missed.
I have one for each caliber mounted on it's own rod and use them everytime I clean my 26 muzzleloaders.
I think they've been around as long as there has been flat bottom breech plugs.
Deadeye

If you can scrape fouling from a "clean" gun it obviously was not cleaned. And...in a rifled bore it is impossible to clean to the edges of the breech with a scraper.
Think about it.
The scraper cannot get into the area exposed by the grooves. The scraper cannot be larger than bore diameter, in a barrel with .012" grooves the groove dimension is .024" greater than the bore.
The fouling has to be WASHED OUT.


Dan

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Dan, my feeling is that the advantage of the scraper is getting into the corner where the barrel and breech-face meet and it can be hard to get all the crud out after a day of shooting. But a good flushing is still very important. Dan