Years ago, when I was first shooting a .45 cal. percussion rifle, I arrived somewhat late to a Demonstration my club was putting on at a local forest preserve. I was immediately demanded at the shooting range, to demonstrate splitting a playing card with a rifle ball, without getting any warm-up shots, or " fouling" shots.
I split cards with my first three shots out of the barrel. Then, took my leave, and went into camp to deposit gear and deliver messages and information to other club officers before returning to the firing line.
I have not bothered with a fouling shot since- EVER. If that second shot does not hit the same POI as my first shot, something is wrong with the rifle. I fix it, no matter how long it takes.
Since hunting is basically a One-shot deal- where you only fire two shots at the same deer if you misplace your ball and need to finish off the wounded deer with the second shot at close range, that first shot MUST hit at the same POI as the next. With any BP gun, you don't want that residue sitting in your barrel sucking up moisture and rusting the barrel while you are sitting in the woods waiting for a deer to come within range.
Take a clean barrel into the woods, and expect that first shot to go exactly where you AIM. If you have done your work in practice, you should have TOTAL confidence that your gun will perform on demand.
When I shot my first deer, I anxiously cleaned, and reloaded my rifle, and actually had the sights on the back of the neck of one of the two yearlings running with the doe I shot with the second round loaded, before deciding that I had hit the doe well, and that I would find her dead, not far down the ravine. I located the place she was standing when I shot her, and followed a double blood trail and foot prints down to the bottom of the ravine where I found her dead. I fired that second shot into a tall hickory where two vines wrapped around that tree about 50 feet up the tree created an " X ". It wasn't much of a shot, but I put a hole right in the middle of the "X". A year later, when I was back in the same area scouting for deer, I found that tree, and the scar of my hit was still quite visible.
Two shots, placed exactly where I aimed my gun. No fouling shot. No different POI for the second shot than the first.
Ergo, no need for a fouling shot.
Most hunting situation DON'T Require the same fine accuracy that competitive Target Shooting requires. Occasionally I find target shooters using fouling shots. They claim that they can see a real difference in the POI between the first two shots if they DON'T foul the barrel prior to the first shot.
IMHO, I believe their " need " for a fouling shot has more to do with how they clean the barrel between shots( or don't clean it) than anything inherently "inaccurate" about the gun. I recommend people contact Dutch Schoultz( a member here, BTW) and order his BlackPowderRifleAccuracy System for $19.95. If you read and follow his advise, you will clean between shots, and you will not need a "fouling" shot in your rifle, for any purpose.
http://www.blackpowderrifleaccuracy.com/
:idunno:
