Fouling your barrel.
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I will swab out with rubbing alcohol to get rid of any oils.
Then load up in the woods.
SM
Then load up in the woods.
SM
I've checked my first shot POI and it doesn't vary enough to warrant fouling the barrel. Plus I don't like walking around with a fouled flintlock as the fouling absorbs moisture out of the air. Like sussex, I just use alcohol to remove any oils before loading.
Same here, A "fouling" shot is a problem waiting to happen.
Caps may not remove all the oil or may cause a nipple/ vent obstruction.
A blank shot leaves the barrel dirtier than normal, dirty with corrosive and hygroscopic fouling.
Patocazador
54 Cal.
I swab with alcohol and pop 2 caps. Then I fire a full load "fouling" shot at 75 yards to check accuracy. Doing this I haven't had a misfire but I had several when I just loaded up after popping a cap or two.
I always pop two caps just to make sure the barrel is clear. Then I load and have fun.
Walkingeagle
54 Cal.
Just snap a cap, load n’ go.
My routine and has never failed.
Walk
My routine and has never failed.
Walk
If you need a fouling load for accuracy, you need to work on your load some. If you need to pop a cap to clear oil, time to review your cleaning process.
If I foul a gun in North Carolina this time of year, after sitting a few hours in our humidity, I’ll be lucky to get enough whoosh to have the ball clear the barrel, let alone expect a real boom that launches the ball sufficiency fast enough to be near the target. Would likely have to pull the load.
In my opinion, a fouling shot is an attempt to bandaid some underling problem, rather than fixing or correcting it.
If I foul a gun in North Carolina this time of year, after sitting a few hours in our humidity, I’ll be lucky to get enough whoosh to have the ball clear the barrel, let alone expect a real boom that launches the ball sufficiency fast enough to be near the target. Would likely have to pull the load.
In my opinion, a fouling shot is an attempt to bandaid some underling problem, rather than fixing or correcting it.
I take my gun straight off the wall and take it shooting. No pre-swabbing or fouling shot. This whether I am going to the range or going hunting. I shoot flintlocks so no caps to snap and no pre-fouling needed.
Dave
Dave
1100 Remington Man
36 Cal.
I don't know if I am doing it right yet. I clean with rubbing alcohol and load then take nipple out and fill it with little more powder, reinsert nipple cover nipple with a wide rubber band and tape the barrel with electrical tape to keep moisture out and debris.
Stony Broke
32 Cal.
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Fouling your barrel is a pretty good idea when shooting for groups at the range or things like that, but not a good idea when going out hunting.
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I would be interested in hearing how many people became paranoid because a fail to fire actually happened to them while hunting.
I just wipe with alcohol, hear the air rushing through the nipple, and put in a hunting load. That load may remain in there for weeks. Never had a fail to fire. Not fouling something that works, either.
I just wipe with alcohol, hear the air rushing through the nipple, and put in a hunting load. That load may remain in there for weeks. Never had a fail to fire. Not fouling something that works, either.
I'm with Ames. I swab the bore with denatured alcohol on a tight patch, wait a minute or so to let the alcohol evaporate, put in my hunting load, seal the bore with a small balloon, and place a foam ear plug (orange, to remind me that the gun has a charge in it) over the nipple until I am in the woods and hunting, So far, I have never (?) had a problem with this procedure. The gun always goes off, but my aim is not always so true.
In my GPR I hose out the barrel with carb cleaner to remove oil. I don't need to snap any caps at $.07 ea. Screw in the nipple and it's ready to go.
Me...,
FYI folks popping caps is not "fouling the barrel".
A "fouling shot" is when you touch off a blank round, dry swab your barrel [optional], then do a live load. Popping of the cap is just to ensure the channel from the nipple to the breech is free of oil/grease, and is only a factor I've found for those who store their caplocks muzzle-up. I have had misfires and hangfires from caplocks when not popping a cap before shooting or hunting. Never had a problem with a flintlock. OH and the caplocks were factory guns with very interesting breech arrangements. None were a nipple screwed into a simple drum that was attached to an opening in the barrel that was just in front of the breech plug face. I know one guy who is sooo paranoid about the situation that he, when hunting, removes the nipples, and puts a few grains of 4F into the nipple holes, then reinstalls the nipples, "just to be sure" the rifle is going to work.
LD
Sparkitoff
40 Cal.
Maybe this depends on the rifle....
I have 5 rifles and a double barreled shotgun. One rifle is flintlock.
Typically before leaving home I will use Electronic Contact Cleaner with the straw to spray right through the nipples on the caplocks and through the touch-hole on the flintlock. The cleaners is alcohol with a tiny bit of ammonia and the propellant. Then I blow filtered air from the compressor through the nipples or touch hole. Doing this procedure, I will bet money that the gun will go off - except for one. For no good rhyme or reason one of the rifles has had a delayed fire or fail to fire a few times both hunting and first shot at the range. I suspect the breach design is largely responsible. After fiddling around with this rifle for years there is only one way it seems to be ready every time. I snap not one, not two but three caps and then use a small pipe cleaner on the nipple to be sure the hole and channel are clear. Frankly, it is a pain in the donkey to have to do this. However, this is the only way I have had 100% instant ignition all the time. I've tried 10 shot volleys with many other practices and none are totally reliable with the exception of the 3 snapped caps. This is not a fouling shot, no powder is loaded just a snapped cap. Frustrating but this solution as ridiculous as it seems has worked every time for the past several years. Any shortcut and I am taking a chance. So, for reliability you should be very familiar with your own rifle and what it takes to get a sure-fire every time. Do whatever is most reliable.
Next, the fouling shot you asked about. One of my cap lock rifles always shoots 2-inches high and 2-inches left on the first shot from a clean barrel (at 100-yards). All the following shots will be in or around the bullseye in a group. Granted, my "group" runs around 3.5-inches off the bench, but that first shot will be 2X2 outside of the "group". Whether I spit patch between shots or not doesn't effect subsequent shots, only a perfectly clean barrel will put that first one up and over. I could move the sights, but that requires tapping them (non-adjustable). I just don't think I can tap the perfect amount to move it precisely, so I just leave it. The first shot is not going to cause a major miss or non-fatal shot on deer or bigger animals. All the other rifles and the smoothbore will group the clean barrel shot and up to 10 more - the most I have shot without a total cleaning. So again, you need to know your own rifle. Is the fouling shot for dependability or does it have something to do with where the shot lands? If your clean barrel shot hits the bullseye then it becomes your "fouling shot" and you'd need to know where the next few shots will land in case you do need a second or third shot while hunting. We can all say whether we do or don't and why. What really counts for you is if you need to use a fouling shot or not.
I have 5 rifles and a double barreled shotgun. One rifle is flintlock.
Typically before leaving home I will use Electronic Contact Cleaner with the straw to spray right through the nipples on the caplocks and through the touch-hole on the flintlock. The cleaners is alcohol with a tiny bit of ammonia and the propellant. Then I blow filtered air from the compressor through the nipples or touch hole. Doing this procedure, I will bet money that the gun will go off - except for one. For no good rhyme or reason one of the rifles has had a delayed fire or fail to fire a few times both hunting and first shot at the range. I suspect the breach design is largely responsible. After fiddling around with this rifle for years there is only one way it seems to be ready every time. I snap not one, not two but three caps and then use a small pipe cleaner on the nipple to be sure the hole and channel are clear. Frankly, it is a pain in the donkey to have to do this. However, this is the only way I have had 100% instant ignition all the time. I've tried 10 shot volleys with many other practices and none are totally reliable with the exception of the 3 snapped caps. This is not a fouling shot, no powder is loaded just a snapped cap. Frustrating but this solution as ridiculous as it seems has worked every time for the past several years. Any shortcut and I am taking a chance. So, for reliability you should be very familiar with your own rifle and what it takes to get a sure-fire every time. Do whatever is most reliable.
Next, the fouling shot you asked about. One of my cap lock rifles always shoots 2-inches high and 2-inches left on the first shot from a clean barrel (at 100-yards). All the following shots will be in or around the bullseye in a group. Granted, my "group" runs around 3.5-inches off the bench, but that first shot will be 2X2 outside of the "group". Whether I spit patch between shots or not doesn't effect subsequent shots, only a perfectly clean barrel will put that first one up and over. I could move the sights, but that requires tapping them (non-adjustable). I just don't think I can tap the perfect amount to move it precisely, so I just leave it. The first shot is not going to cause a major miss or non-fatal shot on deer or bigger animals. All the other rifles and the smoothbore will group the clean barrel shot and up to 10 more - the most I have shot without a total cleaning. So again, you need to know your own rifle. Is the fouling shot for dependability or does it have something to do with where the shot lands? If your clean barrel shot hits the bullseye then it becomes your "fouling shot" and you'd need to know where the next few shots will land in case you do need a second or third shot while hunting. We can all say whether we do or don't and why. What really counts for you is if you need to use a fouling shot or not.
I agree with Sparkitoff, is the snapping a couple caps an attempt to "foul" the barrel or to ensure the channel is clear?
I don't foul mine, POI is easily minute-of-deer on the clean bore shot. I never snap a cap either, cleaning with a bucket of water method there's no way the flame channel isn't clean. I store it barrel down after a light coating of rust preventative and swab it out with alcohol before loading up for hunting.
If worried, do some testing. If playing with the load doesn't get you a good clean bore shot that is minute-of-deer, then you could always sight in the rifle to the clean bore shot POI.
I believe I once read a post from Idaholewis where he said he got a nipple that allowed him to "foul" the bore with a 209 primer, then switch back to #11's and that brought his clean bore shot into the group for some reason.
I don't foul mine, POI is easily minute-of-deer on the clean bore shot. I never snap a cap either, cleaning with a bucket of water method there's no way the flame channel isn't clean. I store it barrel down after a light coating of rust preventative and swab it out with alcohol before loading up for hunting.
If worried, do some testing. If playing with the load doesn't get you a good clean bore shot that is minute-of-deer, then you could always sight in the rifle to the clean bore shot POI.
I believe I once read a post from Idaholewis where he said he got a nipple that allowed him to "foul" the bore with a 209 primer, then switch back to #11's and that brought his clean bore shot into the group for some reason.
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My hunting rifles are loaded with clean barrels. Never saw the point of dirtying a barrel to go hunting. If the rifle shoots balls from clean and dirty barrels to different points of aim it goes away.
