Fouling

[Gvilleddie]

Maybe it has something to do with using mink oil in chilly weather??????

 

[dave951]

You can't compare Old Eynesford to Goex and say the difference in fouling is the grain size.

Old E IS a Goex product and when I was using it, Old E in 3f was my go-to powder and definitely better than regular Goex in accuracy and fouling. Swiss is the best I've ever found and it's my competition powder.

 

[Rock Home Isle]

Generally, should I expect more fouling with ff than fff powder in a Kentucky flintlock? I have previously loaded Old Eynsford fff with minimal fouling 10-12 shots before wiping. Due to availability I’m now loading Goex ff it leaves a lot of fouling. After 3-4 shots I can barely push a ball down the tube until I wipe. Thx, E..

GOEX has a reputation for fouling…and I would say that ffg does foul more than fffg. That being said, my little .32 was the worst for fouling, shooting fffg, fouled so bad I used to have to swab after every shot.

One day I started using BreakFree when cleaning my muzzleloaders. After cleaning, my last patch down the bore would be a patch heavily soaked with BreakFree. I also have a habit of swabbing my bores a couple days after shooting to make sure they are clean, I find it satisfying to run an oiled patch down the bore and pull it out nice and clean. So a couple days later I’d swab the bore again, and I was kind of shocked to pull out a lot of black gunk on the patch from a barrel that was (I thought) perfectly clean…BreakFree is a penetrating oil that does an amazing job at displacing fouling from the micro cracks and crevices in the bore.

So now I always use BreakFree when cleaning any of my guns. I always swab the bores of my guns a couple times using BreakFree between shooting sessions. I don’t get that black gunk anymore, and I’ve noticed that I don’t get the fouling problems that I used to get with GOEX.

My little .32 will go 10 or 12 shots before it gets so bad that I need to swab.

…and whenever I get a new muzzleloader, I swab the bore with BreakFree 2 or 3 times a week for a month before I take it to the range…gun seems to break in faster, and little to no fouling problems. Great on muskets and smoothbores by the way.