Gooey BP residue

[AZ-Robert]

Every once in a while, I am reminded of just how fortunate we desert dwellers are. Take humidity, for example. We don't have much of that out here, most of the time, and my first session with my ML (only a month ago) was on a typically dry day, early enough in the morning to still be fairly cool up here in the mountain area along our border with Mexico.

On that day, I got off about four shots between cleaning swipes, and saw none of that nasty residue I read other folks describing. The primer pan stayed fairly clean, needing only a quick brush to get out the debris. There was a little bit of funk, to be sure, but it was kind of a dry, almost powdery residue.

Well, the monsoon has started since then, bringing relatively high humidity, and yesterday's session was an altogether different experience. After the second shot, I ran a cleaning swipe down the bore and pulled up something that looked almost like tar... black and gooey, with a tinge of green in it. Ended up running a cleaning patch down about every two shots, and still had a gummy mess to clean up at the end of the day. The priming pan, too, was gooey instead of powdery.

I'm attributing this to the humidity (probably close to 70% on an 85 degree day), and am reminded of the single-most decisive factor in my reluctance to return to the east coast for anyting more than a short visit. Anyone have ideas about what else might have caused this goo?

 

[Rebel]

You didn't switch to Elephant powder did ya? :: Sounds like the mess you get when using that junk.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Anyone have ideas about what else might have caused this goo?

Residual WD-40? A coating of oil in the barrel?

It probably was the humidity. I get a black fouling in the pan that is thick and tar-like. We get maybe two days a year with humidity under 50%, and that is when it's 10

 

[AZ-Robert]

You didn't switch to Elephant powder did ya?

Not knowingly... I bought an almost full one-pound can of powder described as 3f, in a can labled "Austin Powder, Pistol" Fella that sold it is in his 80s and "getting out of the sport." Reckon the can (and maybe the powder) could be as old as he is? ::

 

[3 stinky dogs]

Anyone have ideas about what else might have caused this goo?

Residual WD-40? A coating of oil in the barrel?

It probably was the humidity. I get a black fouling in the pan that is thick and tar-like. We get maybe two days a year with humidity under 50%, and that is when it's 10

 

[roundball]

Anyone have ideas about what else might have caused this goo?

Humidity would get my vote...symptoms here are exactly the same when I transition from low humidity to high.

Wiping the pan is simple enough with a rag on the bench for that purpose of course, but I hate to bother with wiping the bore between shots and fortunately using natural lube 1000 eliminates that need for me, whether low or high humidity...just need to ensure I have plenty of NL1000 on the patches during low humidity

 

[rmonday2]

Here in East Tennessee sludge means everything is normal. Not as bad with Goex as it is with Pyrodex in my experience, and yes the green is from leftover oil from cleaning. It's usualy gone after the second shot or if you wipe before the first.
I would also venture to say it could effect point of impact if you were to get real tecnical. The humidity leaves the bore slicker ( unless you wipe well between shots), therefore not allowing maximum burn with a heavy load of 2f.
I have experienced radical groups in the past until I started wiping between shots; 1 wet and 2 dry. This seems load easier as well as consistant, and has does wonders for my group.

Controlling the varyables is what it's all about!
sounds simple, but sometimes not :imo: Ronnie...

 

[roundball]

".....and yes the green is from leftover oil from cleaning...."

Ronnie, FWIW, I use Goex 3F and it fouls so little when using 50grn target loads that there's nothing much to worry about anyway...BUT...if I occasionally run a patch downbore for some reason, I get the greenish color on them all the time...never put any kind of oil in the bores though...only NL1000...I assume it's a byproduct of Goex, or a byproduct of Goex & NL1000 combined

 

[Jon in MI]

You didn't switch to Elephant powder did ya? :: Sounds like the mess you get when using that junk.

So now someone finally tells me about that junk! :boohoo: I bought a pound of it a year ago and used it once. Caked up the barrel so bad I had to swab between shots or I couldn't seat a ball. I have since switched to swiss powder and even in the high humidity I don't have a problem with any sludge. It was always more a priming thing than not and was bad with Goex.

Jon

 

[arcticap]

I don't know anything about black powder chemistry but I tried to poke around the web by looking up sulphur, one of B.P.'s main ingredients. Apparently, when sulphur (25% of which is derived from petrochemicals or natural gas) is burned, a clear gas or liquid is created called hydrogen sulfide which smells like rotten eggs. This may lead to the "green" part of the goo that you're finding since it may be the color the H.S. becomes after it reacts with the iron (+ possibly even copper) in the barrel (due to polarization). Whether the hydrogen sulphide's goo is more prevalent due to humidity may be another factor. Maybe one could speculate further that the "green" part of the goo, which has more to do with the sulpher in the B.P., produces more liquid rather than gas in high humidity, thus producing more overall "goo" as well, rather than simply more H.S. gas when it's less humid. :imo:

 

[No Deer]

thus producing more overall "goo" as well, rather than simply more H.S. gas when it's less humid.

Well, I am no chemist, but if I remember correct from high school, hydrogen and oxygen combine to make water. Maybe it is that combination, in addition to the humidity in the air, that contributes to makin the goo. :hmm:

 

[Pork Chop]

Hmmm... Green goo and muzzleloading. Sounds like Stumpy's moose snot strikes again! :crackup:

 

[MikeChapin]

I'm in Wyoming and usually don't have a problem with goo. The only problem we have is brick hard residue on very hot dry days.

The goo comes from the the combustion products of black powder. Most of it is just Nitrogen, water vapor and Carbon Dioxide. That gives the gas that propels the ball out the barrel. Like every other real world reaction, there are a lot of other things formed under the heat and pressure. Most of it is left over carbon, the black stuff. Some of the sulpher is transformed into various sulphides, sulphates and sulphones and some of the saltpeter goes to more active nitrates.

Hydrogen sulphide is a gas and gives black powder its unique smell. As with any other reaction there are trace amounts of other stuff, mostly sulphuric and sulphurous acids. There are also trace amounts of both nitric and nitrous acids formed. All of these are hydroscopic, which means they attract water.

Most of the water formed during combustion is blown out the barrel so there is not much left in the bore, but there is a little. The trace amounts of nasty stuff are what make black powder residue so hard on barrels, suck moisture out of the atmosphere and lay it next to the metal parts. You guys that live in humid environments see this all the time when the residue goos up. Those of us in dryer climates don't see it as much but there is still some moisture being grabbed and will rust the metal parts just as fast.

There's probably a lot of stuff I'm missing. I'm working from memory from when I used to be a Chemist.