You can say the same thing about coating ALL the rods with BP residue for such a test. The only problem I see is How do you coat them all the same?
I use a Stainless Steel Range Rod, with a Nylon muzzle protector, because the rod is so easy to wipe clean. Its too hard to let any crud STICK to it, which I cannot say about Hickory, Carbon Fiber, Fiberglass, and even brass. All these softer materials can allow silicates to embed in their surfaces, making a rod a round nose, fine file.
Our real protection today comes from the fact that all barrels are NOW made from quality steels, and not soft iron. The old barrels with the substantial wear are all made of iron- not steel.
I wash and clean my hickory rods after every trip to the field or range. And, I don't hesitate to coat them with some more stock finish every couple of years.
That doesn't make the surface harder, but it does make the surface SMOOTHER, making it much easier to clean any crud off the rod. The oil finish fills in the pores, making it much more difficult for sands to actually penetrate the wood surface. The softer oil finish simply won't hold the grit very well, so its easier to clean off the finish.
I rely on my ability to feel raised grain, and embedded sands or grits from any source in the wood, to find and remove them on a regular basis. I learned a long time ago to avoid splinters getting into my fingers or hands, by using a cleaning patch, dampened, around the rod, to protect my fingers when cleaning it.
I wipe the stick at the range, too, where I am using it to load multiple shots. In the field, It typically is used on wipe the barrel only once, and also gets wiped down there.
I do not want to put my RR into the stock coated with BP crud. It makes keeping that smaller RR hole clean much more difficult. When I use my hickory rod in the field to load the gun, I use my fingers and thumb at the muzzle to center the rod, so it doesn't rub against the muzzle.
AGAIN, take your time. There is simply no way you can speed load a MLer fast, and safely enough to get a second shot at the same deer, if your first shot is a near miss. Oh, I am sure it has happened, but you are dreaming if you think you will live long enough for it to happen to you. Murphy doesn't have a sense of humor. :nono: :shocked2: :rotf: :grin:
Yes, I practiced and Practiced and practiced loading my gun as fast as possible. I cut all the corners possible, including doing things that are totally unsafe to do, just to see what I could do. ( Charging Indians, and all that from the movies). Someone in the club managed to shoot their ramrod down range, absent-mindedly, so I DID forgo that particular "Test". I could regularly reload my rifle in under 15 seconds at one point.
The problem was that to do so required so much fast arm movement, that in real life It looks like the Boogie-man trying to scare little children- and it has the same effect on deer. The faster you load, the more noise you make, and that is not something you want to do with a deer standing inside 50 yards in the woods, from you. :idunno: :hmm:
On my first success full deer with my rifle, I was standing behind a huge dead tree trunk. After the shot, I pulled back behind the tree, where I had already removed my RAMROD from the pipes of my gun, and placed it leaning against the tree, with the loading jag down, rather than up. This allowed me to lift the rod UP in line with the trunk, to conceal that movement, rather than have the deer see a flashing motion of my turning the rod up 180 degrees, after hearing it clatter as it comes out of the pipes. I kept my elbows close to my body, so I would remain concealed behind that dead tree trunk.
I used my finger and thumb to guide the brass jag, into the muzzle to muffle any metallic sound from brass clicking against steel. I did run a cleaning patch down and up the barrel, before pouring in powder. I measured the powder, poured it in, then centered a patch on the muzzle and pressed a ball down with my short starter. Then I used that RR to drive the ball home. Then, Back to leaning against the tree- rather than put it in the pipes.
I capped the nipple with a new percussion cap, raise the gun up to my shoulder, and slowly moved the barrel around the tree, to where I was again looking where the Doe had been. She had two yearlings following her at my shot. Both were slowly walking away from me, on a game trail, and I had a clear shot at about 60 yards at the back of the head and neck of the second of the yearlings.
I passed on the shot, because I was so confident that my first shot into their mother was good. The reload, with the wiping, took about 30 seconds. The doe was dead before I finished the reload, piled up at the bottom of the ravine.
Yes, I blew down the barrel first, back then, to clear the nipple and flash channel through the drum.[Today, I accomplish the same goal by running a dampened cleaning patch- spit if the temperature is above freezing; alcohol if its below .32 degrees F.] The moisture from my breath softened the residue so that my cleaning patch came out loaded with crud. The reload went down very smoothly. Temperature was about 40 degrees F.
Putting your lips on a steel muzzle in sub-freezing temperatures threatens to freeze your lips to the muzzle- and its not nice to fool with Mother Nature! :shocked2:
That is why soaking some cleaning patches in alcohol for use in cleaning the barrel in such temperatures makes so much sense. The air pushed down the barrel by the patch and cleaning jag, will clear the flash channel, and anything damp will put out embers that remain in the bore. Carry them in a plastic bag in your pouch, and use them as you need them. Carry out the trash, of course.
Alcohol has a much lower freezing temperature, so it acts like water as a solvent to remove the BP crud from the barrel in temperatures too cold to allow you to use spit or water to do the same job. Since you are cleaning the bore to reload quickly after the shot, even in below-zero temperatures, the heat in the barrel will help keep the alcohol working and the patch soft. Store the bag with the cleaning patches in an inside pocket, to keep them warm with your own body heat. If reloading in very cold temperatures, expect to take at least a minute to reload- nothing moves quickly in those temperatures. Take your time, and do it right. :hmm: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
