SDSmlf,
I spent most of my 26 Career in the Corps building, maintaining and repairing NM rifles that had to be cleaned from the muzzle. The only reason I mention that is because along the way we learned quite a few things about muzzle damage from cleaning rods, some of which does transfer directly to ML barrels.
First, we really can't use some muzzle wear information from WWII semi auto rifles, that have to be cleaned from the muzzle, as indicative of what happens in a ML barrel. This because even when those rifles were fired with sand or dirt in the bore that caused lapping in the barrel, it has been proven it was the high rate of fire in combat that caused more damage to the muzzles than anything else. I'm not a mechanical engineer, so please allow a layman's explanation that when barrels are already hot from fast firing, subsequent rounds fired keep the barrel temps high enough to do more damage to them than done in slow fire or even timed/rapid fire of matches.
Over the years, we tried almost every kind of material that cleaning rods were made from and/or were coated with. Though we did not use wood rods, we found that plastic coated rods would pick up and embed contaminants that would act as a lapping compound and do the most damage to the muzzle. Brass rods also did it, but not as bad as plastic coated rods. We found one piece hardened stainless steel rods with muzzle protectors did the least damage, because contaminants would not easily embed in the hardened surface of the rod. We also taught the shooters to wipe their rods clean after each time in and out of the bore.
Of course with ML barrels in the period, they used and many of us use wooden ramrods and those rods will pick up and embed sand/grit/dirt faster than any other material ramrods are made from. In turn, the embedded contaminants act as a lapping compound and because ramrods are bent more near the muzzle while loading, they do the most "lapping" damage near the muzzle.
What many of us also don't think of is that oiled/greased and to a lesser degree spit patches will also pick up foreign contaminants that will act as a lapping compound in the barrels.
There were basically two kinds of special devices used to start the patched round balls in target rifles of the percussion period. The first fit over the end of the muzzle and because of the precision machining of the fit to the barrel diameter and short starter rod in the device, the short starter rod centered the patch ball and did not normally touch the bore. The more advanced models had a false muzzle that was actually made from the barrel and then cut off to form a separate piece that aligned with the barrel using pins when loading. They would also use the first kind of short starter with false muzzles so the starter rods did not touch the bore at all. Of course, most of us don't have either of these devices for our ML barrels. If there is a cap on the muzzle end of the stock, as found on many of our reproductions, it is usually too close to the muzzle to allow a device that centers around the barrel diameter.
Those of us who were or are dedicated target shooters will fire more rounds in a shooting season than many of the "old timers" did in a number of years. Even though you are correct "flame cutting" is not as great with ML's as modern rifles, there is still flame cutting going on at the muzzle with each round fired. When we fire more rounds, it is going to cause more muzzle wear than if we only fired a few rounds each year during hunting season, as some modern ML shooters do.
For those of us who were/are target shooters, I definitely agree a muzzle protector that keeps the rod centered in the bore is useful to keep down on muzzle wear, even though our barrels are tougher steel than the soft Iron barrels they used for most of the period of this forum. I also agree that a funnel shaped bore protector that goes into the bore and aligns the cleaning rod is a good idea for cleaning, to help keep down muzzle wear.
Gus
BTW, when I first got involved as the Armorer to the U.S. International Muzzle Loading Team, I was a bit surprised at another device they used. Many of the shooters used a brass or copper funnel soldered to a long brass or copper tube that fit inside the bore and went all the way to the breech end in the barrel. The idea was their powder charge would then not get mixed with fired residue on the way down the bore and thus cause more uniform/consistent powder ignition/burning and thus slightly better accuracy. I had never seen them at the Nationals at Friendship, BUT I was a primitive shooter and never shot on the ranges that allowed such things there. So as soon as I saw those devices, I realized the advantage of using them on ranges and types of matches that allowed them.
Gus
