Shooting without Swabbing

[Bob J]

I've read posts that indicate some of you are able to shoot real blackpowder numerous times without swabbing between shots (Roundball up to 40 times?). What is the trick to doing this, or is it better to wet/dry patch between shots. I decided to give up the BP substitute and go back to GOEX.

 

[bob1961]

alot of times i'm out shooting i go for as many shots as possible untill it gets hard to shove one down the tube....then swab and start over....and all i'm useing right now with my .50 are the T/C prelubed .015 patches....till my .54 is done i won't make any of stumpy's stuff yet..................bob

 

[kodiakemt414]

I know this might start something, but my brother uses bore butter and doesn't swab. :results:

 

[No Deer]

I shoot a smoothbore, can shoot all day and never swab :blah:

 

[Stumpkiller]

Trick?

Use a slippery grease or wax based lube. Use it liberally on the patch. Use a patch & ball combination that is not extremely tight in the bore. Shoot lots so the barrel is smooth (the first 500 shots in a barrel are just to break it in). Lube the barrel with a well lubed-up cleaning patch BEFORE the first shot (like greasing a pan before you cook). Shoot real blackpowder (Goex or Swiss).

I have a .54 T/C Renegade that has maybe 8,000 shots through it and I can shoot 15 rounds, not requiring a short-starter, before I get cautious and wipe with a spit-patch. I'm sure it could go double that with Moose Snot or Natural Lube, a .530" ball and 0.018" patching. I think I could shoot indefinately with a 0.010" patch and either of those lubes, but not as accurately.

My .50 T/C New Englander likes to be wiped at least every five shots, really preferring every or every two for best accuracy.

Coning the muzzle helps get the ball started and can help a little with this. Keeping the fouling soft is the true "trick" to multiple shots.

A good liquid lube and the proper patch will do it for most rifles, too. It's just a bit messy.

I use castor oil moose milk on patch strips that have been allowed to dry out and I can still fire repeatedly if I use 0.010" or 0.015" material.

 

[silverfox]

Bob] I used to clean every shot because I thought that was the way it was done. Still do at serious target matches, but for everyday or fun times at the range. With .50 cal Hawken .490 or .495 ball and Oxyoke wonder lubed patches I have and do shoot most of the day without swabbing the bore. Usually shoot 30 or 40 shots and last ball loads about as easy as the first. Only problems seem to be keeping the drum and nipple clear if I get a hangfire I clean them and it's back to round one again. Hope you can have the same performance.
Fox :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

I know this might start something, but my brother uses bore butter and doesn't swab. :results:

Same as your Brother...all I use is bore butter and shoot whole range trips without swabbing beteeen shots

 

I use plain ol' "SPIT" for lube when shoot'n targits,... I figger it's about like swab'n with a "spit patch" ever time I load.

YMHS
rollingb

 

[Huntinfool]

I kind of subscribe to Dutch Schoultz's method. Except with my rifle I swab with a spit patch between every shot and especially after the last shot!

According to Dutch if you fire without swabbing you harden the residue into the rifling. I know that when I get home the inside of my barrel cleans up fast and easy no scrubbing necessary.

It's the way 90% of the guys in my ML club do it also!

YMH&OS, :redthumb:
Chuck

 

[roundball]

......Dutch Schoultz's method...according to Dutch if you fire without swabbing you harden the residue into the rifling......

Have to be careful about taking things as absolutes[url] though...in[/url] the context that this guy may have been speaking that might have been the case, but it's not the case when using wonder lube or natural lube 1000.

With lubes like these, the fouling is so minimal, and stays so soft and moist, that the next patched ball that gets seated wipes it all down off the bore onto the top of the powder, and it gets ejected on the next shot.

Then there's one new, fresh shots worth of minimal fouling in the bore again, and the cycle is repeated...after a 40 shot range session with no wiping at all, it only takes a couple of pump flush strokes in a pail of hot soapy water and it's clean.
:redthumb:

 

[Ohio Joe]

Bob J,

First let me say I'm glad to hear your going back to the real stuff! :thumbsup:

I do both, "shoot and swab between shots", and "shoot and don't swab between shots". It just depends on whether I'm at a local shooting match at the range,(I swab), or if I'm in a shooting match at Rendezvous,(I do not swab)...

I have never really kept track of how many shots I could go without swabbing, I know I have never ran into a problem in that area.

At last years Rendezvous I know I went 15 shots in a row during three shooting matches, then me and a couple fellow buckskinning brothers continued shooting after the matches without swabbing...

I use well lubed patched balls in bullet blocks (I like the T/C Bore Butter), and when not using the bullet blocks I'll spit patch. I like both methods and they work for me! :thumbsup:

 

[Huntinfool]

Roundball said, "Have to be careful about taking things as absolutes[url] though...in[/url] the context that this guy may have been speaking that might have been the case, but it's not the case when using wonder lube or natural lube 1000."

I'm not stating anything as absolute brother Roundball. I guess I just been hanging around my mentor too long he uses natural stuff and when I asked him about this subject a few years ago he said. " Why would I want to waste money on buying that lube when I've been doin' great for years without it."

His success is hard to beat he's been the best shot in our area for the last 25 years. Plus he always finishes in the money when he goes out to Friendship and usually places in the top 3 places at Fort DeChartres shoots also.

The only time he uses lube is when he's huntin' if he's at a match he lubes with spit his offhand 50 yard targets usually group in the X ring at about the size of a fifty cent piece and his 100 bench groups look about the same.

As he says, "why then should I spend money on stuff I don't need."

Also he like to keep his gear self sufficient so to speak the less stuff he has to depend on the better. Just as I imagine our forefathers did!

YMH&OS, :redthumb:
Chuck

 

[roundball]

Roundball said, "Have to be careful about taking things as absolutes[url] though...in[/url] the context that this guy may have been speaking that might have been the case, but it's not the case when using wonder lube or natural lube 1000."

I'm not stating anything as absolute brother Roundball. I guess I just been hanging around my mentor too long he uses natural stuff and when I asked him about this subject a few years ago he said. " Why would I want to waste money on buying that lube when I've been doin' great for years without it."

His success is hard to beat he's been the best shot in our area for the last 25 years. Plus he always finishes in the money when he goes out to Friendship and usually places in the top 3 places at Fort DeChartres shoots also.

The only time he uses lube is when he's huntin' if he's at a match he lubes with spit his offhand 50 yard targets usually group in the X ring at about the size of a fifty cent piece and his 100 bench groups look about the same.

As he says, "why then should I spend money on stuff I don't need."

Also he like to keep his gear self sufficient so to speak the less stuff he has to depend on the better. Just as I imagine our forefathers did!

YMH&OS, :redthumb:
Chuck

roundball himself will repeat what roundball said:
I simply commented that your quote read like "an absolute"...and clarified that the quote / statement did not apply when using wonder lube or natural lube 1000.

And it doesn't matter to me who may have originally stated it...when taken out of it's original context, it doesn't apply across the board to all situations, ie: when natural lube is being used...that's what roundball said.
eace:

 

[Herb]

For patch lube I use Murphy Oil Soap in a one part to one part 91% isopropyl alcohol. One oil to two alcohol also works good. I went down to one to four and had fouling. But with one to one or one to two, I can shoot as long as I want and never swab between shots. I have shot 30 to 50 shots at a session without swabbing. The fouling is kept moist and cleans up easily at day's end. But if I wait maybe a half hour between shots, I feel the fouling in the barrel. Otherwise the ball oozes down with no resistance. With spit patches or any grease I've tried, in .40 to .54 caliber, I'd be lucky to get a half dozen shots without cleaning, and I sure get tired of chewing on patches.

 

[Darkhorse]

My experience with Wonder lube was this. If I am shooting heavy loads then after 4 or 5 shots I either had to clean or pound my ball down the bore.
When I load 1/2 charges, a good target, small game load, then I can shoot as many shots as I want too without needing to clean or a loss of accuracy.
So if you are using wonder lube and you get too much fouling, try reducing your load.
Personally, after trying lots of lubes, I really like the stuff for shooting. Learn its peculuarities, lube lightly when its hot and humid or itll drip onto your powder, and it gets a little stiff when its cold. But I can work with it. I'll keep using it.

 

[Huntinfool]

I guess then I'll just say OK!

But I don't need or like TC lube and yes I've tried it I don't need it. It's fine if you feel it's best for you.

The original question WAS about firing numerous times without swabbing in between shots. As I said I don't use that method it's alright to be different. I was just telling him a way that he didn't have to buy some wonder lube or for that matter any lube at all!

I for one don't see what the big deal is about running a patch down the barrel. I remember a post about this subject before and everyone got uptight about it. I don't want to argue, but to me it's no big chore to swab!

I've fired over 50 shots at the range using nothing but spit and one spit patch between shots. Hence I do swab but don't need to buy any lube. I never had any trouble loading that's all I'm trying to say. Don't get so defensive my friend. As I said before "it's alright to be different."

YMH&OS, :redthumb:
Chuck

 

[tx50cal]

I also use the TC wonderlube, I have had nothing but success since I changed over to it. I learned the proper cleaning and maintanance procedures and shoot around 40 shots also, without wiping between any shot. I just prefer to stay with everything the way it will be during a hunt. A spit patch will work at the range, but not on a 12 hour hunt with an average of 50-70 degrees temps during hunting season. Here in Texas it might freeze this morning and be in the 70' by the afternoon.

 

[Bob J]

I used to spit patch but tried a test once - spit patched a ball and seated it in a barrel (used an inline that was given to me) and left it in there for 24 hours. Pulled it and there was a reddish-brown stain circling the now dried-out patch... :: Rust! So spit patch may be OK for target shooting but wouldn't want to use it for hunting. And I, too, figure might as well shoot same components at the range as in the woods, hence now using wonder-lube pillow ticking. Thanks for the help guys... sounds like swabbing between shots may be the way to go for load development but not necessary for offhand practice and informal shoots.

 

[horkeye]

What is the trick to doing this, or is it better to wet/dry patch between shots.

Bob,
IMHO I don't consider shooting a large number of shots without cleaning to be a major issue, 'cos who really cares what you do as long as it works for you! :results: When I shoot patched ball rifle comps (usually 13 shots, and 4 or 5 events for the day with 10 minute breaks between comps), I always start by wiping oil from bore (for first event), firing a few caps (or flints ), fire a fowler with ball, then have the 13 shots with no cleaning. At the end of the event I give a quick clean with a locally manufactured bore solvent & patch lube, and a quick dry. Even if the event is 3 shots I follow the same procedure. Once I didn't and missed a ridiculously easy shot which I should have nailed; NEVER again!:curse: I use the same solvent/lube to wet my patches.
You could try the following: when ramming the ball home with ramrod (after your initial shot), use a wet patch on the jag, then wipe 1 or 2 times after you have pushed the ball onto powder.
Jim.
:thumbsup:

 

[Ohio Joe]

IMHO I don't consider shooting a large number of shots without cleaning to be a major issue, 'cos who really cares what you do as long as it works for you!

Jim,

That is absolutely right! :thumbsup: The only event I can think of where swabbing would come into play would be a timed event such as a "Mountain Run"... As you say, "as long as it works for you!"