Shooting without wiping

[smoothshooter]

Try a thicker patch, .018" to .020" that will hold more lube. You may have to go to the next smaller sized ball as well. A beeswax / olive oil blend for patch lube may be an improvement. I typically get at least 20 shots between wipings, and often twice that many. I actually scrape the breechplug more often than I wipe the bore some days, depending on the humidity.

 

[kurts]

I very seldom wipe , I use pure neatsfoot oil, not dripping but moist in 32 to 54 cal.

 

[crockett]

One real advantage of this forum is sharing experiences. When I first started I was using heavy powder charges and there was a lot of residue in the bore, I was surprised how hard it was to ram down the second ball. I therefore started swabbing between shots but that caused troubles, the swab was pushing all the residue down the bore and plugging up the drum's channel hole and I was getting hang fires and misfires unless I popped a cap EVERY TIME after swabbing. I then tried smaller charges and just pouring in the charge but after 3-4 rounds I still had to swab. Then I got going on the wad.
I pretty much shoot by myself. Other shooters on the range have modern guns. No one to share info. Next time I'm out I'm going to put a lot more lube on the patch, I have moistened it but never really wet. I thought that might impact the powder charge. Thanks for the information.

 

[hanshi]

I believe some guns may be more prone to the fouling ring in the chambers than others. I rarely experience that ring nowadays. Ever since I started using a thicker patch (same Hoppes lube, however) the problem mostly went away. On the rare occasions one develops, I will wet swab and dry swab. Otherwise I don't bother to swab at all.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Question for you guys that get a crud ring....how hard do you seat the ball?

 

[Dphar]

I was wondering about you folks that say you can shoot all day wiping. What kind of grooves does your rifle have? I have square grooves on mine and there is no way I can shoot more than 5 times without wiping my bore. I'm using Hoppes No. 9 plus (a good amount), .015 ticking (.018 has the same result) and a .395 ball in my .40 cal. I'm thinking it may be that you folks have radius groove rifling that allows for less wiping. So let us folks know what you have and your set up. It might help some of us less enlightened people, and cut down on the amount of material used to wipe(swab) our barrels out during a day of shooting. Thanks.

Water based lubes clean the bore as its loaded.
I don't do this for my own reasons.
If there is a difference in the radius grooves and square ones its news to me. The patch either takes out the fouling or it does not.
Really deep grooves will cause problems too. Grooves over .008 deep are not needed. Over .010-.012 is a waste of time but some people have "mines bigger than yours" attitude in this.

Dan

 

[smo]

The only difference I could see would be that fouling could hang in the corners of square grooves more so than in the radius bottom grooves. :idunno:

 

[Rifleman1776]

Water based lubes clean the bore as its loaded.

There is something to that.
Since I started using beeswax based lubes, a few years ago, I began getting that crud ring. :hmm: There might be a connection there. :idunno: Not sure, I do swab between every shot with a spit dampened flannel patch. Hate changing my technique at this stage of the game.

 

[Adui]

Interesting question and topic. For my part, I've used Goex 2f and 3f briefly, and then Pyrodex P almost exclusively due to ease of getting it. Untill I started reading about accuracy, and trying to get my rifle to shoot under 4" at 100 yards ( a feat I may never get to but not because the rifle cant do it; the shooter cant do it open sight any longer) I never ever swabbed between shots.

In my early days I would spend several hours out shooting, and fire upwards of 30 to 40 shots out of my rifle. Back then I used pre-lubed patches with Wonderlube or other similar concoction I could buy.

To be quite honest, I only swab now about every 5 shots just to help with bore consistency for more accurate shots, (and I should swab every shot for that purpose I'm just lazy). Now that I think about it I am certain I had trouble at least once,but it was very rare and after several shots. Though I honestly couldn't tell you if it was before or after my switch to Pyrodex. I do remember Pyrodex RS being quite dirty so it may have been during the one or two cans of that stuff..

 

[Billnpatti]

There are many factors which effect accuracy, the consistency of the condition of the bore being only one of them. I firmly believe that for maximum accuracy from shot to shot, the bore needs to be kept the same for each shot. In order to do this, wiping the loose fouling from the bore with a damp patch is essential. Doing the wiping exactly the same each time insures that the bore will be the same for each shot. Therefore, no matter what kind of rifling is in the bore, it needs to be wiped after every shot in order to achieve maximum accuracy. This assumes that you do everything else correctly toward achieving maximum accuracy.

 

[ihuntsnook]

I concurr. If ultimate accuracy is what you are after, why would you not swab between shots? I use dry squares of paper towels. They come out with a greasy black coating. Being very absorbent, the paper towel cleans enough of the fouling without introducing any liquid, so every time I run a dry piece of towel in the bore it comes out the same. I cut the towels up with scissors, about an inch and a half square. They happen to fit my cleaning jag well -- not too tight to tear, yet tight enough to take enough fouling out of the bore. Works great for me, and cheaper and easier to use than cotton.

 

[azmntman]

Being a cheap type individual I have started swiping and then when done I pick up all the patches, take em home and when done with last water of my cleaning (I cut a 2 liter pepsi bottle top off and use it instead of a bucket) I then ad a drop more soap and add the patches and swish em good, leave over night swish again, rinse well and dry em and reuse em.

After last time out gettin a stuck (BAD) ball I discussed with Dutch and he say maybe swiping patches too thin so now I looking for a flannel replacement to try.

I do use paper towels in final dry out before the WD-40 patch goes in.

 

[bpd303]

You might want to try the blue shop towels on a roll, sold at most auto parts stores and Walmart. They work exceedingly well for me as a wiping cloth, then serve double duty as wad material after they have been used to swipe the bore. I just tear a patch about two inches square from the sheet and are stronger than kitchen towels.

 

[hanshi]

Ya' know, I rarely swab and 4" at 100 yds is about the best, at this point, I can do. It's also the best I can do with a good centerfire rifle and open sights. The 4" groups are with more than just one gun so the problem is with ME!

 

[nkbj]

Swabbing? Some rifles are picky eaters.

 

[jamesthomas]

Well I'm glad to say I'm in the league of shooters now. Went to the range today and tried out some 2ff Olde Ensford. I can now shoot all day with out wiping. I shot 15 rounds using 40 grns. and I had no crud ring, ran a nylon brush up an down one time then a alcohol patch. Then I followed it up with about 20 shots using 30 grns. Then without cleaning shot 10 or 12 more shots using 50 grns. All my loads went down smooth without any sign of the crud ring I was getting with my 3fff KIK. It sure was nice to spend my time shooting instead of running a couple of patches down every 3rd or 4th shot. I'm a happy man today :thumbsup: . Oh, and the glass cleaner worked good also. It just took about 4 or 5 patches to clean and oil my rifle up.

 

[jamesthomas]

Dang, got excited and left out the details. The lube was Hoppe's #9 Plus, Patch was .020 pillow ticking (.018 before washing), with a .395 Rb. Every shot went down easy. 30 grains looks like a good squirrel load. 50 grains shot very good also, I need to see how 60 grains does and shoot some at 50 yards to see how it does. All shooting today was at 25 yards.

 

[hanshi]

Congratulations. I'm always happy to see a fellow shooter solve a frustrating problem. :thumbsup:

Shooting is ALWAYS more fun than swabbing.

 

[Col. Batguano]

Excellent point. If all your target and centerfire guns are scope sighted, and then you jump to a traditionally sighted ML'er and your groups open up, the issue MAY not be the gun. Put a set of similar iron sights on a more traditional rimfire or centerfire and then see how you do from the same position. I'm going to guess that the groups from similarly sighted rifles will be similar in size. I would also tend to guess that your offhand groups will be better from a ML'er than they are from a centerfire, because the center of gravity being further forward.

 

[Leopard cur]

Shot a new .40 cal flinter today for the first time. 42" round radius colerain. 40 grains fffg goex, mink oil lubed patches, patch thickness .010 and .395 ball. I'd get 15 or 20 shots through till I'd get some fouling issues. Ran an alcohol swab thru the barrel and I was back in business. Sighting in at 25 yds, 3/4" groups. Plenty good for vermin.