Should I have cleaned between shots?

[tamara]

Morning all.

Yesterday I went to the range and shot my .50 Hawken. Things were going along pretty well. I shot maybe 20-25 rounds or so. I didn't clean between any of the shots. I'm using Cabela's pre-lubed patches, and while it got slightly more difficult to load, it wasn't bad at all.

Guy shows up, and asks if it's ok if we take a little break while he goes and sets up his targets. Sure, no problem. Well, the guy drives out there, and it took him like a half hour to set up! :cursing:

So eventually he comes back, and I commence loading. And get the ball stuck about 10" into the barrel. :shake: I just can't get it to go any further. From the very beginning, this one was much more difficult to load, and then it gets stuck.

So, I guess I should have taken that half hour to clean the barrel a bit, but being a newbie, it didn't occur to me. Would the fouling have cooled and hardened in that time (the barrel was warm before)? Is that an unreasonable number of shots between cleaning? When you clean between shots, exactly what does that entail? Just a few swabs with a patch and some solvent / lube?

 

[DanChamberlain]

What powder?

There are so many variables in this game! If I'm developing a hunting load, I "clean" the bore every three shots. I want the bore clean, but I don't want to get the chamber wet so I have a way of doing that that some may find objectionable - but it involves a worm attachment if that suggests anything to you.

With a percussion drum style lock, I have actually pushed fowling into the drum flash channel and it resulted in a misfire (a couple of them actually).

If I'm target shooting, I run a spit patch down bore followed by a dry patch every shot.

When I made the commitment to range sessions with muzzleloaders, I accepted the fact that 25 shots may be the entire session. There wasn't a clock running. Even if you clean between shots, you're still going to be able to shoot that 25 shots in an hour.

Dan

 

[biliff]

In the heat of summer the first loading after a break usually loads a little harder for me. Doesn't happen in the winter so I assume the fouling is drying out a bit. Never had one stick though. Sure you didn't do something like double patch?

 

[jbtusa]

I run a swabbing patch down after every shot. I do it to prevent such problems and also for consistency which is where accuracy comes from.

 

[BrownBear]

I'm kinda lazy, and I don't bother swabbing between shots till I feel that it's getting a little harder to load. Some guns it's a couple of shots and some it's like you- 20 or so.

But any time there's going to be a delay or I take a break, I swab as a matter of course. Just cuzz it seems like a good time to do it. Just one patch dampened with spit or a commercial bore cleaner, followed by a dry patch.

I haven't run into your problem, so I'm only speculating it's because I don't let the gun sit for awhile with fouling. I'm moving back and forth between Goex and Pyrodex, and I really don't notice any difference in fouling or need for swabbing.

 

[Mike Brooks]

A couple blows down the barrel will cure that problem, got to keep the fouling soft.

 

[Dphar]

Morning all.

Yesterday I went to the range and shot my .50 Hawken. Things were going along pretty well. I shot maybe 20-25 rounds or so. I didn't clean between any of the shots. I'm using Cabela's pre-lubed patches, and while it got slightly more difficult to load, it wasn't bad at all.

Guy shows up, and asks if it's ok if we take a little break while he goes and sets up his targets. Sure, no problem. Well, the guy drives out there, and it took him like a half hour to set up! :cursing:

So eventually he comes back, and I commence loading. And get the ball stuck about 10" into the barrel. :shake: I just can't get it to go any further. From the very beginning, this one was much more difficult to load, and then it gets stuck.

So, I guess I should have taken that half hour to clean the barrel a bit, but being a newbie, it didn't occur to me. Would the fouling have cooled and hardened in that time (the barrel was warm before)? Is that an unreasonable number of shots between cleaning? When you clean between shots, exactly what does that entail? Just a few swabs with a patch and some solvent / lube?

The fouling dries out in low humidity.
Creosote in the charcoal actually produces water as it burns and this tends to make the fouling softer for a time. But in a 1/2 hour in dry conditions, the fouling gets harder. A lightly wet patch with cure this. Dripping is too much, just damp is likely too little.
In high humidity the fouling usually stays soft, sometimes too soft.
When you stick one pour 1/2 ounce or so of water in the bore and let the patch soak it up. In a minute or 3 it will loosen even an oiled patch and allow the ball to be seated properly and shot out.

Dan

 

[vern faulkner]

YES

 

[Billnpatti]

I used to wipe my bore with a bore solvent every few rounds and never had any problems with loading. Then by accident I discovered a better way. One day I was trying some pre-lubed felt over powder wads that a friend gave me and discovered that they were giving me more consistancy between shots and I was having to swab less often. When I went to buy some of the wads, I found that they were more expensive than I had expected. So I improvised. I used a half inch hollow punch to punch out some wads from an old leather belt. I soaked them in Ballistol for a couple days and then let them drain on a paper towel for a couple more days. Then I put them into one of the plastic bottles that the pharmacist puts pills in. The bores of all of my .50 cal rifles are coned so I use pre-cut patches. I use an arch punch to cut them. My patches are cut from drill fabric that measures .016. I put them into another pill bottle and pour in just enough Ballistol to dampen all of them. I give them several pokes with my finger to get the Ballistol worked into all of the patches. Now when I load, I put in my measured powder, top it with a leather wad and then seat my patched bullet. I have shot over 50 rounds with this loading and never had to wipe my bore.

I did a bit of research with my chronograph to see how the wads effected my muzzle velocity. I shot 10 shots over the chronograph with no wads and 10 with wads. I was shooting 50 grains of Goex fffG in all of my loads. I found that my average velocity without the wads was 1289 fps with a standard deviation of 21.4. With the wads, my average muzzle velocity was increased to 1313 with a standard deviation of 7.0. Needless to say, my groups were better with the wads than without.

So, better accuracy, no need to swab between shots. Yep, works for me. Give it a try, you just might be happy with what you find.

BTW you can get a hollow punch set quite cheaply from Harbor Freight. The leather is usually available from anyone who does leather work such as a shoe shop, saddle maker, etc. I have a source that sells me his scrap 6 to 8 ounce leather pieces by the boxfull quite cheaply. The Ballistol can be hard to find. I order mine from Midway Shooter's Supply. If you can't find it, I would suggest Marvel Mystery Oil as a substitute. It is available from any automobile parts store.

Using the wads directly on top of the powder is not a problem if you are shooting at the range but if you want to use them when hunting, I suggest putting a dry poster board wad on top of the powder ahead of the leather wad to keep the oil in the leather wad from contaminating your powder. You can use your hollow punch to cut these paper wads out of a piece of poster board. This is a problem only when you leave your gun loaded for a relatively long time such as when you are hunting.

I like to carry my wads and patches in an Altoids box. If the box does not fit with your personna, just throw in in a fire for a few minutes and it will burn off all of the paint. Scrub it with a bit of steel wool and it will have a nice old looking patina to it. Still not exactly PC but close.

 

[Vaino]

A wire brushing and a "dump" every 6-8 shots works fine for me in lieu of swabbing.....Fred

 

[Trench]

Yeah, that's my experience too. If you have a flintlock, you can see it happening right in front of you in the pan if you don't wipe it. It hardens and forms a crust.

 

[Billnpatti]

Flehto, I need you to explain what you mean by a "dump" every few shots. Ya see, when someone uses the term "dump" I immediately think of :redface: ...........well, never mind what I think. :haha: What do you mean by "dump"?

 

[tamara]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I forgot to mention that I was using Pyrodex (I know, I know). I'm out here in the desert, so 30% humidity is a muggy day.

I'll go back to the range today and give it another go.

 

[Vaino]

After the wire brushing the bbl is pointed down and given a good rap. After 6-8 shots it's surprizing how much debris falls out. The next PRB loads pretty easily and the entire brushing didn't take that long....Fred

 

[Zonie]

tamara
20 or 30 shots with Pyrodex in the dry climate without wiping isn't unusual but as you found, if there is a lull the fouling will harden.

You didn't say how you addressed this issue but pouring a small amount of water down the bore on top of the patched ball and letting it set, muzzle up, for a while will loosen it up so it can be rammed down the barrel.

 

[ohio ramrod]

I always keep a small bottle of alcohol handy for pouring down the barrel when someone gets a ball or more often a cleaning patch stuck. Alcohol works in all temperatures encountered in our area.And will dry out faster than water. But water will work above freezing and is almost always available and cheaper. And after all aren't most of us in this game CHEAP.

 

[redwing]

So true the Alcohol Swabs sold in the drug store are very handy for this job. They are sealed in foil. They are easy to keep in your shooting box. They are in patch form and work well on most jags.

 

[tamara]

Thanks for the idea on the alcohol swabs. That sounds like a good, convenient way to handle it.

What I did is I sprayed some WD-40 down the barrel and waited a few minutes. Then I tapped the rod with a rawhide mallet to encourage it a bit :redface: , and it came loose and rammed down just fine. Surprisingly enough, it shot out just fine, so the WD-40 apparently didn't make it to the powder.

 

[Sekiar]

Many years ago when I was shooting my H&A underhammer a lot of shots in a row I would load and then shoot some WD40 down the barrel and blast away....as long as I did that I could continue shooting as long as I wanted. I do know that the WD40 of today is not the same as what I was using. I'm just now getting back into front loader shooting and I've not tried this method today.