Swabbing a bore while hunting?

[Sidney Smith]

When hunting, do you ever need to swab the bore?

I ask this because in another thread someone asked whether a small bore rifle will foul more. Since a squirrel hunter may get many opportunities at game in a day than say a deer hunter, do you take a jag and run a few soaked patches or even just a spit patch in order to keep fouling managable?

 

[FishDFly]

Yes.

 

[Ben Meyer]

Depends on the gun/load, but i like a consistent bore. While I haven't gone trad. Muzzleloader squirrel hunting(all I have are .50cals, and my .22 works fine), id do what I alwats do. Drop 40gr down the barrel with no ball, fire, swab, then load. In the field, id spit patch between loadings, just one down/up swab with a damp patch.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Yes. Always. I once got a ball stuck halfway down a fouled bore and had to quit. Never again did that happen. I swab between EVERY shot, whether in the woods or on the range.

 

[appalichian hunter]

If hunting small game yes as to larger game such as deer no usually only one shot is needed and the re-load does not require it.

 

[Grimord]

When squirrel hunting with my .32 flinter, I swab after 3 shots if I am lucky enough to take those shots. For big game (deer), I use a thinner patch on the ball for follow up shots. Most times I don't need the backup shot, but it is good to be able to get another ball down the dirty bore just in case without the possibility of getting a stuck ball

 

[MountainSmoke]

Yes. It never seemed right to me to push all that burnt crud from the previous shot on top of a fresh charge. I am hardly ever in such a hurry to get off a second shot that I can't take a few seconds to run a patch or two down the barrel. Makes loading nice and easy every time.

 

[Art Caputo]

No. Whether at the range or hunting, my rifle loads are developed to sustain consecutive shots( 6-12, depending on the particular rifle) with ease of loading, and consistent accuracy. I will clean at the end of the day if a shot or more are taken.

 

[Greg Blackburn]

When I hunted with my CVA Bobcat, I never swabbed between shots but I never shot it more than twice on a hunt. I'd load it at home with Hornady Great Plains Bullet (hard to load) and if I shot during a hunt, reload with patched round ball, which was easy to load. Pyrodex is what I was shooting then.

I'm about to switch to black powder for these flintlocks, might swab then. Smallest caliber I own is .45.

 

[Kansas Jake]

For deer, it has been some years since I shot one, but back then I didn't swab after the first shot as it loaded easily enough for another shot or two. With my 32 for squirrel, I can usually get 5-6 shots or more, so would not swab until I've shot that many times. I usually don't get that many shots. I also, rarely shoot much farther than 20-25 yards.

 

[Ben Meyer]

I've expiramented at the range, not swabbing between shots. Without stabbing, loading the 3rd shot, its harder to ram down. Loading the 4th shot is significantly harder to ram down. The fifth? I thought my wooden ranrod would snap, stopped and forced it down with my heavy duty brass range rod. I didnt even try a 6th. My group size started widening at shot 3.

OTOH, my son has shot a dozen or more shots without swabbing. But his groups were nowhere near as tight as mine. So, like all things traditional ML, ALL things matter(gun, bore, rifling, load, etc)

If i had to take a 2nd shot deer hunting, id feel comfortable loading #2 without swabbing. But not #3. But squirrel hunting isn't deer hunting. There is usually plenty of time to swab squirrel hunting, so why NOT do it? Deer hunting, being as a muss would usually scare off any deer in shooting range, id still probably swab.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I've had to reload on more than one deer hunt. Shot at a few deer and missed, so reloaded and kept hunting. Once I had to do it to give a deer I did hit, the coup de grace. Never had a problem loading that second shot, and never even gave swabbing a thought.

On average, I have taken upwards of ten shots while squirrel hunting with my .22. So I can see having to swab at least one time while using a .32 caliber Flintlock

 

[bradly_tx]

Let me start off by saying that my patch lube is lard. The barrel is lubed with lard, heck the hole gun is lubed with lard! I only shoot .32 and I use Pyrodex RS and its a PERCUSSION. I have NEVER SWABBED between shots and I shoot almost daily. Sometimes I clean daily and sometimes I don’t and no barrel issues! My load consists of 15gr of powder a .310 prb(1 1/2 buck). I don’t need a short starter with this setup and I might shoot a half dozen balls or as many as 40 and I NEVER SWAB BETWEEN SHOTS. YMMV.
And to answer your question NO!

 

[fleener]

nothing worse then having to beat the ramrod against a tree to get the load down in a barrel that has been shot several times.

I carry a couple patches with me, just in case I need them.

Fleener

 

[tenngun]

Shoot a deer, swab bore, dry bore, reload, smoke a small pipe, then go to pick up deer. Small game, I don’t smoke but take time. Speed is the device of Satan

 

[FishDFly]

I have a small pump spray bottle sold at Walmart that travelers use for hair spray. It carries my cleaning solution just fine.

Couple of pumps will do you!

It's PC/HC for East Texas.

 

[Ben Meyer]

I use one of those too, use it on the range and would take/use it for early squirrel hunting, but I'd just use spit for a deer hunt reload. Spit is much less likely to freeze.

I have a small pump spray bottle sold at Walmart that travelers use for hair spray. It carries my cleaning solution just fine.

Couple of pumps will do you!

It's PC/HC for East Texas.

 

[Muddly]

Range or field, every shot. Every time and without exception. One benefit, rarely mentioned, is it gives me time to replay the shot in my mind's eye. And to calm down!
It never hurts to ( properly ) swab. Don't recall ever hearing anyone say " If only I hadn't swabbed'"