OK, Let's go to the range. Also, my experience with traditionals is limited but I have shot extensively at the range with ...........uh.....other percussion rifles.
At the bench, before you load and shoot, your bore has oil, bore butter, or some other lubricant that you put in there after the last shooting session. Put a jag on your ramrod and use a wet patch (I like to use straight alcohol at this point--but T/C #13, diluted alcohol, windex, water or spit will work) and swab the barrel to remove the lube. Follow with a dry patch. There should only be a light coating of lube in the barrel so only one wet and one dry patch should do the job.
Now pop a couple of caps on an empty barrel to lightly foul it, assuming you're shooting percussion. Don't reswab. Some shooters do a squib load (small load of powder and no bullet) at this point to foul the barrel even more. I have never done this. Point the rifle down range while popping those caps.
Load your gun and shoot.
User preferences now really come into play. Do you want to swab in between every shot. Do so. IMO, it won't hurt anything, but I have read at least one post or thread making the point that overcleaning/overswabbing can damage a barrel over time. One may say his or her rifle shoots better if the barrel is not cleaned after every shot. Only one way to find out. I like to shoot paper targets, but my main focus is deer hunting. My theory is that only the first shot counts, so I swab after every shot, trying to keep the barrel as close to the way it will be on the first shot at a deer. That will be with a clean barrel (two caps popped off to lightly foul) and a cold barrel. To experiment, I have gone as many as 10 shots without swabbing and did find that my accuracy declined some past the 5th shot. The thing is, unless you are shooting in timed matches (ain't none of those down here in North Texas that I've seen), why not swab in between shots or every third shot? If you hunt, you will want some practice shooting that second or third shot without swabbing since I don't intend to swab between shots in the field.
Let's say you've decided to go a few shots without cleaning so you shoot five and then run a dry patch down the barrel because you forgot to use a wet one. The patch goes down the barrel until it is 2 to 3 inches from the bottom and then it sticks. You pull on the ramrod and the thing won't budge. Just squirt or pour a small amount of liquid down the barrel to wet the patch. After a few seconds you can pull the patch out without much effort.
It has not happened to me yet that I have shot so many times without cleaning that the bullet won't go down the barrel. I strongly recommend not useing the bumper of a vehicle, or the ground, or whatever to ram the ramrod down the barrel as mentioned above. Consider getting a range rod. Mine is a 3-piece solid copper rod that came with a relatively inexpensive ML cleaning kit. I haven't seen any PC range rods, so if that matters.....
The cotton bore swabs are not necessary. If you're shooting PRBs or even conicals, the brass scrub brush isn't either. If you're sticking some plastic down the barrel :shake: , you will need the brass brush after a few shots.
The worm is used to retrieve a patch that has come off the jag down in the barrel.
Well, I had been planning a range day this weekend, but after a week here in which we had some high 70s temps, it it in the low 30s out there today, so here I sit.
If I had some RB moulds, this would be a good day to do that.
