swabing improperly between shots

Last Saturday I watched a group of 5 go down a trail walk. One guy who was a long time shooter wet his patches with water (soaked the patch) for each shot. .50 and very heavy charge of black. After the first shot he ran a wet patch down the bore. He did that for 6 shots. Then no fire. new cap and no fire. again. Pulled the nipple and messed around with a pick. Added some 4f. put nipple back on. no fire. Range man said pull the ball. He did and walla. more water in the barrel than a man needs on a half day hunt.
A little girl with him shooting a nice little .45 Hawken shot light loads and walked the trail through using a lightly wet spit patch. No need to swab as powder burned fine. Needless to say she took home the gold.
I believe it is an old, old saying. Keep your powder dry.

 

[Semisane]

I believe it is an old, old saying. Keep your powder dry.

And never shoot against little girls. :wink:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Anytime you use a wet patch with anything on it, use a dry patch after it to soak up the extra fluids. Otherwise, the extra liquid left in the barrel will spoil your next powder charge.

If you do that kind of thing with these Nock-style breeches, you had better be carrying a screw driver, a nipple wrench, and pipe cleaners to clear those flash channels behind the powder chamber in the breech of the barrel. Its only a question of time- NOT IF--- before you get a misfire, and will have to clear those small channels of whatever fluid you put in them.

 

[Semisane]

That's one reason I like 91% Isopropyl for wiping between shots. No dry patch needed. If you swab right after the shot the heat of the barrel dries the alcohol almost instantly. But you still have to dampen the patch only very lightly. Even with alcohol too much will spoil the charge.

 

[William O.]

That's one reason I like 91% Isopropyl for wiping between shots. No dry patch needed. If you swab right after the shot the heat of the barrel dries the alcohol almost instantly. But you still have to dampen the patch only very lightly. Even with alcohol too much will spoil the charge.

Same here, too much alcohol ruins the powder charge so I recommend an alcohol dampened patch only for swabbing between shots.

 

[trigrcreep]

Have been getting good results with a large "seasoning " patch.I dont really think it seasons anything ,however it does rid the bore of excess fouling, and provides a small amount of lubrication without worry of compromising the next powder charge

 

[rafterob]

I am not a "swab between shots" guy. Mainly because I am real frugal (read cheap), and don't want to expend any more patches than need be.I swab when loading becomes sticky, and most of us realize that depends on the weather conditions of the day. On woods walks I use spit patch to save the extra step of lubing my patch, and likewise just use a damp spit patch to swab with when necessary (followed by a dry one). Works for me, some people can't be helped (as illustrated in the original post).

 

[leslie]

I wipe between shots,one pass down & up with a an alcohol wipe.Never a problem.Swabbing a barrel is what I do when I clean,I know semantics but there is a significant difference.My reason for wiping is because I do not like powder burns as they say once burned twice shy or something like that.I also believe in not getting into shooting matches with girls particularily those that just aquired the gun.

 

[paulvallandigham]

The only time I ever use those "fluffy" cotton swabs in any barrel is when cleaning them. I never use them with any kind of liquid, even alcohol. They hold too much, even if you try to squeeze them drier between your fingers and thumb before running the swab down the barrel. I use a cotton swab to push a 3" square cotton cleaning patch through my smoothbores. I don't use one in any rifle.

When I want to use alcohol, I dampen a cleaning patch with alcohol, squeeze out the excess, and then run it down my rifles with a cleaning jag on the end of my rod. I would much rather have to use two different cleaning patches soaked in alcohol, than to try to clean my barrel with just ONE patch, dripping with alcohol or anything.

The difference in what I do and what other members on this forum say they do is my thinking about mlers. I have no intention of trying to load, or clean my guns FAST. I take my time, and think about where that last shot went, what I did right or wrong to get it there, what, if anything, I need to change to get a closer hit to my POA with the next shot, and think carefully about each step in my cleaning a loading sequences. I don't hurry.

If I want to shoot fast, I put my Mlers away, and pull out some of my suppository guns to shoot.

When someone tries to challenge me to a "speed shooting contest", I always politely decline. I don't have anything to prove to myself, and I could care less what someone else thinks about me. I did a lot of dumb, dangerous stunts when I was a teen, and managed to escape with minimal damage. I don't do those things, now. Speed shooting mlers falls into that category, IMHO.

After 40 years in the business, I am used to the fact that Everyone hates lawyers- so I simply don't let personal insults get to me most of the time. I chalk that up to being an " Old guy" now, as I was a lot quicker to anger when I was much younger. :hmm: People hate lawyers until they need one. Then, they are your best friend. :blah: :surrender: :thumbsup:

 

[gearheart]

Little girls know that they don't know so they listen and learn and take the time to do it right. Somebody taught that one well and she deserved the gold. :thumbsup:

 

[Rifleman1776]

I am a swab between shots kinda guy. I am also very frugal. One woods walks, and other out of the pouch type shoots, I use a baby blanket cotton patch spit moistened, not slobbered on. I swab, reverse the patch then swab again. I have never had the situation original poster described. I swab because I don't like having balls stuck halfway down the bore.
As for the girl, I was going to make a joke also. But, really, good for her. :applause:

 

[Mike 56]

I shoot a CVA i don't swab between shots because it plugs up my firing channel. When i need to swab afterwords i pop a cap to clear the firing channel before loading. If i am shooting heavy loads i clean the barrel after i load the powder and ball that keeps me fouling under control and the barrel in the same condition shot after shot.

 

[longcruise]

I don't have one single "go to" technique. For hunting and for sighting in for hunting, I use a "grease" type lube and swab very carefully after every shot and also wipe with denatured alcohol. Idea is to return the barrel to as near the same condition as the first load as possible. I swab and clean the bore with alcohol before loading the first shot as well.

Now, on to the target and woodswalk game. Here I use a "wet" lube. Even a water based works just fine since it won't be left in the barrel for more than a few minutes. No need to wipe between shots since the ball patch with it's wet lube does it as you load. Hoppes lube/solvent works good for this and then for the frugal, a mix of 1 part liquid dish soap with 10 parts water works great too. Finally, for the truly frugal, the spit patch works equally well and eliminates the need to carry a container of lube on a woods walk.

 

[hanshi]

Though I don't swab after each shot I do often swab halfway through a shooting session. Depending on the humidity I've found that using just a dry patch works just fine. If humidity is low and fouling dry and crusty I'll first use a damp patch.

 

[stone knife]

Little girls know that they don't know so they listen and learn and take the time to do it right. Somebody taught that one well and she deserved the gold. :thumbsup:

I'll second that :thumbsup:

 

good advice from experienced shooters here. thanks

 

[longrifle346]

This thread came crashing to mind yesterday as I was schooled firsthand about swabbing improperly between shots while trying to come up with a hunting load for my new GM 58. I like to sight in and shoot from a clean bore so I started out using the same between-shot regimen I used on my TCs, couldn't seem to get all the fouling out. Also couldn't seem to get the POI twice in a row. I was then reminded of the much deeper grooves in the GM. I substituted a tighter patch material, promptly shoving a pure wad of leftover fouling from the grooves down into the breech, resulting in my first failure to fire. Cleared her out, broke her down and cleaned the bore, and began using the tighter cleaning patch between every shot. Ignition was perfect and the next two 3 shot groups were all but touching at 50 yards.

 

[Vaino]

I never swab between shots and when the loading becomes "hard", I just wire brush, dump the debris and reload. Been working reliably for 45 yrs....Fred

 

I have a new Green Mountain .54 that I have not rung out yet. Brand new. What a differance in groove depth from my T/C barrel. Will make sure and start off with a tight patched ball. thanks for the tip.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I shoot a CVA i don't swab between shots because it plugs up my firing channel. When i need to swab afterwords i pop a cap to clear the firing channel before loading. If i am shooting heavy loads i clean the barrel after i load the powder and ball that keeps me fouling under control and the barrel in the same condition shot after shot.

Mike, it sounds like your rifle has other problems that cannot be blamed on swabbing. I would get it looked at by a good muzzle loading gunsmith. Right now you are keeping the cap makers in business.