Was Dutch right about wiping between shots?

[oldschoolhunter55]

Ok boys and girls here is the long winded (not really) version.

When I first started back in the 70's the big event at our club was the Seneca run, the winner was revered and lauded continuously all year and it was something I strove mightily to win.

For those that do not know it was a timed event with about a dozen stations, mostly shooting at metal swingers at different distances but also going calf deep into a creek to set a trap, throwing a hawk, and making fire with flint and steel. You better run between stations, because the other guys are.

I never won, we had two guys, Joe Florini (the Italian Stallion!) and Dave Goode who were light years better than the rest of us at this game, and I did my best to copy their methods.

We assumed these were the skills that Simon Kenton, Lewis Wetzel and good old Daniel used when fleeing or hiding from hostiles.

You will NEVER get close to winning a match like this fooling around with wiping between shots and the other complications most burden themselves with. (I am too old to run anyway)

I play with modern complications for the joy of experimentation, but loading and shooting like your preparing for a Seneca run is to me the ultimate goal. Only benchrest shooters need to wipe between shots as most do not shoot well enough offhand to make a difference.

Gosh dang!!!! I have never heard of a match like that before.A feller better be in good shape to do that. I couldnt imagine trying to do that lol.That would seperate the real men for sure.I would probably fall in the creek and get everything soaked hahaha. Do they still have matches like that now? Thanks for sharing

 

[oldschoolhunter55]

When I got my first M.L. I didn't know squat about it so I bought prelubed patches and the right size ball and took the gun to the range to try it out. I was pleasantly surprised with the accuracy but the loading was a different matter, It was harder than I thought it should be so I swabbed the barrel with a patch of old tee shirt to get the loose debri out of the barrel. I learned real quick to not push the patch down in one push but to go about eight or twelve inches and pull it back a few inches before going down futher. If I didn't it would get stuck! I mean really stuck hard! I also noticed my groups seemed to be tighter with this method? I can say I have shot a three shot group with each ball in a one oval hole at a hundred yards on my first try . This was using a rest at a bench of course. I haven't tried any other method other than not wiping the bore and that isn't easy to do but with a patch down the bore I have no problems loading nor keeping shots where I was aiming! I also know that there are several ways that work other than mine but a dry patch made from old tee shirts doesn't cost me any thing and it works for me?

When i first started with a muzzleloader i was very young. The old guy at gun place told us how to do it. Well didnt take us long to go back and talk to him again. Hahaha. Them old timers in there were laughing so hard they were in tears.we were shooting caplocks.we all thought he said to xpit down the barrel after we shot.ughh. He said to use a spit patch not spit a bunch down the barrel. Oh well. And while we were there they took us all outside and showed us orrect way. Handed mine to him and told him it was still loaded. So we learned how to get the stuck ball out too.we got the most of powder out with a patch puller twisting it around and dumping it out. Then pulled nipple out cleaned as best we could. Then cleaned out nipple hole. Dried it out added some powder and shot some caps. They made us all clean our muzzleloaders back up and away we went to go back to shooting. Lol. Hard way to learn. Lol