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When to clean between shots?
- Thread starter Jarikeen
- Start date
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I find that if I need to clean/wipe between shots, it is because I am having trouble getting the patch and ball down the bore easily. I usually gage weather I need to wipe based on ease of loading, and just make sure the flashhole and breech area are clear and dry before reloading.
I know when at the range I will see fellows
wipe after every shot...The ones I have ask
about this that do it, say the main reason is
just to make sure there are no hot ashes etc in
the barrel that mite ignite on next load.
I'm never in that big of hurry to reload. I wipe
the barrel when I have trouble loading....and
that varies(Maybe 3 or 4 or 8)It just depends. Just an opinion.
snake-eyes :hmm:
wipe after every shot...The ones I have ask
about this that do it, say the main reason is
just to make sure there are no hot ashes etc in
the barrel that mite ignite on next load.
I'm never in that big of hurry to reload. I wipe
the barrel when I have trouble loading....and
that varies(Maybe 3 or 4 or 8)It just depends. Just an opinion.
snake-eyes :hmm:
Guest
Jarikeen said:
Do not swab after seating a load! When you need to swab, do it before a new load. I find that in my guns in this humid climate here I need to swab after every couple of shots--but I don't like to have to hammer loads down. General guide: when your loading gets too tough, stop and swab before the next one. Target shooters tend to swab between every shot to keep bore conditions more or less the same shot to shot. Swabbing also does decrease the chance that a load will go off while you are ramming due to a spark left in the breech. As an artillery man, I know that I HAVE to swab after EVERY shot. But when you are putting maybe half pound of powder down the bore an accident can be fatal.
Greenmtnboy
62 Cal.
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to create good consistant accuracy wile I am bench shooting I swab between shots with a slightly damp patch, not wet with cleaning solution just damp so my next charge wont be affected.
all this does is to create a consistantly dirty barrel.
a must if you want good accuracy :hatsoff:
all this does is to create a consistantly dirty barrel.
a must if you want good accuracy :hatsoff:
FallingCrows
36 Cal.
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i have to swab after the second shot. Otherwise the third shot won't go down very well and will end up going wild.
And I follow the same pattern as GreenMtnboy. A constant dirty barrel.
And I follow the same pattern as GreenMtnboy. A constant dirty barrel.
If sighting in a new barrel or a new load, I clean the bore between every shot to match the condition of a clean cold barrel for the first shot hunting...but for weekend range work shooting targets I never wipe between shots using NL1000 or Hoppes No9 Plus
Jarikeen said:
Never put anything down the barrel after it's loaded.
If you're shooting for maximum accuracy, swabbing after every shot makes sure that each shot is consistent. If you're just out having fun, don't worry about it till fouling is making it hard to seat a ball or accuracy is falling off.
Thankyou for your responses. My main question was whether you swob before or after your load. I can see the drawbacks of each - if you swab before you load, you possibly push grud down and fowl the egnition point. If you swab after a seated load you stop that problem, however you are pushing fowlling to your ball which may or may not be dangerous or may or may not bulge the barrel at that point apon firing. I don't know.
I swab after every shot regardless.
What I did is.....Mark on my Range Rod where empty is (With Tape or a pen or something)Then when cleaning between shots I hold 2 of my fingers below where that mark is.Creating a stop and not letting my cleaning jag and patch push fouling in the flash hole.
Works for me. :v
What I did is.....Mark on my Range Rod where empty is (With Tape or a pen or something)Then when cleaning between shots I hold 2 of my fingers below where that mark is.Creating a stop and not letting my cleaning jag and patch push fouling in the flash hole.
Works for me. :v
Lone Carabiner
40 Cal.
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Target shooting/plinking I dry patch between shots. With a looser fit patch than my ball patch but still tight weave. Just to pick up fouling, I figure it simulates firing conditions when I'm hunting. I always go with a bore that I've fired a fouling shot then dry patched before loading. :thumbsup:
Johnny Tremain
Silversmith in training
As long as I have been using +1000 lube, ive never had to swab. The lubed patch does the job, on the way down.
paulvallandigham
Passed On
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When you put a PRB down the barrel after putting down a powder charge, the air in the barrel pushes through the powder, and out the vent, or flashchannel and nipple, blowing the nipple and vent clear. If they are blocked, you have a lot of pressure resisting that ball and its hard, if not impossible to load it. That is your cue that you need to clear the vent or nipple with a pick.
When you clean before loading, run just a slightly dampened clean patch down, in stages, backing it out, so that the patch is caught in the rings of the jag, until you reach the breechface. Then with draw the rod completely and pull out all the crud. Some will push forward and down to the breech. Now take a dry clean patch and run it down, again in stages, to pick up the black goo that is the crud pushed ahead of the first patch. The dry cotton will absorb moisture from the drud, and the stuff will stick to the patch and come out. If you think the barrel is still dirty, then run another patch down, but I recommend lightly dampening that third patch again with a little spit. Otherwise it might get stuck.
As to running anything down the barrel after the ball is seated, I know chunk gun shooters who run a lubed patch down the barrel after seating their ball. This lubes the barrel evenly, and increases the velocity about 1%. These guys are shooting for string measurments, and want to get that ball to the target as fast as possible so the wind can't blow it off center. As long as you have not primed the gun( put a cap on the nipple) and the hammer is in its half cock notch, I don't see how anything untoward can happen running a heavily lubed patch down the barrel after the ball.
However, after the ball is seated is NOT THE TIME to be cleaning the barrel. That i agree with. If the ball is seated on the powder charge, but you think that whatever crud in the barrel that you felt when loading will move your ball from point of aim, then fire the shot off into the backstop, clean the gun, and then reload.
When you clean before loading, run just a slightly dampened clean patch down, in stages, backing it out, so that the patch is caught in the rings of the jag, until you reach the breechface. Then with draw the rod completely and pull out all the crud. Some will push forward and down to the breech. Now take a dry clean patch and run it down, again in stages, to pick up the black goo that is the crud pushed ahead of the first patch. The dry cotton will absorb moisture from the drud, and the stuff will stick to the patch and come out. If you think the barrel is still dirty, then run another patch down, but I recommend lightly dampening that third patch again with a little spit. Otherwise it might get stuck.
As to running anything down the barrel after the ball is seated, I know chunk gun shooters who run a lubed patch down the barrel after seating their ball. This lubes the barrel evenly, and increases the velocity about 1%. These guys are shooting for string measurments, and want to get that ball to the target as fast as possible so the wind can't blow it off center. As long as you have not primed the gun( put a cap on the nipple) and the hammer is in its half cock notch, I don't see how anything untoward can happen running a heavily lubed patch down the barrel after the ball.
However, after the ball is seated is NOT THE TIME to be cleaning the barrel. That i agree with. If the ball is seated on the powder charge, but you think that whatever crud in the barrel that you felt when loading will move your ball from point of aim, then fire the shot off into the backstop, clean the gun, and then reload.
"However, after the ball is seated is NOT THE TIME to be cleaning the barrel. That i agree with. If the ball is seated on the powder charge, but you think that whatever crud in the barrel that you felt when loading will move your ball from point of aim, then fire the shot off into the backstop, clean the gun, and then reload." I disagree! Safty is the only reason I could have been wrong. After you drop powder in barrel, you can knock all the cruddown the barrel you want. There is nothing between powder and cap. Then wipe barrel. Crud on top of powder does not hurt anything.
I know that this is an old post, but just thought that I would let you know that I tried a few different techniques, and find myself swabbing after each shot using windex on a flannel cleaning patch. This only takes a couple of seconds. I swab right down to the breach face and have had no problems with fowling or misfires. Strangely enough, I'm about the only one who actually swabs, where I shoot - most opting to find a suitable patch lube, so they don't have too.
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