When to clean?

[tryinhard]

My brother and I are in a discussion as to how often to clean your barrel when at the range. He is a book worm and says for optimum accuracy you should clean every 2 shots. I say 3 to 5 shots depending on how your gun is acting. Who is right?

 

[bingo1952]

I don't clean at the range. I use an old fashioned spit patch and the 30th shot loads about as easy as the first shot.

 

[boar]

I always clean after shot no matter where I am at. I can't get away from it. Cost me a deer one time. One thing that is always with the gun is a roll cotton flannel to make a spit patch. Dilly

 

[FishDFly]

Line shooters in matches clean between each shot.


RDE

 

[rafterob]

Totally dependant on the individual gun and loads used. I have one rifle using FFg will go 12 shots before requiring a swab another that builds up after 2 shots. I use crisco lube. I have heard the spit lube claim before and am going to give that a try. Depends on what kind of accuracy you are looking for. Winning a bench match, maybe swab every shot. 2" group offhand, only when loading gets difficult.

 

[jtmattison]

When I'm working up loads I wipe between each shot. I want a clean barrel because when I am hunting I'll be shooting from a clean barrel on the first shot.
After I have a load worked up I don't swab unless it is needed, which is rare.
I use Hoppes BP solvent/patch lube and swabbing is not usually necessary. I can usually shoot all day without swabbing and have no effect on accuracy. It's good stuff.

How much YOU need to swab depends on a lot of things. Powder type, lube type, patch/ball or bullet combo...etc.

HD

 

[2172]

I'm with Roundball..my patches are Wonderlubed, and I don't clean throughout a 30 shot match..Hank

 

[paulvallandigham]

You have heard good advice. To understand why the difference in loading recommendations, you have to think in terms of loading a cartridge case. The barrel of your MLer is like a cartridge case. But, unlike loading Smokeless powder, which leaves almost no residue, Black Powder and the substitutes leaves a LOT OF RESIDUE. Every time you fire the gun, and reload, WITHOUT cleaning the barrel of the residue, Crud Builds up back at the Breechplug, and shortens or reduces the space at the back of the barrel for your powder charge.

Now, If you DON'T mark your ramrod, and load that PRB to the MARK every time, you probably are not going to see much of a change in impact of your ball on target, again, shooting off-hand. But, if you shoot from the bench, carefully, you will see that your POI changes as the barrel gets dirty. But its worse than that!

Sometimes, some of the crud gets burned up with the next charge of powder, or is blown out the barrel with the next charge of powder, so that a subsequent shot, instead of having to deal with an increasing smaller "powder chamber", may have a bit more room than you had for the last shot! So, the reduction of the " powder chamber" area in your gun does not change on a Linear scale, getting smaller and smaller with each consecutive shot fired.

The only way to insure that your barrel has the same amount of "space " where the powder is placed to burn that powder each time, is to clean the bore between shots. And that is the only way to insure best accuracy.

Its bad enough to spend lots of money and effort to get out for the short hunting seasons we now are allowed, and miss an opportunity to take game because of shooter mistakes, but when the miss is due to something in the gun, much less due to NOT cleaning the gun, its a real shame.

As you can tell from the responses, some shooters take great pride in being able to shoot all day without cleaning their barrels. I guess that makes their smoke-pole better than mine!

When I first got into BP shooting, I joined a club that was doing a lot of public shooting demonstrations, because I wanted to show the public how well these old style guns could shoot. I did lots of trick shots for those demonstrations, and we recruited a lot of new shooters to the club because of those demonstrations.

To do the most accurate shooting, I HAD to clean my gun between shots. It became a habit I employ to this day. But, I have never asked any other shooter to clean their gun as I do mine. I recommend it, but I don't tell them what to do. :shocked2: :blah: And if you don't clean your gun between shots, How about snuffing candles at night against me for a few bucks a candle? :thumbsup:

 

[Blizzard of '93]

I use a loose fitting dry patch made from old flannel shirt to wipe between shots. I get better groups that way, used to go 5-6 shots before patching.

 

[cal.43]

using a patched rb I never clean between the shots, I worked up my load with this technik and for me it works, using a conical at 100m I clean after every shot.Imho for working up a load it´s important to do that with the same procedure as used at the match.

 

[jbtusa]

I send a cleaning patch down after every shot. That way every shot is consistent and the same, be it at the range or out hunting. The bore is the same for every shot... I want it that way so that the consistency eliminates another variable. This keeps the bore the same as always for the first and usually only shot while out hunting.

 

[CZMark]

On the range, I run a damp patch down the bore after each shot to be sure there are no hot sparks in the barrel when I dump my powder charge.

 

[renovato]

For maximum accuracy cleaning between each shot makes the most sense. That way each shot is going down a barrel in exactly the same condition. Otherwise there is more and more fouling collecting between shots.

Since I hate swabbing, I generally don't bother when I'm just out target shooting unless the gun starts getting hard to load. Ballistol or Hoppe's #9 patch lube and solvent have worked out well as patch lubes and keep the gun shootable without swabbing.

 

[Little Wattsy]

when shoot PRB's Im MAYBE a alcohol patch every 15 rounds...
When shooting connicals its more like a alcohol patch after every or every OTHER set.

 

[kansas_volunteer]

I used to point my rifle down after a shot on the range, and run it down a range rod with a wire brush in place. The brush would break the crud loose, and it would come spilling out as I lifted the rifle off the rod. I believe I got more of the crud out this way than I did by swabbing.

It's easier done with a short barreled gun like a T/C, rather than a longrifle.

It's disconcerting to others on the firing line, and best not done during a match, when others not familiar with one's odd procedures may be present. It doesn't cause such a hubbub when casually shooting with friends -- or alone.

I haven't cleaned this way in quite a while. The more usual way is easier. It doesn't require juggling a rifle.

 

[ryanhogg]

i would think it would depend on what your doing

for accuracy testing keeping the barrel the same would make sense but for plinking whenever the loading gets hard would seem resonable

 

[Finnwolf]

"As you can tell from the responses, some shooters take great pride in being able to shoot all day without cleaning their barrels. I guess that makes their smoke-pole better than mine!"

This is the claim that always got to me. The guns I've owned HAD to be swabbed after 2 shots or you'd need a mallet to load the 3rd shot. Always wondered how folks who had the same gun as me, same load, same lube could load 30 tackdriving shots or more without so much as a wipe. After 25 years, I've just become trained to clean after every second shot.

 

[Russ T Frizzen]

Depends on the gun for me. Some will go two or three shots and some six or seven. I've long since stopped using patch and ball combinations that I can't thumb start and the rifles will go longer before they need to be swabbed. Smoothbores need more frequent attention. My .62 caliber longrifle and my swivel-breech rifle have gone the longest, but I would consider 15 shots astonishing and thirty an outright miracle!

 

[Enfield1]

When shooting my Lyman GPR, I can empty my loading block containing 5 pre-patched .490 roundballs without swabbing between shots and get excellent accuracy. When shooting the same caliber Tennessee Flinter, I can only get 2 off and then I have to swab.

 

[MikeChapin]

I normally don't clean between shots or most anytime on the range. A good, snug patch and ball combination will keep the barrel clean enough not to need cleaning between shots. 90% of my competition shooting is offhand so tiny bits of variations of the ball in the barrel get lost in my wobble.

I use two different loads in competion, a light load for 25 and 50 yards and a heavier one for 100 yard. I'm just lazy and like to have the same POA/POI for all ranges. After I shoot heavier charges and am going back to shooting lighter charges I will run a damp patch down to clear up the higher crud ring so it doesn't interfere with pushing the ball down on the lighter charges.

Paul is right about keeping conditions the same as possible from shot to shot. As he mentioned it is less of a big deal when shooting offhand but is critical when shooting off the bench. Conditions need to be the same from shot to shot to get the best accuracy.