Wipe or Blow

[MT Chambers]

Wipe first then blow.

[indian joe]

Wiping is just as fast as blow tubing, maybe faster if you have your stuff laid out in an orderly fashion, and leaves a much more uniform bore condition than blow tubing no matter what the ambient temperature and humidity. Blowtubing if done properly works very well it takes some effort.

Don
I think I have missed something basic here
Had assumed blow tube was something to assist with grease boolits - most of which dont haul enough lube to do the job in longer barrels and the few that do - you fellers seem to not like because of stability issues at longer ranges. So we come back to grease boolits a bit scanty on lube and 0 1 2 3 breaths through the tube depending on conditions will keep that rifle shooting - ok that fits my picture - been there done it some - it works ok - gotta pay attention to how much .

Had also assumed that a switch to paper patch meant a mandatory switch to cleaning between shots ? did I get that wrong ? are some shooters getting away with a blow tube on PPB loads ? how does that work ? does the load include a grease cookie underneath ? I thought (assumed) the whole point of it was a dry clean bore and zero lead to barrel contact -- somebody mentioned ten puffs through the blow tube between shots ? two things would happen me 1) dribble would run out one or other end of the barrel 2) I couldnt hit the target till my pulse settled back down

[indian joe]

[QUOTE=kokomokid;4409446]I see many new shooters that think they have to get all ten shots for score and rush . Learn to do it correct if you only get 7 or 8 shots and speed will come later. go ahead and shoot a match and see what you need to do to get better organized.


Man that is a hard lesson to take on board ! only the most seasoned shooters can restrain themselves like that in time limit events (they are usually the winners) - its a simple equation 10x2=20 2x10=20 ----so hard to do it !!

[ian45662]

blow tubing can work if the conditions are favorable for it but wiping will work great in any condition. You will also find that once you get a system down wiping is actually faster. In a 7:30 second relay I can get off 10 shots with time to spare and thats with paper patch! If we are shooting 10 at a time then 15 shots is a walk in the park. When ya try wiping try to fight the urge to cram a patch down the bore asap. This is especially hard to do when under the clock. Take your time when pushing your patch down the bore. Go from breach to muzzle in about 3 seconds. Be deliberate and through. Some shooters do very well blow tubing but once you start going to silhouette matches I think you will find that most of the time people who win are wiping. Also the very BEST way to figure out how a load will preform at a match is to just belly up and go. Your not going to set the world on fire. Odds are your not going to shoot as well as you think you should but in spite of that no one will make fun of you or talk about you and you will absolutely be wasting no ones time in the slightest. I have seen people work up their best load then finally head out to a match only to be more than frustrated. Load up the best ammo you can and get out to a match and start tweaking from there. It is a waste of time to do otherwise.

[kokomokid]

I shot a match last sunday and the two master shooters I was squaded with shot their 10 for score in just under 7 minutes while blow tubing. I only got 9 shots on turkeys wiping with 6min 40sec after sighters but the epoxy tip on my pistol brush came off and patches were sticking to my brush. End of the match was 112*F and both blow tube shooters got thru without fouling out.

[ian45662]

Any idea what the humidity may have been?


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[kokomokid]

At that temp humidity was low but shooting under a covered shade helped. I was shooting a mini groove bullet and 3F powder so no choice but to wipe.

[jednorris]

Do not believe the stories that Black powder is too messy and waste your time with smokeless. Black Powder cleans easily out of a conditioned bore. These calibers were meant for B.P. and shoot best with it. I wipe my bore after every shot with "Moose Milk", a mix of 20% Ballistol and water. Make sure you center your cleaning patch, otherwise you will scrub one side of the inside barrel more than the other.

[WALLNUTT]

I've been gettin' stuff together and am almost there. I've switched from Goex Express to Old Eynsford with an improvement in accuracy. To make further improvement, do I make changes both up and down in charge and compression or is one direction better to try first? I might be able to add one more grain of powder before running over. Everyone's advice has been very helpful. thanks

[country gent]

I normally start at no compression no air space on the powder and then add the wad. work up from there in 2 grn increments adding powder and increasing compression. When 2 steps give the best accuracy I then test at the mid point. IE 63 and 65 grns both show best groups in the work up I then test at 65 grns.

Chronographing test groups can show likely points of best accuracy and optimum compression with the Standard Deviation and Extreme Spreads numbers. I have seen es slow drop as compression increases to a point then start increasing again past this point.

By starting at no compression no air space you have one direction to work adding powder and compression as you go to the sweet spot.

[WALLNUTT]

Thanks Gent, makes sense.

[Chill Wills]

I'm getting geared up to shoot a BPCR match and am quite new to black powder although I've loaded smokeless for over forty years. Should I blow or use a wiping rod? How do I use a wiping rod? How much should I compress my powder?

This week I am at the NRA BPCR silhouette National Championships in Raton,NM - Whittington Center. Today is the first day of the BPCR (iron) Championships. As it happens, most of the highest scores were shot today by people that blow tube. Tomorrow, it could be the other way around.

Jumping to the conclusion that either the blow tub or the wiping rod is the better road to accuracy is a rookie mistake. The devil is in the details and clearly each has a time and place. Each has an advantage and disadvantage. I chose to blow tube today as I have all week. It wasn't a mistake.

It wouldn't hurt to learn how to use both.

[Don McDowell]

Who won today?

[Chill Wills]

Who won today?

Gullo with a 47
Lee Wolff, Brad Rice and I all shot 46

[Don McDowell]

Thanks. Really wish I could of made it.

[Chill Wills]

Here are a few data points to chew on - FWIW.

The NRA Championship BPCR match is over. The two day iron sight silhouette match was shot in warm, dry, summer Raton, New Mexico.
I can't tell you what each of the top ten finishers did, wipe or blow tube, but of the top three, match winner Brad Rice used a blow tube and second place Dave Gullo used a blow tube and third place Rick Moritz wiped. First master, Cody Smith also wiped.

It was likely close to split in the top 10 finishers, either wiping or blowtube. Two of the top ten used Eagle Lube, two used Rice lube, and the rest, I don't know. I can tell you that if you wipe, lube choice may not be as important, but a good lube and a blowtube go well together when shooting in hot summer weather.

This next bit is mostly anecdotal. Those wiping were cleaning between stages of animals. Leading was the concern. Many of those blowing did not clean all day, about 80 shots ( 60 record plus sighters).

No one in the top 10 shot paper patch, which of course prevents leading too when all goes as designed. There are very few at the National Match shooting PP bullets in the silhouette game. I am sure if the PP bullet shooters were the major, and GG bullet were but a few percent, it would be almost all PP shooters in the top ten. Until then, grease groove bullet rule the BPCR game.

[Don McDowell]

A good blow tube routine combined with a high quality lube works very well. Problem is most folks don't get into that good routine until they've had a bunch of trigger time.
Wiping the lube isn't as important , but proper solution on the patches and wiping routine then becomes the big bugaboo.

I would bet a Grape Nehi that less than 1 percent of the entrants at the silhouette nationals used paper patch rounds.
But then you turn around and look at some of the target rifle matches and some of those, Lodi Ws for example and the number of paper patchers goes up, and the number of folks shooting patched in the top 10 goes up accordingly.
It all comes down to how much time and effort a shooter puts into fouling control, load development, and actual time shooting the type of matches their greatest interest follows. AND never leave out the spotter factor, a good spotter can keep a good shooter in the running, a great spotter can move a good shooter up in the standings, and a bad spotter or a spotter having a bad day can put even the best of shooters in the bottom half of the final scores.. Then couple in the luck of the draw as to weather conditions during any given relay, but that's all stuff for consdiration in another discussion.

[sharpsguy]

10-4 on the spotter.

[kokomokid]

Thanks for the great report. How many of those blow tubers will wipe at the Creedmoor match?

[ian45662]

Chill Wills Thanks for the info.... Really flies in the face of what I will usually tell people. I still think wiping may be faster but as you can see I have been wrong before!! :P Any idea how things shook out in the scope match as far as wiping vs blowtubing? Does anyone know if a Paper Patch shooter has ever came in the top 10 at least?