Where should the powder fouling start?

[oldracer]

I searched here and also in my copies of Black Powder Magazine and did not find a detailed answer. So today when I went shooting I took the new borescope and after the 1st fouling shot and 3 good breaths I ran it into the chamber with the 90 degree mirror attachment on. I saw nothing in the chamber at all so I think that tells me I am getting a very good seal. There were some puffy black specs starting at the beginning of the lands and getting a nice even coating down the barrel so I think that means good ignition? This was the same with both the Rolling Block and also the Sharps so I was pretty happy with what I saw. I wiped the bore after 5 shots with a single patch and looked again and it was pretty near spotless all the way down.

Does what I saw with the fouling sound about right?

[Lead pot]

You would be better off running a patch through the bore to feel how the fouling is doing then looking a it through that bore scope.
You will feel the bad spots.

[oldracer]

Thanks for the input. The last time I went, two weeks ago I ran a patch between each shot after blowing 3 breaths through. I would look down the barrel and would see nothing but shininess. Today I tried running 5 shots with 3 breaths and then running a patch. I did find that BOTH times, the patches seem wet from the fouling and the moisture I blow into the barrel. After the 1st cleaning patch today I did run the bore scope down and it was as clean as could be! I was really happy about that as you can imagine and I did not see any buildup at the end of the chamber where the lands start.

I find that when I push the patches through, they get tighter at the end of the barrel but I expect that as when we slugged the barrel it was tighter at the muzzle end.

[Lead pot]

Well then what your doing and using for lube is working.
If you have some fouling starting, lead or powder you will see a short dark shadow like starting and you will feel the patch drag over it.

[Lead pot]

OR

I might suggest that you go down to a Hardware store and get a couple "O" rings that fit tight on the scope tube and fit the bore of your rifle and put one about a inch behind the mirror and maybe one about 6" back.
This does two things, it keeps the mirror centered and out of the oil and fouling.

[NickSS]

The last march I went to I forgot my cleaning rod so fired the entire match using a blow tube. I fired a total of 50 rounds and scored one of my best scores in years. By time I go home with a dirty bore the fouling had started to get hard so it took me three patches to clean it instead of the usual two. I followed this with my usual dry patch and then one with some oil on it to protect the bore. In a test I one time fired 200 rounds over two days using only a blow tube without cleaning. My groups the second day were the same size as the ones from the first day. I do blow an extra two or three breaths if the rifle has been sitting for awhile.

[oldracer]

Thanks again for the ideas as I hadn't though of using the o-rings. I did find that the group size is the same weather I run a patch after each shot or wait until after 5 or even 10 shots. I do run a patch through if I plan to let the gun sit a bit such as switching to the other rifle or during a cease fire.

[Chicken Thief]

In essense what you are doing is making soap!

Caustic BP asches (lye), fat from the lube and water from your breath.
If you can keep your fouling moist then the next shot will push it out.
If that is the case you will find a lube star on the muzzle after some shots.
As the air gets warmer and dryer you will find that you might have to raise the number of breath's to 4-5 in order to keep the fouling soft.