When at range with your muzzle loader

[Fly]

Just wondering!When at the range with your muzzle loader, how offen do clean the bore between shots?

Fly:confused:

[TheCelt]

My in-line likes to be dirty. Accuracy is best from second through fifth shot.....then I swab the bore and grease the plug.

[missionary5155]

Greetings
Out target shooting and plinking I am inclined to patch with one that has been soaking in my mouth so I guess everyshot gets a wet one down the bore. I do have to remember to take a water bottle with me to wet the whisle off and on.
Mike in Peru

[gon2shoot]

I normally do a wipe about every 3 shots

[waksupi]

With Holy Black, and Moose Milk, never seems to be necessary.

[johnson1942]

one damp and 2 dry between shots no matter what i shoot. then i can look at other things if it isnt going good that day.

[Fly]

With Holy Black, and Moose Milk, never seems to be necessary.

NEVER????Now come on, we are talking Black powder not smokless.How many shot,s do you take???

Fly

[mooman76]

NEVER????Now come on, we are talking Black powder not smokless.How many shot,s do you take???

Fly

It's the same with spit patch. No need to swab because the patch does it for you.

[Reverend Al]

Haven't shot black for a few years now (but will be getting back to it shortly) and we used to slot our home made brass range rods just back of the starter tip and then we'd put a wet patch through the slot. As you loaded your next shot and seated the ball the wet patch on the rod was wiping the bore behind the ball each time. We'd shoot all day long (with good accuracy) and only ever have the fouling from one shot in the barrel ... the one we'd just fired. Never had a problem with misfires from dampness in the bore since the ball was seated dry over the powder, and it sure worked well for us. Just something that you might want to try sometime ...

[waksupi]

I would say an average range time would put 40 rounds down range. Last round loads as easy as the first.

Come to think of it, some days I shoot the range twice, and may swab between the first and second trips if the rifle or fowler have set very long. So make it 80 rounds, with maybe one swabbing.

[725]

If I'm working up a load, I dry patch at every shot. Wet patch as needed. Just shooting a settled load, only as needed.

[freebullet]

I get bout 25 from omega n 10-12 from wolf inlines.

[colonelhogan44]

Never. I typically shoot 15-25 shots, evenly divided between spit-patched RB and 320gr lee REAL boolits with bore butter. Every projectile goes down as smoothly as ever.

[OverMax]

Stands to reason allot has to do with bore size. The smaller the bore the more often it needs to be done. My 45 Hawken with Black and a patched 445 ball. Nearly after every other shot to hold accuracy. 54 on the other hand with a patched 535 ball. After its third or forth shot is a good time to swab it. Can you imagine what it would be like shooting a 32 all day long with Black & ball at the range? Gee's you would need a garden hose to keep up. Now there would be a good invention for Fly to pick-up on. {A self contained hot water running barrel cleaner} that ran off 110 or 12 volt. Take the barrel out. Slip it into a hot shower cabinet of some sort. Close its door. Push a button or flip a switch >Wham Bam!! and its done for me.__ I'd buy something like that no doubt about it.

[Nobade]

Some rifles get wiped, some don't. I wipe when loading starts to get sticky. A lot of it depends on the powder used, some of my ho'made fouls more than KIK. The powder with willow charcoal in the medium bore rifles, 45 and 50, seems to be able to shoot all day without wiping. Recently shooting the 58 with some really big coarse powder, it needed it every 6 shots or so. The bore will tell you what it needs by the feel.

-Nobade

[451 Pete]

I have to agree with Nobade on this. Several things dictate bore fowling build up and the subsequent wiping out of the bore. The rifling style and groove depth, type of powder and granulation, caliber of rifle, type of lubricant used, projectile type and temperature and humidity all seem to be factors on how often the barrel needs wiped between shots.
Shallow cut rifling grooves build up crud in the bore quicker than the deeper ones. Coarser grain powders in general seem to leave more fowling along with those powders that have more dirt in the charcoal content of the particular powder. Smaller bore rifles like the .32 or .36 dont seem to allow as many shots between fowling build up. Some lubes will help keep the fowling moist and allow easier reloading shot to shot. A round ball and patch can be reloaded many times if all the conditions are right without difficulty but a paper patch bullet needs wiped after each shot to keep fowling and accuracy consistant. Humid conditions help keep the fowling moist and reloading easier while dry conditions with low humidity make wiping the bore more often necessary.
Bottom line is that when the loading becomes difficult or accuracy drops off it is time to check things out and sometimes wiping and cleaning differently or more often can be the culprit.

Just my thoughts .... Pete

[Hanshi]

Using Goex, etc, and a prb with .024" ticking patches lubed with Hoppes #9 Plus BP lube, I never wipe between shots and usually not at all until I get ready to go home. Loading remains easy and accuracy remains excellent.

[waksupi]

Fly, your home made unglazed powder will foul more.

[Fly]

Fly, your home made unglazed powder will foul more.

Ya some what, I agree.I got to thinking after I already posted this question.I was shooting my
1863 Sharps paper cutter yesterday & noted after 10 shots my groups started growing.I know,
different deal then prb.

I should have addressed that & not a muzzleloader.My mistake my friend.

Fly

[Whiterabbit]

every shot. But I am still sighting in and shooting for the BEST possible groups. When things settle and the rifle drives nails I'll back off and see how delaying swabbing affects it.

[2152hq]

With Goex and 50/50 bore butter & crisco for lube, never have to stop and wipe out the bore. That's going 50 shots plus a few.
With KIK,,I will start to feel a fouling ring just ahead of where the PB should seat after a dozen shots or so and so I wipe it out every 10.

Same rifle, 50cal F/L w/a GM bbl. 490 RB very tight denim patch. Need to use a short starter. I use a range load of 65gr.
Accuracy between the two different powders doesn't seem much different to me.
Sometimes I prime w/4F,,sometimes with the charge load powder.
I did find that the addition of a 50cal cardboad overpowder wad between the powder & PB increased accuracy. It didn't seem to effect the one way or the other the amt of fouling.

The next bbl, load, powder combination can be a completely different story.

There's no magic load.

[Whiterabbit]

With Goex and 50/50 bore butter & crisco for lube, never have to stop and wipe out the bore. That's going 50 shots plus a few.
With KIK,,I will start to feel a fouling ring just ahead of where the PB should seat after a dozen shots or so and so I wipe it out every 10.


Doesnt this men its gonna be a ROYAL pain to clean at the end of the day? The bore might be mostly clean but the chamber area is gonna be dreadful. Yes?

[Fly]

Doesnt this men its gonna be a ROYAL pain to clean at the end of the day? The bore might be mostly clean but the chamber area is gonna be dreadful. Yes?

whiterrabbit I must agree with you over all.Even with my prb muzzleloaders I have been cleaning every shot.Why I want
this gun to shoot the same every shot.They do it in longrange shooting to better there scores.Why shoot a gun that will not
repeat the same each time.Now I know there will be the folks that say they do not need to.

Thats fine, but I,m into perfection to get my gun's the best group I can.JMOHOP

Fly

[Green Lizzard]

with swiss i never swab

[2152hq]

Doesnt this men its gonna be a ROYAL pain to clean at the end of the day? The bore might be mostly clean but the chamber area is gonna be dreadful. Yes?

No not at all.
At the range at the end of shooting I stick a toothpick in the vent and pour the bbl about 1/4 full plain water that has just a few drops dish washing soap in it. I always bring a plastic (drinking)water bottle w/me with the mix in it.
Let it stand while I put the breech face cleaning jag onto the ramrod and get a couple of patches ready. Clean the breechface, then pull the plug & pour that water right out,,it's still not hardly dirty at all.
Plug and fill again and this time push the water out through the vent with a cleaning patch on the jag.
Follow it up with a wet patch, then a couple dry ones through the bore. Wipe the metal down with a damp patch, then dry and head for home.

At home,once more some water into the bbl with the vent plugged. This time I push it out through the vent with a tight patch on the jag and swab the bore as well. A couple of more wet then dry patches. One with WD-40 to clear the moisture and that's it. Re-check the next day and oil with the good stuff.
There is very little if any fouling in the bbl even after all those shots. I use a lot of lube on the patch. I rub it in both sides so it soaks thru the material and don't wipe the excess off.
At home the lock comes off before the bbl cleaning and that gets the hot water and soap treatment,drys and reinstalled the next day when the doublecheck of the bore is done.
All the other metal is wiped down with a damp patch, dried and oiled also.

I feel it's the tight patch and not skimping on the lube that makes it possible. Also,I'm only using 65gr load in a 50cal. Many people use near twice that,,so twice the fouling to deal with.
I like it this way.

[Maven]

"With Holy Black, and Moose Milk, never seems to be necessary." ...Waksupi

What Waksupi said...in spades!