As I was range testing the other day I started out firing a fouler into the dirt and I got to thinking , why? In the old days when I started with a trapdoor I never had to blow off a fouler and I didn't have the first shot way out of group either. I checked my records and saw that I was using sperm oil for bullet lube and for oil. Then I thought back to my muzzleloaders where I use my patch lube for bore grease and I don't have to shoot foulers with that either. Now the bore of my M/L is not in any way rusty, but it is not what I woud call perfectly clean either, more like a seasoned cast iron fry pan. So as an experiment instead of the usual thourough cleaning I give my ctg guns I just swabbwd the Sharps pretty clean and then greased the bore with bullet lube. After 2 sessions of this my first shot is no longer 2 to 2 1/2" high and the bore isn't rusty either. Since I use my guns mostly for hunting I am thinking that I have been over cleaning my bpc rifles. Surely a buff hunter didn't want his first shot going high on him, and I can't see him shooting a foouler into the ground either. Is this sort of like scrubbing a fry pan down to bare metal every time you wash it, you then have to re season it to use it.
Any thoughts?