How many shots before accuracy problems?

How many shots should i be able to get in before accuracy goes south? Im working on finding the perfect hunting load and ill be shooting alot of shots to figure it all out. Ill be shooting (edit: the type of projectiles we do not discuss here) and will start with a clean barrel swabbed with bore butter.

Thanks.

You will just have to shoot it and see. :idunno:
I only shoot patched round balls but a lot depends on the type of lube I am using and the humidity.

When I am hunting I use a grease type lube. With that I can get somewhere between 5 and 25 shots in, depending on humidity, before loading becomes difficult and I need to swab the bore.

When shooting at the range or on a woodswalk I use spit patches and can shoot as many shots as I have powder and ball to shoot.

Either way I have not noticed any loss of accuracy between shots whether I swab or not. Your mileage may vary. Go do some shootin'.

it depends on yer gun and yer patch/wad/ball combo. not sure about them fancy new projectiles. with my rifle using a .490 ball, 0.018 patch, lubed wad, 70 or 90 grains 3F Schuetzen i do not swab between shots at all. the onley time this combo has had accuracy issues from fouling is if i let the gun sit for a little while between shots, this seems to allow the fouling to harden. the hardened fouling makes the next shot a little off but then its right back in line after that.

-Matt

sometimes just one .... :idunno: :shocked2:

Depends on your definition of accuracy...For deer hunting purposes 4-5 shots before swabbing, maybe more, depending upon how tight your ball and patch combo is...

I start with 2 shots with a .018 patch and then go to .015 patches when not swabbing...

Get and read Dutch's system.
Accuracy begins to fall with shot #2. Maybe not enough to bother you. But if you are 'X' hunting in a match the difference can put you out of the running.
I swab between every shot, even when hunting.
Accuracy loss is not the most compelling reason to swab, getting a load stuck half way down the barrel is the big reason.
My religion is "swab" not "bore butter".

I never shoot less than .020 in any caliber with neetsfoot oil or spit. Never swab and often shoot 30-50 shot afternoons. Basicly every reload I'm cleaning while loading. I've never found heavy lubes to work well for accuracy or cleaning.

For my .45, the point of impact changes immediately after the first shot with my deer load using a grease patch. So, I'd have to swab with every shot with that combo. Spit patch, I never have to worry about.

In the rifled GM .62 I'm using Jacks Battle with my ol' standby lanolin-olive oil-beeswax lube to keep fouling soft. There's a limit somewhere but I just never have tried to see how many shots would still work.

Speed 1B said:

How many shots should i be able to get in before accuracy goes south? Im working on finding the perfect hunting load and ill be shooting alot of shots to figure it all out. Ill be shooting (edit: the type of projectiles we do not discuss here) and will start with a clean barrel swabbed with bore butter.

Thanks.

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1 and done! swab(clean) reload....your asking for trouble if you use bore butter.

makeumsmoke said:

Speed 1B said:

How many shots should i be able to get in before accuracy goes south? Im working on finding the perfect hunting load and ill be shooting alot of shots to figure it all out. Ill be shooting (edit: the type of projectiles we do not discuss here) and will start with a clean barrel swabbed with bore butter.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

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1 and done! swab(clean) reload....your asking for trouble if you use bore butter.

Click to expand...

Bore Butter works just fine as long as it doesn't get cold. I remember taking out my new rifle many years ago in Vermont to do some target practice in the snow. Went to lube a patch with Bore Butter and it was frozen solid. You could hammer a nail with it! So I tried spit-patching, which worked fine as long as you shot it right away.

I whipped up a batch of Stumpy's Moose Snot after that and never had a frozen problem again.

Twisted_1in66 :hatsoff:

The amount and type of lube when shooting patched ball here in PA makes a big difference. In general the more lube the quicker the need to swab. I have found my best accuracy with as little lube as possible and a spit patch is great if shooting right away. All that said I will swab the bore clean every shot when hunting or target shooting for group or score. If I am just plinking at fun targets then I swab when it starts to get a bit harder to drive the ball home. Hoppes #9 Black Powder solvent and lube is fantastic stuff to use when shooting multiple shots and grease lube is great for hunting; I use Mink Oil from Track for that.

It's the consistancy of a clean bore that gives me the repeatable accuracy needed for hunting or serious target shooting. I know I can go 3 shots or so and still maintain excellent accuracy though.

I paper patch my conicals for a snug fit on a clean bore because I just don't like a fouled bore even for conicals. It is darn near impossible to load the modern projectiles that are not discussed here on a fouled bore. It's just asking for a stuck load if you try. A fouled bore does hold a bare conical in place quite a bit better though.

For hunting my rifle is completly dry and free of any fouling at all times other than immeadiatly after a shot and I don't make exceptions--ever.

My old bod runs out of accuracy long before my rifles! :rotf:

I dink around with lubes until I find one that lets me keep on shooting without swabbing. I've found lots that work out just dandy, but each rifle seems to have different opinion about which works best.

So far however, not a single rifle I've owned thought bore butter was worth a hoot.

There are just too many factors to be able to give you a realistic answer. Things such as what brand of powder you are using and what granulation. Are you using black powder or one of the substitutes. If you are using a substitute, which one? What kind of lube are you using? what is the condition of your bore? Is it new, broken in, rust pitted? And on and on.

My rifles are all thoroughly broken in and have pristine bores. I use straight Ballistol for my patch lube on 100% cotton "pocket drill" patches and I use 3f Goex powder. I can usually get upwards of 25 to 30 shots from any of my rifles before needing to swab the bore to remove fouling. As one of the contributors on this forum has often said "Others' milage may vary"

I really wouldn't take advice form folks that say they have to swab after one or two shots because almost any lube will get you more than that.
Aside from the X ring hunters that do certain things that go from necessary to superstitious, it isn't really necessary to do anything between shots. Consistency is the key here. Do everything how you wish to just do it the same always. Consistency! Consistency! Consistency! :thumbsup:

Plain olive oil will work and works well. Don't try to make this more difficult than it has to be. Some guys love messing with their guns as much as shooting them so they do “stuff”. It makes them happy. :grin:

“... (edit: the type of projectiles we do not discuss here)  ...”

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What does this mean? :idunno:
If you are shooting those things they don't require lube at all and you need to ask on a different forum. :hmm:

I use deer tallow for hunting lube. It is impossible to get 10 shots with the tallow from deer around here. Of course when hunting I normally get one shot it is not a firefight.
When doing a woodswalk or similar primitive match I use the slickest patch lube I can find. It is not unusual to shoot 35 - 40 rounds going between a couple different matches. I put patches down the bore when I am cleaning the bore. Not during the shooting.

Speed 1B said:

How many shots should i be able to get in before accuracy goes south? Im working on finding the perfect hunting load and ill be shooting alot of shots to figure it all out. Ill be shooting (edit: the type of projectiles we do not discuss here) and will start with a clean barrel swabbed with bore butter.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

I'm not really sure what the question is here. You have a lot of answers for shots in one session.

Or are you asking how many shots for the life of the barrel? You need to tell us caliber and what it is that you are hunting. For reasonable loads, such as 70 grains of fffg pushing a 50 caliber patched round ball, its more likely your eyes will go before the barrel looses its accuracy. The best accuracy will be maintained for long barrel life by thorough cleaning and use of quality lubrication. Most game animals don't require a load so hot that will wear out a barrel.

Most of us have put several thousand loads through our rifles. In my case I am wearing out faster than the rifle.

Speed 1B said:

How many shots should i be able to get in before accuracy goes south? Im working on finding the perfect hunting load and ill be shooting alot of shots to figure it all out. Ill be shooting (edit: the type of projectiles we do not discuss here) and will start with a clean barrel swabbed with bore butter.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

If you use spit for patch lube it may go to pot pretty quick, year or two.
If you use corrosive substitute powder it could go bad by the second range session.
If you use BP, an actual lubricant on the patches that does not promote corrosion the life will be very long if you clean properly.
I have a rifle I have been using for 20 years and its as good as it ever was.

Dan

Im not talking about barrel life. All im wondering is how many shots i can expect to fire in one session of bench shooting before my accuracy goes to heck. Im going to be expirimenting with both 2f and 3f and pyrodex and different projectiles to see what is going to give me the best accuracy. Once i develop a load ill only be using it for hunting so i wont be shooting lots of shots in a row...just one per day probably. I was just wondering what you guys here have found in your expiriences. Im a new guy.

So far you've recieved a lot of good answers.

IMO, there is no real point where more shots causes a problem with accuracy.
There definitely is a point where more shots will make reloading almost impossible if your shooting real black powder.

For me, after I've fired the first shot, all of my shots hit what I'm aiming at (or darn close to it).
I'm not trying for that last 1/4" of accuracy so I don't wipe the bore between shots. I only wipe it when the fouling starts to make reloading difficult.
When this happens, I wipe the bore with a damp patch and then a dry patch before loading the next shot.

When I'm shooting Pyrodex, the fouling doesn't seem to accumulate so I don't bother with wiping. I just keep shooting.
Shooting Pyrodex, I've been able to reload and accuretly shoot well over 50 shots without wiping or cleaning the bore.

edit:
Noting that this post is in the Flintlock section I must point out that Pyrodex works VERY POORLY (if at all) in a flintlock.
If you use Pyrodex in a flintlock with real black powder priming in the pan you will be lucky to get one shot for every 3 flashes in the pan.