Loading the flintlock so it will fire after the first shot

I've been able to do this before, but I have lost my touch. What is the technique many or most are using to be able to fire your flintlock after loading it for a 2d or follow up shot?

My performance at the range last week re-taught me a couple of things: first, don't ram a dry patch down the barrel to clean the fouling; 2d, don't use too much cleaning solution or you won't be able to fire the rifle.

I know you must break down and essentially clean the thing with some bore solvent and then dry the barrel with patches. At least that's what I've read, and that has worked ok for me at the range. Somehow I don't think that's what the old timers did in years of yore. A followup shot on the Lewis and Clark expedition with those flintlocks from the Springfield Armoury, maybe a few were made by the Hawken brothers too, was a necessary skill.

So I can make a dry flintlock fire just fine, maybe even a 2d and third shot. But when the barrel must be swabbed a little to remove fouling what is done to clean the fouling yet not make the barrel so wet that you can't fire it?

Newb question I know, but I need to go back to school on this one. :surrender:

I should add that I use Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine, and last time I used it after about the 4th or 5th shot to remove fouling. My technique wasn't so good because I couldn't fire my rifle afterwards.

Just load and shoot, when or if it starts getting stiff to load, run a damp patch down the bore, it does not have to be soaking wet, damp is good enough, stick it in your mouth, slobber on it a little and run it down the bore. :v

I use Hoppes #9 Plus and don't have to swab. I can continue to load and shoot dozens of times. If for some reason I do want to clean out the bore, I think a bore brush has worked better for me than patches.

Agreed. You can load and shoot MANY times before you get so much fouling that it is hard to seat the ball. Swabbing between every shot is very modern, and very unnecessary.

Ok, so a bore brush or bore swab is better than a patch, but after how many shots is that technique necessary? Last time at the range I gave it three shots, then wet a patch with bore shine and swabbed the barrel a little. I obviously used too much. :cursing:

Maybe he is using a too tight load for hunting. I have to wipe mine maybe every 8/10 shots because it builds a fouling ring at the ball seat. First load can be done easily with one hand, and the gun gives 1 1/2" groups at 50 yrds, clean or fouled. Rice barrels, :thumbsup:

I fire 8,10 times sometimes befor cleaning I use wonder lube or redered bear fat just powder dry patch the ball and lubed patch and ball shot do it again over and over

Some guns I need to wipe the bore every 10-15 shots, some 30+, some never. Depends on the day too. :idunno:

I use a spit patch too, but you can use solvent if you like. Just a few drops on a patch. Damp, not wet.
Run the first one almost all the way down but try to stop just short of bottom. If it's real nasty I throw it away and get another. If it's not too bad I flilp it and run it all the way down. Follow with a dry patch and then load as usual.
Then I wipe the pan off with a dry patch before priming. Be sure and check the touch hole after swabbing to make sure you didn't push crud into it, might hafta pick it.

Using.018 patches w/ Wonderlube in my Douglas .45 cal. bbl enables me to go 8-10 shots before using a bronze bore brush.If I'm squirrel hunting and have time, I might send 2-3 lightly watered patches and a dryer down the bore after using the bore brush but normally I don't swab the bore except for final cleaning. A good fitting bore brush really loosens up a lot of crud which is then dumped.....Fred

Yea pretty much what evryone above said 'cept the patch works well, never needed a bore brush or other do-dad my guess is that there is to much moisture going down the bore when cleaning, if using 2f try 3f and try different amounts of lube, bear oil /bees wax or plain bear oil/gerase works well, as does spit, which will clean a lot of the last fouling out when loading, vent hole may be smaller than needed I like a 5/64 or one bit size under.is it a breech with the rduced size chamber twixt the prime and main charge, these can be filled up with fouling if pushing down to far when cleaning.I like to size my cleaning patches so they catch on the upstrike and drag the crud out rather than push it all to the bottom, lots of tricks to try.

I will spit patch when loading now and then but never so anal to say every ? some many shots
i will chew on my patchs more often if in the field coz i be using my hickory ram rod not my brass one
If at the range i pull 30+ shots will no trouble at all now that im using real bp

This is what works for me. I am shooting a .62 smoothbore flintlock. After shooting the first shot, I pour the powder down the barrel, push a half of a lubed cushion wad down, followed by a patch and round ball. Same procedure for as long as I am shooting. Any fouling is pushed down on the powder and not into the breech area. YMMV

What are these "cushion wads?" I read over at chuckhawk on the flintlocks page that a sealing wad was always used over the powder charge and backing up patch & powder. Aside from my cleaning issue, I probably need to adjust my loading procedure too.

Guess I should add that my load consisted of 90 grains of Goex FF behind a patched .530 Hornady round ball.

Any recommendations for a good tool to remove a patch stuck in the breech? :redface:

to remove a patch lost in the bore try a worm jag or screw or and under sized wire cleaning brush will pick it up.

My quess is your over doing the wet patch thing . What you need to do is a couple of things. Join a club that has regular M/L shoots.
2nd. When you talk to the range safety officer while he is inspecting your rifle to see that your weapon meets safety guide lines. TELL him your a fairly new shooter and is there any one who would help you with some questions. You will be suprized how easy it is to get good help. Until ya start winning All the relays lol. 3rd Always remenber that there are no stupid questions just stupid mistakes. 4th DON"T give up flintlocks are the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Caps aren't yelling just trying to maake a point. just my 02$

You might change your technique. When I wipe between shots, I use a dampened Cleaning patch ( wiped on my tongue) and I STOP my rod ONE INCH ABOVE the breech plug face, then with draw it. That keeps me from putting too much moisture down in that critical powder area. I follow all damp patches with a dry patch, but I run the dry patch all the way down to the breech plug this time, so that I DO pick up any moisture that has squeezed out of the patch and gotten down into the last inch of bore.

I wipe between shots for a couple of reason:

1. For Safety: I want any embers burning down in the barrel to be snuffed out by my damp cleaning patch( NOT WET!- just damp.

There is a method to getting a cleaning patch JUST DAMP. It takes some practice. If you overwet a patch, put another patch on it, and fold the two over together, and squeeze lightly to tranfer fluid from the wet patch to the dry one.

Then use the new(damp) patch to clean the barrel, and save the wet one to be used to "dampen" your next patches. When you finally feel that the "wet" patch has dried enough to be only damp, THEN- and only then -- you can use it.

2. To provide a consistently clean bore for each consecutive shot. NO, this is not needed for casual shooting, and most hunting. However, It is if you want to win target matches, or do demonstrations of trick shots for audiences.

I was doing a lot of target shooting at the club when I first started shooting my own Mler, and I picked up the habit of cleaning between shot then. I have simply continued to do so since.

I can't count the number of club members I have helped pull a rod, and ball out of a barrel, when the PRB got stuck half way down the barrel, because the shooter didn't wipe between shots. And, even in the early days, I won enough prizes at our shoots to tell me that shooters who were NOT wiping between shots were simply not getting predictable hits close to their POA.

My problem with NOT cleaning between shots is "How do you know when its going to be the NEXT load that will cause your ball to stick half-way down the barrel, and not THIS load, so you can decided to clean the bore"??? And, "how do you deal with the build up of powder residue at the breech if you don't clean it out"??? Its presence, building with each shot, changes the area where the powder burns, so that your ball has to be seated further out the bore with each loading. As the ball is seated at different positions in the bore, the barrel harmonics change, changing the POI of the ball down range-- Maybe not enough to miss a deer at 50 yards, but enough to cost you a target shooting match. :hmm: :surrender: :idunno: :hatsoff:

I am not looking for responses to my rhetorical questions. I don't really care if you clean or don't. I simply posted this to explain my reasons for cleaning after every shot- religiously. And my questions relate only to shooters who do intend to enter target shooting matches.

I have spent a Lot of time watching championship level shooters on target lines load and clean their gun barrels. I can't remember a target shooter who was at all competitive who did NOT clean his barrel after every shot. I watched the Entire shooting of the Sgt. York Memorial Chunk Gun Match this past March. The shooters in the winner circle were all "wipers". Just something to think about. :surrender: :thumbsup:

Kenneth said:

I should add that I use Butch's Black Powder Bore Shine, and last time I used it after about the 4th or 5th shot to remove fouling. My technique wasn't so good because I couldn't fire my rifle afterwards.

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Try plain water. I have no idea whats in the BP Bore Shine but if its got petroleum distillate in it use water. Water will dissolve the fouling.
You rifle may be built in such a manner that the cleaning forces fouling into the vent. Insert a pipe cleaner in the vent about 5/16" before wiping. Pull it out when done and see what it looks like. Or push one in and out AFTER wiping.
What powder are you using and what granulation?

I can shoot 15 shots with no wiping using beef tallow or Neatsfoot Oil for patch lube in a 50 cal using 90 gr of FFF Swiss.
But I blow in the bore.

Dan

Powder fouling on the lands WILL effect accuracy and for best accuracy wiping is likely the way to go.
But I hate wiping every shot.

Dan