HERB..JUST FOR YOU

[Herb]

If your gun shop doesn't have a HotShot nipple, PM me and I'll send you one for free.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

They didn't. Thanks for the offer, but i'd like to pay for it. I think I need 1/4-28. Do you have one?

 

[Herb]

Yes. Just PM me your mailing address, I can get it in the mail tomorrow.

 

[paulvallandigham]

It sounds like you are putting too wet a "swab"? down the barrel when you did clean the gun, and that is a difficult part of this sport to learn. How much is enough- and how much is too much?

I use a CLEANING Jag, that has the 'rings" stepped, from large( at the nose or front of the jag) to smaller, each ring about .005" smaller than the one before. This gives room for the cleaning patch to blouse, and fold into the bore, without jamming the jag and patch against the walls of the bore. Since all jags are designed to do their work on the Back stroke- pulling the crud out of the barrel, rather than pushing it forward, a "stepped " cleaning jag insures that you are NOT pushing crud down into the breech of your barrel.

I dampen my cleaning patch, in the field, and sometimes, at the range, with spit- a wipe across my tongue does it. No big goobers- just a light wipe over a wet tongue. I rub the wet sides together between my thumb and index finger, to spread the spit, and to work it into the fibers some.

Since I clean my barrel after every shot, I don't need a WETTER cleaning patch than this, to get the crud out of my barrel.

I then, ALWAYS, follow the wet patch with one or more dry patches. I let the wet patch tell me how damp the barrel is from condensation, by looking at it. If its shiny black, I will plan on using two dry patches to dry the barrel, before loading. ONE time, in terrible heat and humidity, I had to use 3 dry patches to thoroughly dry the bore of my shotgun before I could load the next powder charge. But, again, I READ EVERY PATCH I USE, and try to recover every patch that I shoot out of the muzzle, to examine, too.

If you are using one of those fuzzy, Cotton " SWABS" sold for cleaning guns, I don't know how you can use one that is NOT SO damp its leaving water down the barrel, which then flows into the flash channel and gunks up the channel, to cause misfires, and hang fires. Its JUST THE WRONG thing to use to clean a barrel- shotgun or rifle. In my shotguns, I use a fuzzy cotton swab to PUSH my cleaning patches( large, 3" squares of flannel) down my 20 and 12 gauge shotgun barrels. The cotton swab gets washed, and dried after every outing. I suppose I could soak it in some water and bleach to get it really White again, but I can't think of any good reason to do it. I found that in my smooth bores, the cotton swab does a better job than any cleaning jag I have found so far. I am still looking! :shocked2: :hmm: But, I also clean my shotguns using a bronze bore brush, and push a damp( water and dishsoap) cleaning patch down in front of, and on the brush, so the bristles hold onto the patch, while sticking through the thin fabric to scrape crud out of the bore. ( Lead, plastic, and some powder residues.) I don't hesitate to pour the barrel about 1/3 full of warm water, and give the entire barrel a good scrubbing with my brush and patch combination. Then pour the dirty water out. The soap and crud rinse off the brush easily under the faucet. A shake removes most of the water on the bristles, so I can begin drying the bore with a cleaning patch. When patches begin to come out dry and clean, I will switch to pushing patches down using the cotton swab. When I oil the bores for storage, the oiled cleaning patch is also pushed through the bore with my cotton swab. Only when I get an oiled patch to come out of the bore clean- no gray streaks, do I consider the barrel clean, and ready to store.

Everyone cleans barrels differently. I bore you with my methods, simply to give you a detailed method that works all the time for me. If you can find something that works, and is easier, let me know. I am always looking for ways to do something other than to take lots of time cleaning my guns. :surrender: :hmm: :hatsoff:

 

[Josh Smith]

It sounds like you are putting too wet a "swab"? down the barrel when you did clean the gun, and that is a difficult part of this sport to learn. How much is enough- and how much is too much?

I use a CLEANING Jag, that has the 'rings" stepped, from large( at the nose or front of the jag) to smaller, each ring about .005" smaller than the one before. This gives room for the cleaning patch to blouse, and fold into the bore, without jamming the jag and patch against the walls of the bore. Since all jags are designed to do their work on the Back stroke- pulling the crud out of the barrel, rather than pushing it forward, a "stepped " cleaning jag insures that you are NOT pushing crud down into the breech of your barrel.

I dampen my cleaning patch, in the field, and sometimes, at the range, with spit- a wipe across my tongue does it. No big goobers- just a light wipe over a wet tongue. I rub the wet sides together between my thumb and index finger, to spread the spit, and to work it into the fibers some.

Since I clean my barrel after every shot, I don't need a WETTER cleaning patch than this, to get the crud out of my barrel.

I then, ALWAYS, follow the wet patch with one or more dry patches. I let the wet patch tell me how damp the barrel is from condensation, by looking at it. If its shiny black, I will plan on using two dry patches to dry the barrel, before loading. ONE time, in terrible heat and humidity, I had to use 3 dry patches to thoroughly dry the bore of my shotgun before I could load the next powder charge. But, again, I READ EVERY PATCH I USE, and try to recover every patch that I shoot out of the muzzle, to examine, too.

If you are using one of those fuzzy, Cotton " SWABS" sold for cleaning guns, I don't know how you can use one that is NOT SO damp its leaving water down the barrel, which then flows into the flash channel and gunks up the channel, to cause misfires, and hang fires. Its JUST THE WRONG thing to use to clean a barrel- shotgun or rifle. In my shotguns, I use a fuzzy cotton swab to PUSH my cleaning patches( large, 3" squares of flannel) down my 20 and 12 gauge shotgun barrels. The cotton swab gets washed, and dried after every outing. I suppose I could soak it in some water and bleach to get it really White again, but I can't think of any good reason to do it. I found that in my smooth bores, the cotton swab does a better job than any cleaning jag I have found so far. I am still looking! :shocked2: :hmm: But, I also clean my shotguns using a bronze bore brush, and push a damp( water and dishsoap) cleaning patch down in front of, and on the brush, so the bristles hold onto the patch, while sticking through the thin fabric to scrape crud out of the bore. ( Lead, plastic, and some powder residues.) I don't hesitate to pour the barrel about 1/3 full of warm water, and give the entire barrel a good scrubbing with my brush and patch combination. Then pour the dirty water out. The soap and crud rinse off the brush easily under the faucet. A shake removes most of the water on the bristles, so I can begin drying the bore with a cleaning patch. When patches begin to come out dry and clean, I will switch to pushing patches down using the cotton swab. When I oil the bores for storage, the oiled cleaning patch is also pushed through the bore with my cotton swab. Only when I get an oiled patch to come out of the bore clean- no gray streaks, do I consider the barrel clean, and ready to store.

Everyone cleans barrels differently. I bore you with my methods, simply to give you a detailed method that works all the time for me. If you can find something that works, and is easier, let me know. I am always looking for ways to do something other than to take lots of time cleaning my guns. :surrender: :hmm: :hatsoff:

How wet should a spit swab be? Trying it, I had several misfires and hangfires with Goex 2Fg. The spit patch was saturated, almost dripping, but followed by two dry.

Cut back to just damp, maybe?

Thanks,

Josh

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Way too wet Josh. I just lick one side.

 

[nchawkeye]

Josh...I have to step in and correct you on one thing...Black powder does not explode, it burns rapidly...The charcoal is the fuel, potassium nitrate provides plenty of oxygen and the sulfer lowers the ignition temp down to about 600 degrees...

Pyrodex came out with a higher ignition temp so there would be less regulations on shipping and storing...

I'd go to 70-80grs of FFF Goex in that Renegade and see what she does...

When running a patch down a bore between shots, it should be damp, not wet...

 

[rafterob]

I believe the Pyrodex label specifically states not to mix it with any other type of powder. I tend to believe these things end up on labels based on somebody's past mistake. I figure if some poor soul got blowed up first, there is no reason for me to follow suit. Using a duplex load is entirely different than mixing the two together.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I never use a "Soaking wet swab"- not even cleaning a Cannon barrel- in a gun. As I tried to describe- just a wipe across my tongue to put a little saliva on the flannel patch, rub it together to get the moisture into the weave, and run it down the barrel, wet side going down first.

One of the cannon crew did use a soaking swab in the barrel, and we had to tip the barrel down to drain all the water out of it, before I could dry the barrel for the next shot.[He didn't want to get his hand dirty squeezing out the dirty swab to remove most of the water. He didn't think ahead of time to take a towel with him to wipe his hands.]

Seems to me that you are creating the same problem with your rifle.

This is why some personal coaching is always very helpful to new BP shooters. Find a local club, and ask the old timers to help you understand all the nuances of loading, and cleaning the gun. As you can see here, there are lots of different ways to clean and load these guns, so get advice and coaching from a number of shooters. If anything they do causes you gun to "hiccup", try something else. It happens to all of us at one time or another. Mostly, the older shooters are surprised that what they do isn't working for you with your gun. They are not mad that you don't take their advice as if it came down on the Golden Tablets from God. :hatsoff:

 

[Zonie]

My take on 'swabbing' the bore after a shot:

The idea here is to dampen the fouling to make it soft and to then get it out of the bore.

Notice that I didn't say "WET" the fouling as we are trying to get the majority of the fouling but we are not trying to actually clean the bore.

The patch should be damp, that is, wetted but no place close to dripping.

The dampened patch should be shoved down the bore on a cleaning jag using moderate speed so that the fouling has a chance of absorbing some of the water or spit.

After the patched jag reaches the bottom of the bore, let it sit there for at least 4 seconds. This will give the fouling above it a chance to soften.

Pull the patched jag back out of the bore in one smooth stroke. The patch will be filthy.

Wiping the bore with one dry patch can be done but because very little water was used in the swabbing it really isn't necessary.
Also, keep in mind that sending a dry patch down a partially fouled bore is an excellent way to get it stuck down in there.

The biggest mistakes I've seen folks do is to use too wet of a patch.
This usually ends up getting the extra water into the flame channel or vent liner which is exactly the place we do not want water in any amount.
Mis-fires will often be caused by using too a too wet patch for swabbing.

The next biggest mistake I've seen is where folks use a damp patch (which is good) but they either try to ram it down the bore by pumping it up and down as the ramrod goes down the bore, or they get the patched jag to the bottom of the bore and then begin pumping it up and down, kinda like they are trying to scrub the bore.

Either one of these things will loosen the fouling and then cause it to flake off and fall to the bottom of the bore.

If this loose fouling gets to the bottom of the bore, it will rapidly plug up the flame channel or vent hole when the next powder load is done resulting in mis-fires.

I've seen folks do this pumping and knocking fouling down into the breech so well that it totally pluged up the flame channel and the only way to get the gun to fire was to dump some powder under the nipple. Not good.

To put all of this verbage into some simple things to remember:
1. Damp patch, not dripping wet.
2. Run damp patch to the breech using moderate speed.
3. Let it set for a few seconds.
4. Pull the patched jag out of the bore in one smooth stroke.

I'll get off of my soap box now. :grin:

 

[Josh Smith]

Thanks folks, very awesome advice.

I can see a few things I was doing wrong.

Damn Cap' for getting me to swab the bore anyway! :blah:

Josh

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I said swab. Not drown. :idunno:

 

[Herb]

OK, Capper, Hot Shot nipple in the mail to you.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

swabbing the bore comes at the end of the day when i tear the rifle down for full cleaning. Dont have the patience to do that manure on the range! :haha:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I thought you lived on the range?

Didn't I see a bed over in the corner and a hot plate? :blah:

 

[Kentuckywindage]

got to get more shooting in before sundays cold front hits!

More shootin with that new "to me" great plains rifle.

Havent been hitting the range hard yet, waiting for more ammo to come in before i bust a rambo on a target :haha:

 

[ebiggs1]

swabbing the bore comes at the end of the day when i tear the rifle down for full cleaning. Dont have the patience to do that manure on the range! :haha:

...nor is it needed! :grin: