range cleaning

[lacerote]

I have a question for the group. When I was shooting paper matches everyone knew to clean between shots for best accuracy . When doing prmitive trail walks I have a delima. I am shooting most of the time a 50 cal . I use .490 ball and .015 patching , not a super tight load and 80 grains of fffg. I could shoot less powder, all that about just putting a hole in the paper etc, but that is what the gun is sighted for as it is my hunting load also . I also learned in my years of paper matches that speed is important in the round ball to fight wind a bit and flatten trajectory at the longer ranges. BUT if I shoot more than two shots with out cleaning, loading gets real hard. So usually I shoot twice , then run a few moist patches and then a few dry patches down and continue. most dont do this , I simply have to . I have heard all the stories about 100 shots without cleaning etc but have never experianced it. Tried many patch lubes, all the same result. I have cleanded with spit , and some times carry sime pre-moistened patches with cleaning solvant on it . All of this does slow one up a bit longer than I would like . One of my friends loads a felt wad lubed up on top of the powder before the patch and says he gets over twenty shots with no cleaning as it cleans and blows out the fouling with each shot. I am going to try this with my 75 cal hunting rifle , although I fire a lot more shots in the trail walks . Do many of you clean this much on a trail walk ?

 

[Swampman]

I'd just use 60 grains of 3f and a .485 ball if you can find some. Try spit or olive oil for lube.

 

[thunderbear]

I have a Pedersoli Frontier .50 flintlock. I've been using it for field fun & contests for 6 years. My favourite load is 95 grains Wano FFg(I think Goex is a bit hotter) and .490 balls nicely wrapped up in Ox-Yoke .015th prelubed with Lube1000+. I always blow down the barrel between shots and I put the patch in my mouth while pouring powder. If the load is to be in the barrel for a little while I simply set a lubed, "unsalived"(????) patch on the powder first. I usually shoot all day long without cleaning, although under warm and dry conditions foulig may harden a bit if long time passes between loadings. Was this written i readable english? :redface:
So far this combination har harvested three bronze medals at Norwegian national field contests. Mind you, there are not many participants over here... :grin:

 

[Swampman]

Man you guys are shooting some heavy charges.

 

[Halftail]

On a woods walk I swab between every shot same as shooting on the "Line".You made a comment about something "Slowing you up".
I started shooting Traditional Muzzleloaders to do something with a slower pace.If I'd have wanted speed I'd be shooting an AK-47.
Just my opinion.

 

[MikeChapin]

Every rifle is different. Most of mine can go all day without cleaing but I use lighter loads than you do. I do have one rifle that needs to be cleaned after five or six shots. When paper punching I give it a damp/dry cleaning patch combo between relays. When I used to use it primative shooting and on trail walks, I dampen a patch with spit after a few shots and run it down the barrel followed by a dry patch. That seemed to work alright.

 

[Java Man]

If you are using a petrolum product for storage, and don't get it all out before shooting, that might be part of the problem.

 

[2172]

At the range, I rarely clean more often than about every 20 rounds..unsed to be every 5 or 10, but Roundball converted me to heavy lubing with Bore Butter or Wonder lube, and it seems to work..Hank

 

[lacerote]

I am going out to a primitive shoot today . I have been using wonder lube and spir patchin the past but will switch to Bore butter to try today . When I said it slowed me up it was not realy a concern of mine, but the other guys who wind up shooting with me who seem to think I am cleaning to much and slowing up the group. The satisfaction is i usually wind up hitting a lot more than the guys just shooting and shooting . The 485 balls are an option if I could get them but not sure if the accuracy would be any good, or my point of impact would change. I really like to hit most of what i shoot at . Thinner patching than .015 results in blown patches, but on shot three if I have not cleand I am really leaning on the rod to seat the ball the last few inches . I was carrying a spare cleaning rod of heavier diameter with me when allowed, to make loading and cleaning easier but now that I have an eboney rod with thin metal rod center that cant be seen I can use the ramrod with no fear of breakage. I wonder if my barrel length of 48 inches contributes to the amount of fouling that winds up near the breach? Just a thought but I love that long barrel.

 

Man you guys are shooting some heavy charges.

I used to use 70g fff in my .45 because "that's the load that works best". I now use 50g fff ( might be 40g??)and it shoots just fine. My dad uses 50gff in his .54 out to 50 yards. For those that swab with a spit patch between shots, consider this. Before swabing, pour in your powder. Then take your spit patch, and before running it down the bore, put a ball on top of it. Then run it down. Damn, now the only logical way to get it back out is to shoot it out. May as well aim at the target. Repeat at the net station. :grin:

Cody

 

[Swampman]

Funny how that works. I never swab between shots because I don't need to.

 

[Bill Bryan]

I use Balistol as a patch lubricant and a lighter powder load. I only need to run a moist patch down the barrel between matches.

 

[Pittsburghunter]

I am not much help here because I only load kill loads or hunting loads so all I can add is you should be able to load at least 10 times in a row if needed. I use moosemilk and a tight ball/patch, .490 and pillow ticking. I find the 3F to be more forgiving fouling wise but the 2F softer as far as fouling goes.

You mentioned that you used a couple wet and many dry patches. How about one damp and one dry on both sides?

Good luck I wish we had shoots like yours around here.

 

[Swampman]

"I am not much help here because I only load kill loads or hunting loads"

Me too, I use the same load for everything.

 

[ronrryan]

In Fla, same rifle, different days, different procedures. Normal humidity, wonderlube or Bore butter patches, or spit, shoot ten in a row, you can feel the ring of crud buildup at the base of the barrel, but rod pushes easily past it, or "twang" of the rod seats the ball. Next day, higher humidity, I HAVE to spit a pre-lubed patch, or spit pretty wet on pillow ticking to keep loading, otherwise she gunks up pretty quickly. I am amazed at how effective spit patching is, compared to all the sophisticated alternatives--except for hunting, of course--but then, hopefully one does not need a lot of multiple loads for hunting. Good smoke, ron in FL

 

[sniper68]

Get ya a small tube or tub of plain ole Go-Jo hand cleaner. Great patch lube and bore wipe for the range. Give it a try you might be suprised!! If not it won't go to waste.. :grin:

 

[roundball]

In addition to other alternatives mentioned above, Hoppes No9 BP Plus Solvent & Patch Lube is outstanding...particularly in dry condtions...you can shoot all day without wiping between shots.

Fouling becomes almost non-existent and when you go to clean the bore after the shoot, it's already virtually clean...I still use Natural Lube 1000 the other 8-9 months of the year with normal to high humidity, but for the dry winter months, Hoppes is my 1st choice now.

 

[Horace]

Roundball, where do you find dry conditions around here?

 

[roundball]

Roundball, where do you find dry conditions around here?

Most everywhere except on the coast...we've had record low humidity all week in central NC...one day is was down to 13%...there are wild fires burning in several places around the state due to the lack of rain and the windy, dry, low humidity we've been having, etc, etc...this morning it was so dry I didn't have to wipe the pan once in 50 shots, and had red flecks showing in the powder residue which only happens in low humidity

 

[lacerote]

a lot of it is the hunmidity . I just returned from a primitive shoot, used Bore Butter , and ran a spit patch up and down and one dry one about every five shots, shot 25 times like that no problem . Air was dry and cold and the bore butter worked great. Yes you can spit patch right on top of the powder but I really dont like adding moisture to my charge, funny how it does not allways burn uniform lke that ! Hopes # nine I used after and it is good stuff never tried it as a straight lube as it seemed to watery . The Bore butter however did seem to solve the problen , wonder lube 1000 would not have worked half as well in my gun .I use one charge of powder for hunting and targets , better to know the gun and load under a lot of different conditions at least for me . We had targets from 20 yards to 100 , got 20 out of 23, second place against all caplocks. Two wicked hangfires cost me a better score .