BLOWING DOWN THE BARREL

This is the great controversy. I doubt it will ever be settled. The idea. I have been insistently told. is to supply enough oxygen down to the breech area to hasten the burning up of glowing residue left in the breech. This precaution is taken to prevent a major explosion when the next powder charge is dropped into the breech. In quite a few

years spent at a busy range I never witnessed this happening. True but it could happen they insist!
Most of us have owned a bicycle and put up with their habit of sneakily going flat in the tire area and we would fetch the old pump and slam in a number of pumps to bring the tires up to the desired hardness.. Think about that.
If you are normal human being the source of air with the least oxygen in your immediate neighborhood is your lungs which have been grabbing it and using it to keep you ticking.
This what you are using to make that unknown stuff burn to extinction.
It might be better to force fully oxygenated air down your barrel with a quick wipe.
I witnessed an odd thing one day when a gent had a very tight fitting jag and patch get forced down a thoroughly plugged barrel.. He actually was compressing the air in the barrel. He let go on the down stroke and the ramrod shot up and out of the barrel with enough force to hit the roof of the shelter.
Another reason given for blowing down the barrel is to clear the ignition channel. Usually the preceding firing of the gun has done that.
In some percussion rifles the hammer when fire will hold the expended cap tightly of over the nipple and the back pressure of the explosion went open that nor will your breathing moist air down there.
The practice will continue there just no stopping it.
Dutch

"The practice will continue there just no stopping it."

The NMLRA found a way, it is not permitted at NMLRA sanctioned shoots, as it is deemed dangerous.

FishDFly said:

"The practice will continue there just no stopping it."

The NMLRA found a way, it is not permitted at NMLRA sanctioned shoots, as it is deemed dangerous.

Click to expand...

...by attorneys for their insurance companies.

“Even if You saw it yourself
You wouldn’t believe it
I wouldn’t trust a fellow like me if I was you
Sure I wasn’t there
I’m sure I have an alibi
I heard it from man
Who knows a fellow
Who swears it’s all true”
Some one did it an blew off their head.
So the story goes
And it gets better. This guy did in in front of his new bride, little girl, pre teen son, mother, or a bus load of school children.
Not only that the ball went through his head and shot down a new helicopter or an fbi drone that was hot on the trail of a criminal or a small plane full of nuns who were transporting cash to an orphanage.
You can’t blow past a loaded ball. Patch or wad you have not the lung power to do it. A trumpet player can’t do it, Gabriel him self could not do it.
Yes you can’t do it on NMLRA ranges, and if your on a range that has x rule follow the rule or go home.
however I do it, have done it these forty plus years and will continue to do it.
Getting cold won’t give you a cold
People don’t get VD from toilet seats
Watching TV to close won’t hurt your eyes
If you make a funny face it won’t stay that way
There are no dragons in poorly explored parts of the globe.
You will not blow off your head blowing down a gun you just fired

i just like to see the smoke come out the vent

some might just like the taste of that burned powder residue and patch lube on top of seeing the little smoke out the vent.

All of this is covered in a stickey note above.

I like seeing the stream of smoke blown out through the touch hole. My jag with a damp patch on the ramrod does the job.

Range safety officers rightly object to someone putting their head/face over the muzzle. Blowing down the barrel does indeed help keep the fouling from the previous shot soft. I use a 2-foot long flexible "blow-tube" when shooting my suppository rifles with black powder in between shots for fouling "control." I suspect one could make something similar in order to blow down the barrel of a muzzle loading rifle in a safe manner. Personally, I found a damp patch and a quick wipe works even better,