Sticky barrel

[sneakon]

Rookie question: How smoothly should the T/C mini-ball slide down the muzzle? I shoot a T/C Hawken, 90 grains pyrodex, 430 grain mini-ball. Seams like I should be able to smoothly push the conical all the way down, but instead, I hit sticky spots and have to "tap" the mini-ball to get it past the sticky and all the way down the barrel. I am meticulous about cleaning and have never noticed any rust. I started swabbing in between shots with T/C black powder solvent patches, but the sticky problem got worse. I have tried swabbing in between shots with T/C bore butter patches, but that does not seem to help much. I have tried not swabbing in between shots, but I still have the sticky problem.

Also, what are those little lights that drop down the barrel called and where do you buy them?

 

[Stumpkiller]

A maxi-Ball should slide down evenly, especially on the first loading. Fouling can make them stick a tad. The apron of the bullet is scraping off the fouling ahead of it as it goes down. Find yourself some J-B Paste (Midsouth Shooting Supply or Brownells) and lap the barrel about 40 passes with a tight patch containing some of the paste. Clean well and try again. Repeat the lapping as necessary until it loads evenly.

Here are a couple bore lights:

Bore Light (drop in)

Bore Light (poke in)

 

[roundball]

My personal experience with conicals in my own TC Hawkens is that they don't go down as easily as a prelubed patched ball, also noticing some of the occasional faint resistance you mentioned...but my bores are well shot in, clean as mirrors, and accuracy is excellent regardless.

My conclusion is that because the lands have cut into the conical, occasional resistance can be felt as the conical is turning, following the rifling as it's being pushed downbore...unlike a patched ball which is riding on top of the lands like a train on tracks.

Don't know if there's any merit to this next point, but I also worry that any start-stop action of pushing a conical downbore may have a negative effect on the engraving of the conical, so after punching the conical in with a short starter, I personally try to seat a conical all the way down in one long contineous stroke...so far, so good.

 

[sneakon]

Maxi-ball...I knew that ::...Anyway thanks for the info. I ordered the JB and bore light.
Would the fouling effect the shots. My groups are OK but not as tight as others on this forum seem to take for basic.

 

[NoJacketRequired]

Don't know if this will help answer your question or not... The fouling in the barrel and it's effect on accuracy seems to be unique to each gun and load combination. I don't swab between shots and have a Traditions Hawken that will go 20 shots with black powder and patched ball with no noticeable effect on accuracy. I haven't tried to bench-rest it after more than about 20 shots in the same session, but I would have to believe that if fouling hasn't started to be a problem after maybe a half dozen shots then it's not likely going to become a serious problem within practical limits.

On the other hand I have a T/C Renegade which has shown a dislike for black powder fouling after something between 6 and 10 shots. Switched to Triple7 powder and it shoots just fine now, but again I haven't tried it much beyond about 20 successive shots. 80-85 grains of Triple7 FFg under a PRBullets 300 grain Keith-nosed hollow point seems to do the trick with 50-yard groups under an inch.

In case you were wondering, I don't shoot more than about 20 shots in a session because after that I start to be a large contributor to loss of accuracy. There's only so much pounding I can take...

 

[bob1961]

it might be where the dovetails are cut in the barrel on the outside of the barrel....if they are press cut one pass there might be a small hump in the bore at that spot....compaired to a file like cut that is done with many passes....i'm not sure where i heard that but it has been said.....................bob