Traditions breech fouling

[Marinekayak]

So the other day while having fun with my musketoon I was being frustrated by my Traditions .50 mountain rifle. The rifle shows good accuracy potential, its been to the range about 4 times and has about 50 rounds through it. 80gr of GOEX FFFG with .490 round ball and factory prelubed patches will give me three shots touching at 50 yards. Some problems came up though . The rear sight came loose. Thats simply mechanical and an easy fix. I can just replace the sight in the dovetail.. The other issue is fouling in the patent breach. I need to swab every few rounds. I have used a combination of brushing and wet swabbing and that keeps the bore ok. The problem is that crud gets pushed down into the breech and after 10 rounds or so I start getting miss fires and have to trickle powder in through the snail screw to get the rifle to fire. For hunting one shot is ok but when i go the range I like to shoot. So long winded question. How do you keep a breach like on a traditions clean enough on the range to shoot all day?

 

[Carbon 6]

The other issue is fouling in the patent breach. I need to swab every few rounds. I have used a combination of brushing and wet swabbing and that keeps the bore ok. The problem is that crud gets pushed down into the breech and after 10 rounds or so I start getting miss fires and have to trickle powder in through the snail screw to get the rifle to fire. For hunting one shot is ok but when i go the range I like to shoot. So long winded question. How do you keep a breach like on a traditions clean enough on the range to shoot all day?

Don't use pre-lubed store bought patches. and use a wetter lube. Do not use a brush with a CVA/Traditions Patent breech.
Instead wet swab, the wetter the better, using something with alcohol in it like M.A.P.
Swab after every shot, with the 10th being extremely wet, pour some down the barrel even.

Every time you swab or load you should hear air rushing out the nipple hole or see liquid being discharged from the hole. If it doesn't you will have a misfire.

All brushes do on a CVA/traditions breech is plug them up. You might also consider a "hot-shot" type nipple.

 

[Griz44Mag]

Sounds like you are overdoing the wiping. The brushing is knocking all kinds of manure down the barrel. You don't need the brush.
Be consistent. I made many of the same mistakes, with the same results, when I first started.
Use a jag that has been slightly tapered on the front leading edge. It will ride over the fouling. Drawing the jag back out will remove fouling from the barrel. One pass in, one pass out. Stop there. Every shot or every 2nd or third, whatever your gun and powder dictate that is working. Jacking the jag and/or a brush up and down in the barrel will fowl it. Attempting to "Dry" the barrel will make it worse. ONE patch only, ONE PASS ONLY.
Dampen the patch with something that dries fast, I like using Windex, some use pure alcohol, some use different variations of MAP.
All will work, don't over do the wet, all you want is damp. A damp that dries quickly.
I went from a misfire after less than 10 rounds or so to NO misfires after 60+ rounds.
Keep working at it, you will get there!

 

[Marinekayak]

I have a two step tapered patch jag for a 54 that sounds like what you describing. Do you know where you can find one for a 50?
Ill try the wet swab. I was going to try the ballistol wet patch lube when my current patches where done. Or can i just wet the prelubed patches and use them that way? Thanks for all the advice gents.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Extra and excessive fouling can be a function of a patch/ball combination that is too loose. Black powder burns cleaner under pressure. Not clean but cleanER. I shot competition for years. Always swabbed the bore after every shot. Wet patch, then dry patch. Shot a traditions and later a tc breeched H&H barrel and rarely had a problem with fouling clogging the flash channel. When I did have a problem it was normally during long shooting sessions on very humid summer days. Fouling was dripping goo then. Sometimes in such weather I skipped the wet patch and just used dry patches.

 

[Zonie]

While I pretty much agree with Grizz44's instructions I think he forgot to mention something.

After the wet patch has been shoved down the bore, let it rest there at the breech for at least 10 seconds before you try to remove it. That will give the fouling in the bore a chance for the water or black powder cleaner to soak in and soften the fouling.

If you do this and then pull the patched jag out in one smooth motion you will find that almost all of the fouling will come out as a black blob on the patch.

 

[Griz44Mag]

While I pretty much agree with Grizz44's instructions I think he forgot to mention something.

After the wet patch has been shoved down the bore, let it rest there at the breech for at least 10 seconds before you try to remove it. That will give the fouling in the bore a chance for the water or black powder cleaner to soak in and soften the fouling.

If you do this and then pull the patched jag out in one smooth motion you will find that almost all of the fouling will come out as a black blob on the patch.

Agree Zonie, I make the swab a slow one with a short hold at the bottom.

 

[Grenadier1758]

Too wet of a wiping patch will leave fouling and wiping solution at the breech. I don't recommend a wet patch for that reason in a gun with a "patent" breech. You want a jag and patch to slide over the fouling on the trip to the breech and to bunch up and wipe the fouling from the bore. You may have to turn down the diameter of your jag.

 

[Carbon 6]

Too wet of a wiping patch will leave fouling and wiping solution at the breech. I don't recommend a wet patch for that reason in a gun with a "patent" breech. You want a jag and patch to slide over the fouling on the trip to the breech and to bunch up and wipe the fouling from the bore. You may have to turn down the diameter of your jag.

The secret is in the technique, that and using alcohol.

Technique is a difficult thing to demonstrate on paper.

 

[renegadehunter]

I fought with plugging the patent breech on my TC quite a bit from swabbing between shots. After some advice from the folks on here I turned my jag down a bit, I now rarely have an issue. I chucked the jag up in my cordless drill and then spun it on a flat file, checked fit in the bore with a patch, filed a bit more, etc. until it went down the bore smoothly and still had some resistance when pulling it back out. Since doing that I've only had an issue a couple of times when shooting in the rain. If it's raining I fire a cap off after I swab and that has taken care of it so far. I simply use a cleaning patch damp with Hoppes BP patch & cleaning lube. One pass down and back out. I don't bother with a drying patch unless its raining and the fouling is turning to ooze.

 

[Carbon 6]

It is worth noting that the Traditions breech and the T/C breech are not similar.
But jags do need to be sized properly.
One technique I use to prevent fouling being pushed into the breech is, to only swab the top half of the barrel first, then replace the patch or flip it over and proceed to the bottom.

This also prevents stuck ramrods.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

A traditions breech is not the same configuration as a TC breech. The interior of the TC breech is like a 3/8 inch round bottom hollow with a lip around the forward edge that keeps a flat jag from reaching the bottom.. A Traditions breech interior is funnel shaped because the cross threaded drum and breech plug is bored from the muzzle. Once is a great while some rough machining left a shred or two of steel partly blocking the flash channel. A long grinding bit on a dremel can open it back up through the clean out screw, but they need to reach in quite a way.

 

[Carbon 6]

Once is a great while some rough machining left a shred or two of steel partly blocking the flash channel.

I have seen that occur on both styles.