American Pioneer Powder and swabbing

jojotater · 08-12-2006, 05:18 PM

When at the range, how many shots before swabbing the barrel when using APP? Please explain the procedure. Do you remove the breechplug to swab? Will it make a big difference in accuracy if you do not swab?

cayugad · 08-12-2006, 05:39 PM

To swab a barrel take an appropiate sized patch and get it damp with a solution. There aremany different solutions people use. Everything from water to about anything wet. Start the damp patch down the barrel working about 2" at a time, back and fourth. Then increase that to another 2" further down the barrel, working all the way to the breech. If you feel a hard spot it might take more scrubbing.

After you have reached the bottom, pull the patch and turn it upside down. Now work the damp patch again down the barrel in the same manner as before. After the damp patch, I like to run two dry patchs just like the damp one, a little at a time. When the dry patch comes out dry, the barrel is swabbed.

Swabbing will improve accuracy in a rifle. The necessity of swabbing will be determined by how hard the rifle loads, and how bad the accuracy becomes. With powders like APP, the need for swabbing is greatly reduced. In fact some people using APP do not swab at all. That decision is up to you. I would at least swab every fifth sabot load if working up a load with APP..

jojotater · 08-12-2006, 05:53 PM

Do you remove the breechplug for this?

cayugad · 08-12-2006, 07:05 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: jojotater

Do you remove the breechplug for this?

No, leave the breech plug in. The only time I pull the breech plug in my inlines is when I have shot a lot of rounds and want to do a field cleaning so I can shoot some more. It does not hurt to give that breech plug an occassional twist to make sure it is not seizing, but only remove and clean the breech plug if your getting a lot of misfires. Otherwise just swab down as far as you can with your ramrod.

lemoyne · 08-12-2006, 07:59 PM

The longer you shoot with out swabing the more build up you get with some guns and some powders;the same with accuracy,You will have to find out what your gun does.
My Omega will shoot about a dozen heavy loads of APP-FF before it affects accuracy much. My system one will shoot it all day and not change accuracy but it has a stainless steel barrel. Lee

eldeguello · 08-13-2006, 12:07 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: jojotater

When at the range, how many shots before swabbing the barrel when using APP? Please explain the procedure. 1. Do you remove the breechplug to swab? 2. Will it make a big difference in accuracy if you do not swab?

1. Naw, you only remove the breechplug when the day's shooting is over, and you're cleaning up the gun to put it away.

2. I've not tried APP. Have used Clean Shot, APP's predecessor. I did not swab between shots with that powder, and failing to swab did not degrade accuracy for me.It shot very well w/o swabbing..... According to APP literature, they recommend NOT SWABBING between shots!

I don't swab with Pyrodex, either! I DO swab with T7, because if you don't, you sometimes can't get the bullet all the way down on the powder - NOT GOOD!

davestewart44 · 08-13-2006, 03:54 PM

I have found that I get better accuracy by swabbing between shots with conicals and sabots.I use T/C cotton cleaning patches with Isopropyl alcohol.When shooting sabots,I follow the alcohol patch with a patch with Bore Butter on it before loading.I use both sides of both patches.My rifle has a tight bore and I have found that the Bore Butter patch greatly simplifies loading.