cdeleeuw

I just purchased a new .50 cal., blued, T/C Omega.

I'd like to know if there's any benefit/harm in "seasoning" the bore by shooting a box (or two) of patched round balls, lubed with "bore butter," (relatively low powder charge, over several sessions) prior to "working up a load with sabot's?"

Thank you,

Chip DeLeeuw
Jonesville, MI

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cdeleeuw

Jim,

I was confused by the reported benefits of "seasoning" a bore, and the need for sabot's to "grip" the grooves. Your comments are appreciated.

Thank you,

Chip

cyclone

Shoot what you're going to hunt with...If you just want to plink with round balls that's ok, but you'll have to re-sight for those sabots...

~Will Hunt For Food~

Mark whiz

Chip,

I highly recommend shooting at least 2 dozen patched round balls through a rifle right up front. This will help break-in the bore (something plastic sabots cannot do), plus it will help break you in on the operation & workings of your rifle.

Don't worry about accuracy, just set up a target at 25 yds, load up about 70 or 80gr of whatever powder you're using (make that 60 to 70gr if you're using Triple 7), and a .490 ball with a .015 lubed patch and you're all set to fire away off-hand with open sights.

You won't get great accuracy out of shooting balls, but you will end up with a better shooting gun and a better shooter behind the gun.


"Every moving thing that liveth, I give unto you as meat" (Gen 9:3)

Trust God..........but keep your powder dry!

cdeleeuw

Cyclone,

The sole purpose of this excersise would be to 'season the bore,' before 'working up' a saboted hunting load. No 'sighting in' would be attempted, or expected.

I'm aware of the value in 'seasoning' a bore for traditional 'round ball' applications, but, wasn't sure if this could be harmful when the goal is to shoot saboted loads?

Thank you for your comments. They're appreciated.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mark,

I'm encouraged by the comments received thus far, in that, there are no cautionary notes about potential negative side effects from this process, when the goal is to shoot a saboted load.

Question: Can the true benefit of 'seasoning' be gained with so few 'lubed' shots? How much of the 'seasoning' benefit is lost when you THOROUGHLY clean the barrel, prior to shooting with sabot's?

Thanks for the feedback.

Chip

Mark whiz

Chip,

To be honest, the idea of "seasoning" a modern in-line is more of an "old wives tale" than a fact. I have no doubt that is was of benefit to the older technolgy ball rifles of the past, but the new in-lines are made of much stronger and less porous metals and their rifling is cut much thinner. For instance, my Knight has lands that are only .0015" deep so anything that even remotely tries to fill any of the grooves between the lands quickly affects accuracy in a negative way. This gun (like all in-lines) was designed to be shot "smooth & clean" - without any seasoning and with very little fouling left in the bore between shots.

But like all rifles, it does have some rough edges and microscopic peaks & valleys in the bore due to the rifling process. Removing these irregularities will improve accuracy and that is why I recommend the patched ball (or pure lead conical) shooting. I shot sabots exclusively for about the 1st year I owned my Knight and I was well satisfied with its accuracy. Then I read where someone recommended shooting at least 20 to 50 balls to get a barrel broken-in. So I picked up a 25 pack of Remington .490 balls, & some lubed .015 patches & headed for the range to shoot them all up. Afterwards, the next time I went to the range to shoot sabots, there was a significant improvement in the guns accuracy. Now days, this gun will just plain shoot any bullet I throw at it (as long as it is 300gr or more). I just adjust the powder charge to maintain my zero and the gun does all the rest. Typically, I can shoot better groups with my &quot;beginner-class&quot; Knight USAK than I can with my Springfield Match M1A........that's kind of scarey <img src=icon_smile_approve.gif border=0 align=middle>.


&quot;Every moving thing that liveth, I give unto you as meat&quot; (Gen 9:3)

Trust God..........but keep your powder dry!

cdeleeuw

Mark,

Your response really makes sense to me. I'll be shooting some round balls with lubed patches before I start working on my sabot loads.

- Have you found any need to repeat this process periodically?

- Wouldn't you tend to wash the seasoning away when you clean your ML after shooting?

I've got another question about shooting two different bullet styles/sizes with the same scope setting. I'll post as a new topic. I'd appreciate your comments, if you'd care to share them.

Thanks (again)

Chip DeLeeuw
Jonesville, MI.

herman

When I get a new rifle black powder or high power rifle,first thing I do is clean up the barrel with no less than 500 strokes of JB's paste and a patch on a jag,changing the patch and fresh JB's every hundred strokes.Then clean the barrel with bore cleaner then if its muzzleloader I pore boiling water down the barrel to remove all that and apply a good coat of bore butter ,When I go to the range I run several patches through the barrel to get out the bore butter and shoot.I think this has the same effect as shooting the patched balls,I think T/C talks about seasoning the barrel in their literature.
If you don't have a place to shoot or the range is a good ways from home like mine this is a good way to start.
I strive to find a load with one bullet to shoot as close of groups I can get with three shots,after that I play with different loads and bullets,with the same scope settings to see if I can find a better group.If I find one I can reset the scope if not I don't have to reset the scope for the best load I have found.
The reasoning for the three shot groups is that I have twice taken 2 deer at the same time,so I want the second and thrid to be as accurate as the first.

http://www.hunting-pictures.com/memb...ght&encore.jpg

Mark whiz

Chip,

Once broken-in, there really is no need to repeat a break-in procedure. However, I do shoot some balls & conicals on occasion - just for the fun & practice of it.

You probably will find, even with good cleaning practices after every outing, that the gun's accuracy will go away some after the passage of some time - say 6 months to a year. To restore accuracy, I like to work about 3 patches of the J-Bs or Flitz bore paste (that herman spoke of) in the bore to get out the apparent residual fouling that causing this phenomenon. Work these patches like you were polishing silver or mag wheels - work them in quick short stokes proceeding from the muzzle to the breech, follow each patch by working 2 clean patches in the same way. When finished with the paste give it a good cleaning with your regular solvent and it should be shooting 100% once again.
And it is possible to duplicate the break-in process by using the bore paste rather than round balls............but the balls are so much more fun!! <img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Yes, a good soapy/solvent cleaning will wash away the seasoning - that's why the old mountainmen's guns always smelled like bacon grease and sulfur (bad gas)...............they never cleaned them with anything except a couple of dry patches. That's the same reason my wife gives me the evil eye when I try to wash her cast iron skillits - she keeps them seasoned by only wiping then down dry.


&quot;Every moving thing that liveth, I give unto you as meat&quot; (Gen 9:3)

Trust God..........but keep your powder dry!


Edited by - Mark whiz on 01/09/2003 13:19:25