Blasting the Afternoon Away

[cayugad]

I decided I wanted to shoot. So last time out I shot a Traditions Woodsman with a 1-48 twist. This time I took my Traditions Woodsman Hawkins with the 1-66 twist. I was shooting .490 cast roundball, with 90 grains of 2f Graf's & Sons black powder. I was using RWS caps, cotton pillow tick, and of course moosemilk for me. I was set up at 30 yards.

I did something a long time ago and now I was going to see if it would pay off. I treated this rifle with Montana X-treme Bore Conditioner. I have shot it a lot, and always put more conditioner back into it.

Today I took a dry patch, no alcohol, and swabbed the bore. It was nice and smooth. I then popped two caps and loaded as normal. I was using a 6 o'clock hold on that one inch red dot.



I was a little surprised when #1 went way out. I really do not think it was anything I did. The rifle shot nice and fast. So, was it because I did not use alcohol and remove the bore conditioner? More testing on that at a later date. Shot #2 now was a fouled bore. It was actually hard to load, but it shot right where I aimed. #3 & #4 were shot without swabbing, but loaded very easy. I then took a patch and using spit, swabbed the bore.

#5 kind of surprised me. #6-10 were shot without swabbing. And they were loading very easy on the fouled bore.

I then decided to see if I could shoot something were I could spot my shots better. On this target is a small deer head in the corner. Anyone knowing this target understands how small the corner picture is. And at 30 yards it is small. I did not swab, but shot two rounds at it.



I was going to shoot a third shot but something told me no to...



By this time the rifle was starting to foul out. The first shot was to the far left. Then it just started moving to the right from there for all four shots.

After these shots, I swabbed and started shooting tin cans. The strange thing is, I swabbed the bore with a spit patch, and missed the tin can with the first shot. After that first shot, I rolled the can three times. So, is this bore conditioned? Maybe the next time out, I will swab with alcohol and see if it makes a difference.

(to be honest, I forgot the alcohol and was too lazy to walk back into the house for it)

[vann338]

Cayugad those are very good groups. I don't usualy give opinions or advise.(makes people mad or upset) I Like to listen, weigh it out and learn from what is the best or the worst. from what was there. I shoot big bore blackpowder a 58,63,and 72smooth. my 58 has come to life.About 12years ago when at the range. I ran out of alchol . went to the truck. got out the rain-x swabed the barrel twice let it dry about two minutes,one drypatch. wow. took a little to get my bullet trajectory corrected. but if I hold it still off the bench she shoots 4 to4 1/2 groups at 200 . you will notice alittle darker smoke than the grey smoke you are use too. with 2f powder I don't know if this will help, But the rain-X works good on the truck and in my gun. sincerely vann338

[Semisane]

Well Blasting The Afternoon Away isn't a bad thing at all.

On the Montana X-treme, I too had significant fouling on the first shot out of a barrel treated with the Bore Conditioner. Like you, I swabbed the bore with a dry patch before loading. I probably should have used an alcohol patch, but to tell you the truth I've dry patched barrels protected with RemOil and have not had the kind of fouling I got with the Bore Conditioner. To be fair, I've only used the BC on one gun and had only one range session after treatment. So it may be inappropriate to draw conclusions from that. But I'm not inclined to use it in my muzzle loaders.

[Semisane]

Hey there Vann, welcome to the forum. I believe yours is the first post I've ever seen on treating a bore with rain-x. That's a hoot. Do you know what the primary ingredient is??? Silicone perhaps?? Do you use it to swab between shots?

[gregrn43]

Nice shooting there Dave. Those flyers can be a pain in the butt.

[cayugad]

Any flier gets my goat. I really take my shooting serious. And I am very careful when loading, swabbing, etc. But I love to test new things. Next time out, I am going to alcohol patch that barrel and see if it pulls them fliers in.

[Old/New]

But look what you did when you aimed at the little deer!!!

[lemoyne]

Cayuqad,
I am running into the same kind of problem, I have never used anything except Montana X bore protecter in my new Endeavor and it shoots really good AFTER the first two shots. I like to hunt with a clean bore but muzzle loading season is only 6 or 7 weeks away here and I have not been able to fined a way to get the first two shots to be dependable. I normally use the same procedure of dry patch and alk patch then dry patch again that you do. Lee

[vann338]

To semisane I usally wet swab while at the shooting range every 10 shots. dry patch every five shots. I know it sounds nutty but it has been working for twelve years in my 58 cal works real good in the 72 not so much in the 63. of corse the 72 is smooth bore and the 63 is a whitworth rifle and shooting something round out of a triangle never has worked real well. casting whitworth slugs are just two day's of not much fun. the 58 is a parker-hale with a 1-61 twist . p.s. I only found this web-site alittle while ago. but I have to say there are some very smart people here.some alittle less . 40yr's of shooting.and I learn something new every day.

[Grouse45]

Blasting the day away sounds fun. Very nice report.